Kia Ora From Oz

[mace ngata]

Hi every body, my name is as on my profile. I am originally from NZ, Ko Hikurangi te maunga ,Ko Waiapu te awa, Ko Ngati Porou te iwi !! (bit of a Maori thing there, lol the mountain,the river,and the tribe from whence I come), on the east coast of the north island, and have been living on the coast of Queensland in Oz for thirty odd years now, lol still lovin the warm.

I actually started carving bone after being told to get to the garage and been given some bone to play with, at the annoying age of thirteen, {1977) one rainy day by my grandmother, and emerged in a cloud of white dust a few hours later proudly displaying a mere that the woman god bless her soul kept till the day she passed away.I think she expected me to use the files I had been pointed towards but soon clued on to the fact that a drill held in a vice did the work alot quicker. Many years later I found out about " point carvers " and much to my dismay the dangers of bone dust, but touch wood my lungs seem to be none the worse for it.

Being totally ignorant of Owen Mapps work and gravers at the time, stuck with doing this for the love of it and a bit of pocket money, till I came to Oz some five years later with my family and bar the occasional foray, put carving to one side.

I sort of missed the whole bone carving renaissance bought about by Owen Mapp ,stephen Myre and the like and am starting from scratch developing the skills i need to create taonga ( treasures ) for family and friends, sort of like knowing what I want to say but lacking somewhat in the language .I am like many spell bound at the eloquence displayed by many on this site and the generosity shown in sharing the knowledge gained no doubt through years of trial and error.

I have been lucky enough to have picked up over the years bits and pieces of pipe stone ( gifted ) ,coral ,shell ,Jade and Pounamu in addition to a couple of whales teeth, for which I have the deepest of respect, for " one day ". Well I the day is here I suppose and so here I am.

I have started on a tooth, lol scary as,very daunting, actually a little overwhelming really, ( there is nothing like jumping into the deep end !), which I hope will be something treasured by my family for years to come and hopefully leave my mark after I have gone into the realms of Hine-nui-te-po, ( hopefully not for a while yet ! ) and have attached the rough start of it in a photo,sort of feeling my way thru it and the story I hope to convey, I haven't started on any detail yet just the out line of where I want to go with this, but it is all I have to show for now as most of the taonga I have made, certainly the ones I have been proudest of, I have given to people I have loved, known and meet along the way, but think its important that if I am to benefit from this site that i share part of " my story".

I am also about to start finally playing with jade with the help of a local lapidary club and might start a topic if it's ok, once I get going ,from a total beginners perspective, lol prob a bit boring for some, but hey if we newbies band together in playing catch up ,I reckon there is a lot of fun to be had, friends to be made,and if at some stage something I have learned helps someone else, well, that seems to be the theme for this site, for which by the way Janel, if ya get to read this, like many others, I am very humbly grateful..

Cheers

mace..

p.s. only the second time I have ever posted on a forum of any description, soz if a bit wordy, fingers crossed hope the photo has been resized right.

[Billy]

Kia ora again Mace. Ataahua mahi you got going there. Looks like a seasoned pro to me. Obviously you've been containing that talent for too long bro. Great to see another kiwi in Oz in the forum. Got a couple of Ngati Porou mates on the coast too. I visit there a couple of times a year. Maybe one day we can touch base.

 

Mauriora, Billy.

[mace ngata]

Tena koe Billy, I would look forward to that myself, lol, until then I will amuse myself with trying to figure out, just how you do, what you do, so well ! and thankyou for your kind words as well, they are appreciated. I was lucky enough to be able to drop in and visit Hinerupe a couple of weeks ago while visiting family, lol crazy horses rule ! :-) a beautiful part of the world ,as is where I currently am. Us Ngati;s mate, chur too much eh ? lol . Seasoned pro ? at eating kina no doubt ,carving well, not yet ,but one day. I hope to get to a place where I feel fluent in conveying the story if you will, told of the person for which the taonga is conceived. I see that in your mahi , neat stuff bro. As indeed is alot of the work here abouts, this site is choice ,really, i get lost in here for hours :-) Checked out iwiart ,some nice stuff there and spotted your stuff ,along with Rangi kipa's mahi and then recognized my cuzzies work there as well, a very nice surprise, seems at times a small world down here. Rangi Kipa has just finished my sisters moko kauae a very important occasion for the whanau as you can imagine , and beautifully done as you would expect from such an accomplished artist. Thanks again Billy

Ka Kite Ano

Mace.

[Janel]

Thank you Mace,

 

It is very good to read your introduction and to see the strong piece presented in the photo. And, thank you. I am grateful for the good-natured group of carvers who share their work with everyone here.

 

Janel

[Tony N]

^{welcome and hey like your work far better than when i started keep it up and all the best}

[Borjitsu]

Wellcome to the forum!! and congrats for your amazing work.

[JP Anderson]

Howdy Mace!

[mace ngata]

hey all thank you for your kind comments, hey JP, looks like a beautiful spot ya got there in Montana, you really do have some beautiful work posted on here bro , i love the organic flow of lines in bracelet # 5 , there really are so many talented people on here working in so many different mediums and applying varying techniques

lol be enough learning here to keep busy for a lifetime lol

cheers