Muka spinner and weaver.
Jude comes to us from her home in Palmerston North. She has been the lead workshop tutor for the gallery’s hosting Rowan Tree Travel groups. For these events Jude has led a workshop sharing traditional muka extraction and spinning methods with the visitors.
Jude is one of the invited artists participating in Touch – Exploring textiles and our sense of touch. This exhibition launches 25th April and runs to 3rd June 2024. It is a great honour to host Jude with her high calibre art practice. Here is her Artist Statement:
Jude Te Punga Nelson (Te Āti Awa, Taranaki) stepped into the Māori weaving world through Te Wananga o Aotearoa, 2012. (Māori University)
She graduated in 2016 with a BA Maunga Kura Toi (Raranga). (Māori weaving)
Through this journey, she has come to recognize that something was missing in her European upbringing, and she feels like her life and art are coming into focus as she discovers her Māori roots and traditions.
Currently she is exploring the art of Tāniko. This uniquely Māori variation of finger twining is used to create colourful geometric borders on highly prized cloaks. Each pattern has spiritual and physical meanings: sadly, some meanings have been lost over time.
Jude states, “I’m in awe of the ancestor’s weaving. No graph paper and coloured pencils, no Excel spreadsheets, no good quality lighting and no glasses, no running hot water to keep their hands clean. And yet their mahi was highly complex and superbly woven.” Her work has been purchased by museums, corporations, and private collectors across Aotearoa.
