Whāingaroa artist Simon Te Wheoro (Ngāti Māhanga) has arrived in Norway to take part in a leading sculptural event in which he will join eight other international artists sculpting large-scale stone works over the next six weeks.
“It’s amazing to have finally arrived. The whenua landscape is very similar to Aotearoa, green and beautiful with ngahere and maunga by the moana.”
Te Wheoro, a contemporary Māori visual artist whose artistic talents also include tā moko and painting, is one of only nine international stone sculptors invited to participate in the 21st International Larvikite Sculpture Symposium Norge in Tjodalyng, southern Norway, featuring artists from Canada, Germany, Japan, Poland, Serbia, Turkey, United Kingdom and Aotearoa.
“As a Māori, I’m feeling very privileged and honoured to be part of this symposium and connect and share my culture with eight other artists from around the world.”
Simon Te Wheoro was a contributing artist to the ‘Kotahitanga through Creativity’ anti-racism campaign in 2020. Video / Creative Waikato
During the symposium, the artists will live onsite by the Stalaker Quarry and make sculptural art from local blue-crystalline stone.
“We will be working on a stone obtained onsite at the quarry called Larvikite and we will all be sculpting works on a very large scale. So I’m no doubt going to be learning a lot of new techniques and expanding my personal knowledge and development.
“As you can imagine, I’m very excited!”
It is an opportunity for Te Wheoro to extend his skillset and learn from artists accomplished in working on large-scale works.
“Specific techniques I’m hoping to learn are the feather and wedging process of splitting large-scale rocks. Unfortunately, back in Aotearoa I don’t have access, let alone the resources, to source the scale of stone I am about to sculpt.
“It’s a fast sculpting technique used to remove material and there are some very skilled artists that will be attending the symposium that possess this technique. So there will be a lot of watching and learning.”
Te Wheoro was chosen from a list of 120 international applicants and is understood to be the first New Zealand sculptor in the almost 40-year history of the event to be invited to participate.
“It’s very inspiring engaging and working alongside other artists so I will no doubt be leaving with some great relationships and networks to potentially open up other opportunities.”
With the symposium coinciding with Matariki in Aotearoa, Te Wheoro says it is a perfect time to take stock.
“I guess with what’s happening back home around the time of Matariki, this journey really aligns with the hakaaro/kaupapa of Matariki to acknowledge our tūpuna Māori through this taonga tuku iho and reflect on my past experiences and plan my next chapter of life over the next six weeks, which is the duration of the Norge sculpture symposium.”
The symposium runs from 1 July to 11 August.