Toi Ataata - Ngā mahi: reading technique in whakairo, raranga and tukutuku
Here the standard tests whether you can identify technique from evidence - surface marks, structure and materials - and describe how a work was actually made, in the right order.
Whakairo (carving)
- Haehae: parallel grooves cut into the surface with a chisel.
- Pākati: notches that break the surface.
- Rauponga: haehae grooves with pākati notches between them, the classic patterned band.
- Whakarei: surface finishing and embellishment where planes meet. Woods such as tōtara and kauri, and pounamu, behave differently; the whao (chisel) is matched to the material.
Raranga and tukutuku
- Muka: harakeke fibre scraped and prepared before weaving.
- Whenu: the structural strips; aho: the weft that crosses them.
- Whatu: the weaving action itself; taniko: fine geometric patterning worked in muka, often black and white, as a border.
- Tukutuku: horizontal kaho rods cross-tied to vertical whenu to make a wall panel.
Worked example
A curved surface shows long parallel grooves running its length, with short notches set between the groove pairs, and the ridge edges smoothed and dressed. Reasoning: parallel grooves alone indicate haehae; add the notches and it is rauponga; the smoothed, dressed edges indicate whakarei finishing. Answer with all three terms and the evidence for each, not just the word "carving".
Traps that cost marks
- Naming a pattern with no feature cited from the work to support it.
- Swapping whenu and aho in a description of weaving.
- Treating tukutuku and taniko as the same thing - one is a panel structure, the other a patterned border.
- Skipping material preparation, which is where most of the tikanga and skill sits.