Dane Kingi – Photo from the Upper Hutt Leader

Dane Kingi is currently studying towards the Diploma of Art and Creativity (Honours) at The Learning Connexion, but this is hardly his first introduction to creating art. Dane has been making things since he was a child and it is something he says he’ll do for ‘life’. His Mum always drew and he remembers spending time drawing with her when he was younger. This led to a passion for creating, in particular carving. Dane works mostly with bone, but also carves wood and designs tattoos.

He finds that the course allows him to work in the directions he is already exploring and his mentor supports him to take his work further. He has been doing a number of projects in and around the Wellington and Hutt valley communities. He has been creating gifts for honored guests at the Armageddon conference, a trade which allows him to meet stars such as Micheal Hearst from Hercules.

It is a hard road however, there are a lot of cheap knock off bone carvings and faux Maori art floating around which undermines work like his. Dane finds that he gets a lot of interest and commissions from people in his own community and also from word of mouth. Dane has been in Upper Hutt for the last ten years and his “Maori Bone Carving” sign outside his house gets him a lot of interest. Local iwi also contact him when they want whalebone and other special items worked on.

His most recent project happened via word of mouth, creating an archway for students at Heretaunga Kindergarten. Recently the Kindergarten decided to become bilingual and they wanted some Maori influence to be bought into the space. They approached their local Kaumatua who passed them on to Dane.

Tawhirimatea

The Kindergarten had decided that they wanted a representation of Tawhiri-Matea, because of the character of Wellington and its windy nature. Dane built and carved a Maihi, or gable above the gazebo in their courtyard. They wanted to represent the overseas students and also the New Zealand born students with kowhaiwhai pattern.Dane designed kowhaiwhai panels to represent both groups. He also included hands at the end of each kowhaiwhai panel to represent the teachers and community who hold all the children together. There was a dawn powhiri for the work and in the end the Kindergarten and community were wrapt

Dane calls himself a T. B. A, a ‘typical broke artist’, but he says it is not about the money; he wouldn’t do anything else except create.

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