Tetuhi

This Term, Point England School are studying Art Attack as our topic. As the term is almost coming to an end, class 2 were fortunate enough to go to the Tetuhi Art Gallery down in Pakuranga. And I'd have to say it was a morning full of experience! Walking into the Tetuhi Art Gallery, I was firstly amazed by the different Art displayed on the walls. We luckily had someone guide us, Jeremy. He led us to the Art room and our task was to create a tapa design. Again, I was amazed by the nice pieces of art that were displayed on the walls of the room. I saw paper-made shoes dangling from the ceiling as I walked in.


Sitting down on the table, I noticed containers of dye and ink placed in front of me. I grew excitement! Our first instruction was to crinkle the paper. I'd have to say that was not my favorite. The paper wasn't any normal paper, it was actually a machine made paper which felt kind of hard. The next task was to rub the side of the pastels onto the squares of the paper. Than we got to the fun part. Jeremy handed all of us big paint brushes to add dark brown dye onto our crinkled paper. After the dye dried up, we were all given pencils. Our task was to draw 4 symbols that represent us ( interest, culture, home and family ) I'd have to say I was really proud of my work! Lastly we had to get a small paint brush and paint some brown ink onto parts of our art.

Overall my trip at Te Tuhi was a great experience! I really do hope we get to go again next year. I learnt a lot of things. Like knowing how to put dye on paper correctly and how to make a tapa design as well. I do recommend going there!

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My Design Of My Tattoo

 Here is a presentation showing you tattoos that I have drew to show the many things that represent me and my background.



Task:

The extension crew have been focusing on the samoan tatau for the past few weeks. Mrs Tele’a sent us a task to draw two separate tattoos that represent ‘me ‘ and my background! Each of the detail I used in my tattoos is to represent something. Mrs Tele’a has helped us by leaving some questions that could help us with our tattoo.

Mr Telea's Pe'a

The extension crew have been learning about the history and the design of the samoan tatau for the past few weeks. Last week, Mr Tele’a was our model and inspiration. Our task was to ask him questions about his Tatau, to get more information and stories behind it. One of the questions were “ Would you mind if your sons had gotten the tatau? “  Mr Tele’a stated that he would surely be proud if his sons got a tatau, but he wouldn’t force them to get it.

While listening to the questions and answers that were being said, I captured the idea of the tatau. Mr Tele'a did not have the choice of choosing the design of the tatau. The artist chose to research Mr Tele'a's village and included a few motifs that were related to his research. Looking at the design of his tatau, I could see a lot of diamond chained patterns. I could also see a lot of lines included into it as well, which looked really great! But I knew that they weren't there just to ' look good' I knew it actually meant something. The belly button is known as the last part to get tattooed of the tatau, and is also known as Mr Tele'a's most memorable bit of his tattoo.

For the previous few weeks, I learnt that you could get your tatau or malu as the same time as someone as they are called your soa. I also learnt that a soa can be a sign of support and help as well. Mr Tele'a said that his soa's were his three brothers. So he must've been really glad with his brothers by his side. A tufuga is an artist who does your tatau. The tatau can only be done by two families which are Suluape and Su'a. Mr Tele'a's tattoo was done by a tufuga name Tuifa'asisina Su'a. Tuifa'asisina was also a tufuga for my uncle Semu and his fiance Julianna. But the two families are looking forward to teaching others how to do it.

During the progress of the tatau, there are two men who sit with the tufuga and stretch the skin to make the tufuga's job easier. Their job is also to wash the equipment after use. If not washed, there may be a chance of the next person to get infected. Overall I am really satisfied with I've learnt throughout out the few weeks. Getting to talk to a experienced tatau person, like Mr Tele'a has been a major bonus!