‘Trade axes’ brought back to life
Blacksmith Robert Pinkney and carver Michael Matchitt have combined their talents to produce a series of ‘trade axes’ similar to some that were used as exchange goods between Pakeha and Maori during earliest European contact in Aotearoa/New Zealand.
The inaugural exhibition of the axes will open at the Village Arts gallery Kohukohu, Rob's home gallery, on Saturday (through to July 23), the perfect compliment, according to gallery spokesman Wally Hicks, to author/historian Jennifer Ashton's talk ‘At the Margin of Empire’, about pioneer timber trader John Webster, at the same venue on Saturday (2pm).
Captain Cook was believed to have traded axe heads with Maori, and successive arrivals of explorers, whalers, early settlers and missionaries increasingly brought hafted axes, specially manufactured for the purpose of trade, Mr Hicks added. Prized both as implements and later as weapons, Maori decoratively carved the handles to personalise them.
Rob Pinkney, a trained blacksmith who was born and raised in Kohukohu, had based his six axe heads on trade axes that were mass-produced in Europe. Five were English styles, with curved blades, and one a French design with a straighter cutting edge.
They were forged in a coal fire from raw iron and left in their ‘just forged’ state, a technique called a ‘folding axe,’ an early method of using iron and folding fire-welded steel into the blade to toughen the sharpened edge.
“The axe heads created by Rob come to life when combined with wooden handles fashioned by Michael, each a hand-carved contemporary artwork blending traditional surface patterns and using materials available to early Maori,” he said. “Michael explores handle shapes other than customary straight ones, his paatiti (short- handled axe) and kakauroa (longhandled) being a little longer than traditional trade axes. Michael uses hongoeka (lancewood) and jarrah to enhance the heads forged by Rob.
“Michael, who comes from a long line of traditional Maori carvers, trained at Te Puia (NZ Maori Arts and Craft Institute) and has taught traditional carving in schools around the country, is always interested in creative collaboration.
“Working together as Maori and Pakeha, each in their traditional role, Michael Matchitt and Rob Pinkney aim to highlight the positive relationship of our cultures in Aotearoa/New Zealand, and salute an important implement in early Pakeha-Maori interactions, the trade axe.”