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Tama: bi-annual super-mega update! (image heavy) |
Tamapoutini
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 30, 2006
Posts: 1529
From: Aotearoa (New Zealand)
|  Posted: 2012-04-02 02:28 am Permalink
A Gallery Forum? Damn, I have been away a long time.
For those unfamiliar with my personal tiki obsession; I am a fulltime self-employed carver in Aotearoa/New Zealand, working in the highly valued, traditional medium of 'pounamu' or 'greenstone' (technically, nephrite jade). This hard, translucent stone was favoured by pre-contact Maori for its superior strength and beauty & widely traded for use as tools, weapons and personal adornment. It is only found in a few isolated geographical areas (associated with tectonic plate activity) and is legally under the guardianship of local iwi/family groups from these areas. To this day the material is held in almost spiritual regard by Maori, an uncut touchstone often treated like a family member, inducing tears when touched after long absence. Personal items fashioned from this stone are worn by many and traditionally believed to inherit the 'mana' (esteem) of their owner/s, often handed down for hundreds of years as heirloom pieces.
ok, enough about the stone.. it has Tikis inside it, alright?
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Ill kick off with a few 'trads' as they account for around half of my work; the original maori "heiTiki":
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Had enough of those? Another traditional variant, the 'side-hanging' type heiTiki. The fingers touching throat or mouth pertain to oratory skill, of vital importance to a culture with no written language:
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phew! Time for some less traditional, more contemporary work. All designs/motifs are traditional in some sense but often plucked from woodcarving/weaponery etc and reused out of context as adornment.
'Upoko'(head) or 'Wheku/Koruru' (gable mask atop carved meeting house) inspired:
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Another, belonging to a TC member (I think/hope this is the one J? - apologies if I am mistaken, there have been so many, doh!):
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Different style:
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Unique piece, loosely inspired/representing the stabby-end of the taiaha (long hand-to-hand combat weapon):
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Contemporary 'pekapeka', native bat formed of double-headed manaia:
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Smaller version:
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anutha:
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Unique contemporary example:
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'Toki-wheku', a woodcarving adze (toki), topped by wheku/koruru head:
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'Toki-tekoteko', toki/adzeblade, topped by a tekoteko figure (the lifesize full-body figures found inside the carved wharenui/meeting house):
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'Toki-Manaia', adze topped with a 'manaia' figure (invisible, beneficent guardian-spirit type creature found in woodcarving, often highly abstracted)
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Unique, contemporary Manaia:
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Another unique figure, designed to fit an oddly shaped piece of stone:
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Contemporary Tiki:
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'Koro' (old man):
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Tahitian/Austral inspired 'Ti'i' figure, carved from obsidian (volcanic glass):
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'Putiputi' (flower):
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heiMatau/fish hook:
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Unique heiTiki, an experiment to see if I could simplify-away the arm/legholes altogether:
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'Toa-iti' (little warrior):
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Mottled warrior:
JT 
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'Tane-iti' (little man):
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Well, thats it for now. Please feel free to ask any Qs. If anyone needs me, Im in the workshop..
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Tama
[ This Message was edited by: Tamapoutini 2012-04-02 04:17 ]
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hang10tiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 18, 2010
Posts: 1962
From: Las Vegas
| Posted: 2012-04-02 07:56 am Permalink
Amazing
U rock
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laojia
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 04, 2009
Posts: 917
From: Metz Lorraine France
| Posted: 2012-04-02 08:35 am Permalink
[quote]
On 2012-04-02 02:28, Tamapoutini wrote:
Another, belonging to a TC member (I think/hope this is the one J? - apologies if I am mistaken, there have been so many, doh!):
[quote]
Yep! It's mine! YEAH! 
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Timeline
The Kavakava Shop
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virani
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 17, 2003
Posts: 1434
From: Volcanic area of France
| Posted: 2012-04-02 09:25 am Permalink
Just amazing.
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GROG
Grand Member (first year) 
Joined: Jun 21, 2006
Posts: 6171
From: Tujunga
| Posted: 2012-04-02 8:19 pm Permalink
You are machine!! Great stuff. GROG like.
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castaway17
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Sep 07, 2010
Posts: 23 | Posted: 2012-04-02 8:30 pm Permalink
Beautiful pieces- exquisite crafstmanship!
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Lake Surfer
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 21, 2002
Posts: 3308
From: Milwaukee, WI
| Posted: 2012-04-02 10:53 pm Permalink
Tama!!!
Great to see you back again!
Very nice gallery you've put together, and like the other artists, its so much easier to appreciate all your great work in one thread!
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Tamapoutini
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 30, 2006
Posts: 1529
From: Aotearoa (New Zealand)
| Posted: 2012-04-03 02:05 am Permalink
Thanks everyone! Rest assured I wont be leaving it so long between posts in future, this last was an all-nighter (and I still neglected to downsize a couple of pics..)
Laojia, my memory is shocking but the bones remember everything
Thanks Grog. LLT has been sending me little bottles of his special formula, keeps putting the price up though..
Cheers Lake, I like the division between in-prog and finished work threads. Havent had much of a chance to look through yet but am looking forward to it.
*Forgot to add pics of a recent celebrity-commissioned piece, will get onto that soon.
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Tama
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GROG
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: Jun 21, 2006
Posts: 6171
From: Tujunga
| Posted: 2012-04-03 02:21 am Permalink
Where's that Paipo dude?
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GROG
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: Jun 21, 2006
Posts: 6171
From: Tujunga
| Posted: 2012-04-03 02:21 am Permalink
Where's that Paipo dude?
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Tamapoutini
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 30, 2006
Posts: 1529
From: Aotearoa (New Zealand)
| Posted: 2012-04-03 02:58 am Permalink
Quote:
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On 2012-04-03 02:21, GROG wrote:
Where's that Paipo dude?
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Sadly we dont get to play much these days as he is living an hour or so away in another town. A long overdue catch-up within the next couple of weeks though, to coincide with another drifting tiki-stoner friend. Ill club him for you.
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Tama
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JenTiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 16, 2006
Posts: 1817
From: An island in the bay
| Posted: 2012-04-06 2:15 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2012-04-02 02:28, Tamapoutini wrote:
JT
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TikiSan
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 29, 2003
Posts: 246
From: O.C., SoCal
| Posted: 2012-04-06 6:33 pm Permalink
Fantastic work! Love it!
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little lost tiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 12, 2006
Posts: 7457
From: Orange,CA-right near the Circle!
| Posted: 2012-04-08 5:01 pm Permalink
Tama!
Welcome Back you Carvin Maniac!
About time you got up here in these galleries!
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Benzart
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 09, 2004
Posts: 10306
From: Port Saint Lucie, Florida
| Posted: 2012-04-10 12:20 pm Permalink
WOW Tama, Nice update. I think there's a few here I haven't seen yet! Thanks.
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