Name Diggeress Kanawa | Books Weaving a Kakahu | |
 | ||
Died July 30, 2009, Te Kuiti, New Zealand | ||
Dr maureen lander learning from diggeress te kanawa
Diggeress Rangituatahi Te Kanawa CNZM QSO (9 March 1920 – 30 July 2009) was a New Zealand Māori tohunga raranga (master weaver) of Ngati Maniapoto and Ngati Kinohaku descent. At the time of her death she was regarded as New Zealand's most renowned weaver.
Contents
- Dr maureen lander learning from diggeress te kanawa
- Biography
- Weaving
- Written works
- Exhibitions
- Awards and recognition
- References
Biography
Born in Te Kuiti in 1920 to Dame Rangimārie Hetet and Tuheka Taonui Hetet, Te Kanawa was named Diggeress in honour of the World War I diggers after her father served in the New Zealand (Māori) Pioneer Battalion. She came from a family renowned for its weaving tradition and was taught weaving by her mother, Dame Rangimārie Hetet, and other kuia. Through her mother, Te Kanawa's grandfather was Charles Wilson Hursthouse and her great-uncles included Richmond Hursthouse and Henry Robert Richmond.
Te Kanawa married Tana Te Kanawa at 20 and they had 12 children, raising them at Oparure, near Te Kuiti. Through Tana she is Aunt to opera singer Kiri Te Kanawa.
Weaving
Te Kanawa is remembered as a teacher of weaving, on marae, and at the tertiary institution Te Wānanga o Aotearoa and at events. She taught weaving to renowned weavers such as Maureen Lander and also passed on her expertise on traditional methods of preparing the harakeke and earthen dyes.
She intentionally used a wide variety of techniques when weaving to encourage their survival.
As a member of the Māori Women's Welfare League she contributed to the resurgence of Māori weaving traditions during the 1950s. In 1983 Te Kanawa co-founded what would become Te Roopu Raranga Whatu o Aotearoa with others including Emily Schuster of Māori Arts and Crafts Institute in Rotorua.
She traveled extensively to catalog taonga obtained by foreign museums during the colonial era. In 1987 Te Kanawa travelled to the Museum of Brisbane in Australia to demonstrate and talk on the art of Māori weaving. In 1988 she and Emily Schuster travelled to museums in Britain and the United States to study taonga and obtain information about past weaving techniques.
Her work is not widely held in museums, being mainly made for specific people. However a collection of 12 her kahu huruhuru (woven muka cloaks, feathered on one side), made for her children, is held in trust at the Waikato Museum in Hamilton. In 1989 Te Kanawa and her mother were commissioned to make a cloak to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of the University of Waikato. In 2006 she completed a commissioned korowai made of kiwi feathers for King Tuheitia as a statement of support for the Kingitanga.
Written works
Exhibitions
Awards and recognition
Te Kanawa was made a Queen's Service Order for community service in the 1988 New Year Honours and a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2000 New Year Honours for services to Māori arts and crafts. In 2001 Te Kanawa was awarded the Sir Kingi Ihaka award by the Māori Arts Board. She was an inaugural recipient of the Arts Foundation of New Zealand Icons award in 2003.
In 2007 Te Kanawa received an honorary doctorate from the University of Waikato.