Printapalooza IV: Call for Artists - Te Kowhai Print Trust

25/07/20 - 25/07/20
9:30am to 2pm

Hihiaua Cultural Centre, Herekino St, Whangarei

Printapalooza: Call for Artists

Te Kowhai Print Trust is calling for expressions of interests for artists wanting to participate in their printmaking extravaganza Printapalooza. For those of you who don’t know already Printapalooza is a large format woodcut printing event held here in Northland where we use a road roller to print enormous woodcuts. These woodcuts are exhibited as part of the event and auctioned off to raise money for the print trust.

See link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i_udlqIRLo&t=61s

This year’s event is especially amazing as we will hold the event at the beautiful new Hihiaua Cultural Centre in Whangarei. They have graciously agreed to host the event as part of their Puanga/Matariki celebration. The event will be held over two days 19,20^th June with an auction of the work on the 27^th. An outline of the event will be sent out to all participants as we get closer to the date.

A couple of changes to the Printapalooza format from previous events is that participants will be able to choose from two size blocks to carve. First size is the “full block” which is 90cm (wide) x 244cm and the half block which is 78cm (wide) x 120cm. Artists will need to source their own custom wood to carve which needs to be 4.75mm thick.

Costs of entry is still $50.00 per participant. This includes the printing of your block, ink and material (calico) your block is printed on. Two prints from each block will be made one for the exhibition which will be auctioned as fundraiser for the event and the second will be the property of the artist to do with as they want.

There is a theme associated with this year’s event as it will be held around the appearance of the first star preceding Matariki known as Puanga. (see attached information)

Artist or groups interested in participating in this extraordinary event can send their expressions of interest to admin@tkpt.org . Better to be sooner than later. As it can take longer than you expect to get your carvings done and spots are filling up fast.

A little bit about Puanga

Puanga is known as the First star preceding Matariki.

Puanga, also known as Rigel, is located just above Tautoro (Orion’s belt or part of the ‘Pot’ constellation). In whakapapa terms, Puanga is an older brother to Matariki. Puanga was more commonly observed as the start of the Maori New Year by the West Coast tribes and parts of Northland.

Puanga as the star that brought the Maori New Year. ‘Puanga kai rau’ (Puanga bringer of food) is a whakatauki (proverb) for that star. Puanga and Matariki is a time to wānanga, to restore faith and hope for the future, a time for whanaungatanga, to be with others, share stories and kai, and celebrate who we are. As well as marking the beginning of a new year, it also signals other new beginnings. It is often seen as a time of reflection and scarcity that comes before the abundance of the harvest.

A note about our current restrictions due to the Covid 19 virus

As we all know we are in extraordinary times with our future often uncertain due to the dangers this virus poses to our communities. We are planning to hold printapalooza as scheduled toward the end of June but this is absolutely controlled by the threat level Covid 19 poses to our community of artists so the date for the event may be pushed back at any time depending on the circumstances that arise. However, carving such a large block takes time and organizing so we are giving artists a good amount of time to get their work ready. We will then be ready to go ahead with the event as soon as the safety of such community gatherings can be guaranteed.