I was grateful to be asked to do this interview when I was in London in August 2019.
Māori Art Education
Upcoming community workshops at Toi Wāhine 2015 HQ, 10 Hartham Place, Porirua
The exhibition Toi Wāhine 2015 that I am a part of alongside Xoe Hall, Sian Montgomery-Neutze, Miriama Grace-Smith, Pikihuia Haenga-Carkeek, Keri-mei Zagrobelna and Rangimarie Sophie Jolley, is on now until 22nd December 2015. So far it has been an amazing journey and I have been relishing every minute of the synergy and collaborative energy that comes from working in a group of like minded people.
We have several community events and workshops coming up soon. Here are two of them - mural painting workshop on Saturday 12th December and customised footwear workshop on Sunday 20th December.
I hope you can make it along to have some fun and share some time with our group of artists!
Mauriora,
Taryn
One of my first experiences of teaching.
Work with me: Matariki Māori star art workshop for educators and tamariki
An example of the activity I teach in the workshop.
I recently had the opportunity to teach some teachers a Māori art activity that I created for Matariki, based on contemporary whetū/star designs. I have always had a personal interest in stars and the activity grew organically from my own art practice where I started creating round kōwhaiwhai style star designs that I wanted to tattoo on people. Fortunately for me, an organization called Ruapehu Rural Education Programme, offered me the chance to deliver this art drawing activity as a workshop for its educators to come and learn, and to then takeaway and share with the children that they work with. It was super exciting to have the chance to work in the sphere of education, and I would love to do more work like this.
My desire to teach, share and be involved with children and young people has been increasing more and more over the years, and I have a true and passionate interest in education through the arts. I really believe that the arts are a powerful vehicle for instilling confidence in children, helping them to grow their own voices, assisting them to become powerful communicators, and aiding them in finding, exploring and expressing their own unique identities. I believe that the arts have a myriad of benefits for children and all of humanity, and I am currently investing more time, effort and research into learning more about education through the arts. Here's another article I wrote about my recent experience with Māori Art based education.
One of the workshop participants children came in after school and had a go at the activity.
An early childhood teacher from Ireland practicing the activity so she can share it with the tamariki that she works with.
Doing the activity myself while the workshop participants worked on their own star designs.
One of the workshop participants sussing out the technique so she can share it with the tamariki that she works with.
If you are interested in me coming to share this fun and educational, hands on and practical Māori star art workshop (perfect for Matariki) with your organization or group of people, please fill out the enquiry form below.
Guiding tamariki at my marae to paint their own mural.
Tattooer turned teacher? Why I love working with kids!
The designs used in the mural all had direct relevance to the children, who they are, who they have descended from and the overall message and kaupapa of the work.
I've recently been having more and more opportunities to work with tamariki and rangatahi, involving them in my work and sharing my passion for Māori Art and Tā Moko with them. Working in the educational sphere has already taught me so much and added so much value to my art practice and my life - teaching and sharing what I love is hugely rewarding!
There are several reasons why I love working with young people and why I think it is important.
Personally I feel that all creative activities have a multitude of benefits for human beings, and in particular children - the seeds of our future. Having an outlet and means of expression is healthy, healing and therapeutic. The arts have the ability to bring out the best in people, to bring us together, to connect and unite. The arts are a vehicle for teaching team work and creative collaboration with one another. Through the arts we can learn the power of focus, and the value of determination, commitment, persistence, practice, patience, and observation.
Cultural arts can connect children with who they are, their unique identities, who they have come from, their ancestry and the rich and vast culture and visual language that has been laid out before them by our ancestors. Cultural arts can be a vehicle for teaching both the importance of maintaining tradition, and also the value of innovation and evolution.
Cultural arts can also serve as a connecting point across cultures, bringing people of all different world views together - it can be a vehicle for cultural exchange and fostering respect between different people from all around the world. To me, empathising, understanding, seeing value in, and having an appreciation and interest in other cultures outside of ones own, is good for our kids.
Many Māori children are naturally artistically talented and inclined and I believe in encouraging, fostering and cultivating this to its fullest potential.
I believe that Māori Art is a viable career pathway for some of our rangatahi and I want to help them achieve their dreams and goals and show that it is possible to be a successful Māori Artist, to not only survive from art but to thrive as well. I feel that the arts are an even playing field (provided you work hard and put in the hours) - for the kids that may not be good at sports, or maths, or English, or whatever the case may be, the arts can provide an opportunity for them to excel at something and to experience a feeling of success, accomplishment and achievement within themselves. There are many success stories of Māori Artists excelling in their chosen fields both within Aotearoa and internationally - and for the children that have their heart in their art, I want to help them excel and succeed.
A big thank you to my whanaunga Ash who co-facilitated this educational workshop, without Ash's contribution this workshop wouldn't have been possible.
If you would like me to come and work with your school, museum, gallery, organization or marae, just email me on taryn.teuira@gmail.com with details of what you would like to achieve, your budget, and some information about the group that you'd like me to work with. I'm currently working on developing a series of workshops - stay posted.