Māori art exhibition shows creativity in Tararua District – NZ Herald

When Mike Holm was about 12, he entered an international competition for painting.

It was a piece on the Serengeti, but the judges didn’t believe he was the artist.

“I started from a young age. Even before I went to school,” says Mike, who has entered several pieces in the Te Ao Pūkahu Art exhibition, on now at the Rinitawa Gallery in Woodville.

Back in his youth, he says there wasn’t as much support for young artists as there is nowadays, although younger artists also have more exposure through the internet.

“It’s a very different era.”

The Dannevirke-born artist always had a love for Africa and some of his early pieces reflect that love.

As he grew up and developed his craft, he began to love the classics.

He eventually turned to the trades and became a joiner and cabinetmaker where, a job in which he could also use his skill and love of the classics in the pieces he created – pieces such as Victorian-style furniture and anything with an American influence.

Mike says he likes the inter-relationships between the period antique furniture and the period housing, and it’s something he has clearly worked at.

However, it’s in Māori carving where he has found a real niche.

“It’s got a real purpose, a real meaning to it.”

Many of the pieces he creates in his carving relate to his whakapapa, with many of the designs incorporating the journeys his family has taken in their lives.

He says there is a wealth of heritage around the community.

The carvings also include patterns seen in nature, such as whorls which can be observed in water by dropping a stone.

Initially reticent about exhibiting his work, Mike says he is glad he decided to do it.

He is one of several Māori artists exhibiting their work, with a variety of media.

Tararua District mayor Tracey Collis says the exhibition represents a huge cultural heritage and it was a wonderful opportunity to share it.

The exhibition, being held at the Rinitawa Gallery in Woodville, is on until July 24 and is part of Matariki celebrations.