Hi again,
The day started out at a chocolate shop. Damian is quite fond of chocolate.
Then we stopped by St Mary’s church which is from 1870s and the oldest wooden gothic church in the world according to the sign. It is beautiful and in excellent shape.
The flower shot is for my mom who was on the church altar guild and did the flower arrangements and so passed on to me a love of flower arrangements.
Then on to one of the main focuses of the day and of the trip. The Auckland War Memorial Museum. This imposing building was built in 1920 after the first world war and much of the museum is devoted to memorials to those who died fighting abroad.
But there is also a significant collection of NZ native art. I was in heaven. Let’s have a look at a Māori meeting house. In the meeting house if you are Māori you will relate to the hei tiki figures in the carvings on the wall since they embody - in reality for them - the actual ancestors. You will be inside of the main ancestor which in this case was Hotunui. This will not be the case for the settler descendants.This is where ceremonies and meetings take place and like a temple have ways to behave - like you much take off your shoes to go in and many others I did not learn about but Damian hinted at.
Then there is the building that was a signifier of wealth. It is like a storage room.
I love the tongue sticking out which is quite common and I think it is a show of power and how much you are into it. Donald Trump probably uses this expression at home in private.
So then these figures made a piece of Warwick Freeman's jewelry (NZ jeweler I will be visiting later in the day) called the Orange Ghost make more sense.
Now we get to some images from the jewelry collections. These are all from the South Sea islands, not just NZ so there things from Papa New Guinea, Samoa, Fiji, etc. I took a zillion photos but have just chosen a few. Enjoy the great use of stone, bone, and shells and the many ways they are combined and used. Some of these are belts and headbands as well as necklaces.
Hooks, of course, are important to the Islanders since fishing was an important source of food. The image below is also by Warwick Freeman as a take-off of our modern hooks. One is from the shower, fishing, hangers, etc. Hooks are also very interesting jewelry items because jewelry acts as a hook to catch the eye of the beholder and reel them in.
I just recently got a necklace just like the one above with pigs teeth from Papa New Guinea. It was at a fair in SF and I couldn’t resist.
Here is a female power figure- Can’t you just feel her strength?
Since Damian wasn’t feeling too well I went to Warwick Freeman’s house and studio on my own. It was a short ferry ride across a body of water. This giant cruise ship left shortly after us. It was like 14 stories high and that was just the part out of the water.
Here is a part of Warwick’s collection of his own work stored in his house.
And here is a random collection of his work which as you can see has a slight relationship to but distinctly different look than the old work from the museum.
After a ferry ride back I went alone to a restaurant called Amano which was a short walk from the ferry building. I had a delicious Handkerchief pasta with tomatoes and basil plus a raw brussel sprout and walnut salad. Yum. Both were so delicious and since I haven’t had much great food on this trip it was a real treat. But then to top it off 2 women sat down next to me and we started talking. And then by some miracle, it turned out that the daughter was on the staff of a museum and knew all about jewelry and Art Jewelry Forum. How likely is that? We both totally delighted in the conversation and so it was a great last night in Auckland.
I just recently got a necklace just like the one above with pigs teeth from Papa New Guinea. It was at a fair in SF and I couldn’t resist.
The big pendant on the lower right was made of whale teeth and was particularly impressive.
Here is a female power figure- Can’t you just feel her strength?
Her is another female figure - surprisingly the Māori were particularly adept at giving the settlers what they wanted but on their own terms. So this is a Madonna and child with a Māori aesthetic overlay.
Then we had to stop at Giapo - the fabulous ice cream shop on Gore street. OMG!
Since Damian wasn’t feeling too well I went to Warwick Freeman’s house and studio on my own. It was a short ferry ride across a body of water. This giant cruise ship left shortly after us. It was like 14 stories high and that was just the part out of the water.
Here is a part of Warwick’s collection of his own work stored in his house.
And here is a random collection of his work which as you can see has a slight relationship to but distinctly different look than the old work from the museum.
After a ferry ride back I went alone to a restaurant called Amano which was a short walk from the ferry building. I had a delicious Handkerchief pasta with tomatoes and basil plus a raw brussel sprout and walnut salad. Yum. Both were so delicious and since I haven’t had much great food on this trip it was a real treat. But then to top it off 2 women sat down next to me and we started talking. And then by some miracle, it turned out that the daughter was on the staff of a museum and knew all about jewelry and Art Jewelry Forum. How likely is that? We both totally delighted in the conversation and so it was a great last night in Auckland.
I will be coming home tomorrow… or I should say I am leaving today- it is Monday here at 7:45 pm - your Sunday and I will be arriving back in SF at 12:45 pm on Monday. In other words I am arriving before I have left. Ha ha.
Hugs to all,
Susan
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