Riria Smith (23 July 1935 – 28 November 2012) was a master in traditional Māori weaving from Northland in New Zealand. She was affiliated to the iwi Ngāti Kurī and the hapū Pohutiare of Te Aupōuri.
Riria Smith | |
|---|---|
| Born | 23 July 1935 New Zealand |
| Died | 28 November 2012 (aged 77) |
| Known for | Weaving |
Biography edit
Smith was born in 1935. She lived in Ahipara near Ninety Mile Beach in the north of New Zealand.[1] Smith learnt from her parents and grandparents generations the art of weaving, including collecting and caring for the plants and natural dyes used in traditional Māori textiles. Her mother was a renowned weaver although Smith was the only one of her ten siblings to follow on with it.[1][2]
Smith was one of eight weavers to be featured in the first international exhibition of contemporary weaving called Amokura o te Maori. Smith's work was exhibited alongside Nora Pikia, Te Aue Davis, Puti Hineaupounamu Rare, Diggeress Te Kanawa, Florrie Berghan, Emily Schuster and Eddie Maxwell. It opened in London and then toured Europe.[1]
Items of Smiths are held at the national museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, as well as in many marae her region of Northland.[3][2] One of the items at Te Papa is a sail for a waka. A group of Northland weavers studied an original woven sail held in a collection in a museum in England, and then went about recreating what they had observed.[4]
Smiths weaving technique tended towards patterning with undyed fibres, using a planned holes (kupenga) and reverse leaf approach.[1] Examples of her work are used by Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research (a New Zealand government research institution) to illustrate the weaving use of the New Zealand plant kuta or sedge (Eleocharis sphacelata).[5]
She was appointed a member of the group Kahui Whiritoi. This group is a formal acknowledgement of master weavers in Aotearoa and is decided by New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute and the management committee of Te Roopu Raranga Whatu.[6]
Her tangi (funeral) was held at Te Ohaaki Marae in Ahipara. She died after a long illness in 2012.[2]
References edit
- ^ a b c d "Amokura o te Maori". Tu Tangata (32). 10 January 1986.
- ^ a b c "Far North mourns master weaver Riria Smith". RNZ. 29 November 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
- ^ "Collections Online - Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa". Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
- ^ "Northland weavers on mission to replicate Māori sail". NZ Herald. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
- ^ "Kuta and Kāpūngāwhā". Manaaki Whenua. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
- ^ "Kahui Whiritoi". Toi Maori Aotearoa - Maori Arts New Zealand. Retrieved 4 January 2021.