Saturday, December 5, 2009

Saturday Daydreaming: Pacifica

Ceiling and window of ASB Bank building, in the Art Deco city of Napier, North Island, New Zealand.
(The color of the ceiling is more accurate in the top photo.)


I love Pacific Island motifs, not of any specific island, nation or ethnic groups, but a kind of composite I've concocted in my mind. Just thinking about them, I feel the warm salty breeze and my pace slows down to a leisurely, warm-hearted one; even my smile is slower but broader.

I would like to get back to these motifs in the future, but I am also a little wary of cultural appropriation vs. political correctness issue. I will be treading these in the same, slow pace.

5 comments:

  1. How very lovely, I haven't seen motifs like this before.

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  2. Many of the Pacific, including Maori, motifs are geographic and repeated in patterns, which should be of interest to weavers. The most accessible, to me, are tapa cloths, but I thought I could also research Maori carvings, but Anna-Marie tells me the origins are often in tattoo designs!

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  3. Tim Wraight is a great one for studying patterns - I must post more of his works, particularly from this project. http://megweaves.blogspot.com/2006/11/care.html

    And here's one of our favorites: http://megweaves.blogspot.com/2006/11/care.html

    He uses some Maori motifs, adapts some, and makes up his own as well.

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  4. I do like those Pacifica motifs, and I think I like just about everything in Art Deco Napier.

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  5. I think the Pacific motifs translate to textiles easily, because of the repeated patterns. Now Art Deco, that's a little harder.

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