 Tongan master craftsman, Sopolemalama Filipe Tohi is the winner of the 2009 Creative New Zealand Senior Pacific Artist Award ($10,000). The Pacific Starmap champion was acknowledged for his outstanding contribution to the heritage of the traditional art of lalava and ‘mana’ within the community. His work is based on the ancient Pacific Island art form used for joining and binding materials such as houses, canoes and tools. Filipe Tohi joins other prominent artists as winner of the Senior Pacific Artist Award. They are: Johnny Penisula (2002), Albert Wendt (2003), Nathaniel Lees (2004), Opetia Foa’ai (Te Vaka) (2005), Jim Vivieaere (2006), Justine Simei-Barton (2007), and Igelese Ete (2008).
(Image from Pasifika Foundation Hawai’i website)
Creative New Zealand presented Pasifika Arts awards to four Pacific artists and agroup of Niuean women whose work has made an outstanding contribution to Pacific arts in New Zealand. The 2009 awards were presented to composer Poulima Salima (Emerging Pacific Artist Award – $3000), to performer Elisha Na’otala Fa’i (the Iosefa Enari Award – $3000), to the weaving group Falepipi he Mafola (the Pacific Heritage Art Award – $5000), to artist Shigeyuki Kihara (the Contemporary Pacific Artist’s Award – $5000) and to master craftsman Sopolemalama Filipe Tohi (the Senior Pacific Artist Award – $10,000). Creative New Zealand’s Pacific Arts Committee Chairperson Pele Walker said the annual Arts Pasifika Awards celebrated the rich range of Pacific art in New Zealand. “Every year we are thrilled and delighted with not only the calibre of artists nominated but the range of artistic fields that they work in. The Pacific experience in New Zealand is unique and these awards enable Creative New Zealand to acknowledge and celebrate the contribution these artists make to the flourishing New Zealand arts landscape.”
 ART (Arts Regional Trust | Te Taumata Toi-a-Iwi) and The Big Idea | Te Aria Nui warmly invites interested individuals to attend a unique, forum, expo and networking event: “Survive & Thrive: sustaining creative projects, organisations and businesses in challenging economic times.” Participants will hear from leading creative entrepreneurs, their success stories, and their views on present and future opportunities. The forum presents an opportunity to connect with peers and other influential people from a variety of backgrounds and sectors. Organisations that are the supporters, motivators and the backbone of the Auckland region’s creative sector will be on hand to help artists, producers, makers and doers to deliver. Entry is free. However, places are limited, so registration is essential. Contact details: RSVP to margaret.lewis@thebigidea.co.nz by 2 November with each person’s name, email, creative discipline and whether you require lunch.
- When: Monday 9 November 2009 – 11.00 am – 4.00 pm (expo, networking and lunch from 11am, forum starts at 1pm)
“Pacific Pattern” is a series of photographs by New Zealand photographer Glen Jowitt that document new developments in Pacific pattern making. The exhibition highlights the role that pattern, fabric and fibre play in the body adornment, costume, ceremonial rituals and architecture of the Pacific. The photographs also tell the story of how ideas, people and things flow and how connections are made. The exhibition celebrates the role that Pacific crafts people, especially women, play in transmitting cultural traditions in our changing world. Jowitt has spent over twenty years recording the craftwork of Pacific people. The exhibition is hosted by the Canterbury Museum and continues until 29 March 2009.
 "Pacific Pattern" by Glenn Jowitt. Image courtesy of Canterbury Museum.
An exhibition of Tongan women’s art will be on show at the Fresh Gallery Otara from 20 February to 14 March 2009. Curated by Charmaine ‘Ilaiu and Nina Tonga, “Koloa et. al. Your Art is my Treasure” is a collection of textile art forms from the Mo’ui aonga Tongan women’s collective from Otahuhu. Reflecting the dynamic process by which older women transmit their skills to the younger generation, the exhibition features new materials and techniques in the creation of ngatu (bark cloth), fala (woven mats), and monomono (quilt-making). In preparation for the exhibition, the curators have transformed the gallery space in the customary manner of Tongan teuteu, or preparatory adornment. A curators’ floor talk and koloa demonstration will be held on Saturday, 7 March at 12 noon. The exhibition is part of the 2009 Celebrate Pasifika Festival.
 Tongan Koloa Art. Image Courtesy of Fresh Gallery Otara
The Australasian Performing Art Association (APRA/AMCOS) and Creative New Zealand will host an evening of information for Pacific artists and musicians based in Christchurch and Canterbury about performing rights, royalties and funding. Petrina George and Tarisi Vunidilo will also speak about their respective organisations and how they work to serve the interests of Pacific artists. This is an opportunity not to be missed and will take place on Wednesday 4 February at Christchurch’s Dux de Lux from 6 pm onwards. The workshop will be followed by a performance of original tunes and some classic hits by local reggae band Niu Seila. For more details, visit the Pacific Underground Website.
Iva is the 9th consecutive annual Pacific Arts Festival to be organised by local Christchurch arts collective Pacific Underground. Commenting on this milestone, Festival Director Pos Mavaega says, “we hadn’t projected a 5 or 10 year plan when we took on the festival … but we’ve managed to develop a unique event which hosts some of the world’s most honoured and prolific Pasifika artists.” This year’s festival runs from 4-7 February and features music from celebrated Maori Reggae group Herbs Unplugged, songstress Toni Huata, Dunedin Reggae band Koile, local bands Niu Seila, Neon Sophora, Restoration and D’sendantz with local tattoo artist Aki Aupa’au. Tusiata Avia will read from Bloodclot, her new collection of poems. Art enthusiasts will also have their last chance to see “Bite Me” and “Baby You Can Drive My Car”, two exhibitions curated by Maria Ifopo and Stephanie Oberg featuring work by Andy Leleisi’uao, Lonnie Hutchinson, Stone Maka, Maria Ifopo, Raphael Stowers, and Cerisse Palalagi. The popular Family Day returns as do the craft workshops at the Canterbury Museum led by master weaver Emma Kesha , Maria Godinet Watts (Pacific adornment) Reihana Parata and Morehu Flutey (traditional Maori poi-making). For a full programme, visit the Pacific Underground Website.
 Toni Huata, one of the star performers at Iva 2009. Photo courtesy of Tanya Muagututi'a
World renowned Tongan lalava artist and sculptor, Filipe Tohi, is the Starmap Champion for January. During this month, Filipe Tohi welcomes questions about his work, the people and ideas that inspire him, and his artistic vision. He also provides advice on the path to success in the arts. Filipe works across a range of media, including stone, wood, steel and digital imagery, but specialises in the traditional Tongan art of lalava, the decorative sennit lashings used especially in the construction of Tongan and Fijian canoes and houses. He has exhibited and addressed art lovers throughout the world including France, Sweden, Germany, the United States, Hawai’i, Fiji, Tonga, American Samoa, and New Zealand. He is keen to pass on his wisdom to aspiring Pacific artists. To submit a question, click here.
 Professor Epeli Hau'ofa. Photo courtesy of the University of the South Pacific One of the Pacific’s great figures of the 20th and 21st Centuries has died. Professor Epeli Hau’ofa passed away on Sunday, 11th January 2009. Epeli as he was known to most, was born in Papua New Guinea to missionary parents from Tonga. He grew up in PNG, Fiji and Tonga and studied in Australia and Canada. He worked in Tonga as Deputy Private Secretary to the King of Tonga before moving to Fiji where he taught sociology at the University of the South Pacific. He leaves an important legacy behind him as an internationally acclaimed philosopher and writer whose essays “Our Sea of Islands” and “The Ocean in Us” continue to transform how Pacific people understand their world. As a writer, he wrote Tales of the Tikongs and Kisses in the Nederends as well as numerous other short stories and poems. As a mentor to Pacific intellectuals, Epeli inspired several of the region’s most prominent academics. He also founded and was the first director of the University of the South Pacific’s Oceania Centre for Arts and Culture where he supported emerging Pacific artists, sculptors, writers, dancers, weavers, carvers, musicians and writers. His passing is a major loss to the intellectual and creative life of Oceania.
Pacific contributions to the New Zealand arts scene are unique and flourishing said Pele Walker, chair of Creative New Zealand’s Pacific Arts Committee, as she addressed the 2008 Arts Pasifika Awards held in Manukau City on Monday 17 November. The awards are an opportunity to encourage and celebrate excellence in Pacific arts in New Zealand. “Every year we are thrilled and delighted with not only the calibre of artists nominated but the range of artistic fields that they work in.” Among those who won awards were the Samoan composer/conductor Igelese Ete (Samoa) who was awarded the Senior Pacific Artist prize ($7000); the Auckland-based Enuamanu Atiu Nui Marurua Society Inc (Cook Islands) in recognition of its Collection of Writings from Enuamanu and Beyond: E Autataangano Enuamanu e Ta Te Aukorero (2007); the critically acclaimed Auckland playwright, Dianna Fuemana (Samoa), who received the Pacific Innovation and Excellence Award ($5000); the 22 year-old opera singer James Ioelu (Samoa) who received the Iosefa Enari Memorial Award ($3000) to pursue study opportunities overseas; and emerging artists Linda Tuafale Tanoa’i (Samoa) and Leilani Kake (Cook Islands and Nga Puhi) who were each awarded $3000 for their cutting edge visual art.
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