Papatūanuku – Kete Kūmara

Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Tama, me Ngāti Mutunga a Tracey. Tracey’s weaving career began as an eighteen-year-old student at Whitireia Polytechnic in Porirua, under the guidance of Anne Philbin (Arts Director). As a first-year student, the offer to attend a weaving workshop at her marae Whakarongotai ki Waikanae, provided the perfect opportunity to learn how to weave. Guided by Kāpiti weavers and under the watchful eye of her mentor Hereke Jenkins (aunty Eke), weaving became the major focus, followed by painting, print making and carving. For an art practice to continually grow and develop an artist needs to be courageous and to challenge oneself. Tracey set herself the challenge of exploring new ways of creating form to express an idea. She considers her work to be experiments, moments in time that continually shift and change as she experiences different influences. Tracey is motivated to build on creations of the past and to set ambitious goals and objectives for the future. From these explorations, there are many works that will develop into new directions in the future