July 06, 2020
Art has feel good factor for iconic Adsett
The country's newest Art Laureate says making art was a way for Māori to feel good about themselves.
Sandy Adsett from Ngāti Pahauwera was inducted into the exclusive club of 20 living Whakamana Hirangi Arts Icons along with writer Joy Cowley and actor Sam Neill.
He says he had little contact with Māori arts growing up in Raupunga or at Te Aute College, but after leaving teacher training college he got the chance to work on marae restorations with fellow art advisors Ralph Hotere, Para Matchitt and Cliff Whiting.
They also forged links with a previous generation of Maori artists including master carver Pine Taiapa.
"Pine said he had a concern that the language may not survive and he felt our own art images may still be able to identify us as a culture so the art was a means of making us feel good about engaging in our own Māori art forms without having to feel the kosher art was once based on the European or western image," Dr Adsett says.
Copyright © 2020, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com