The Whanganui Regional Museum has welcomed a significant new collection of taonga pūoro Māori (Māori musical treasures) into its collection, following support from the Blumhardt Foundation.

The collection was formally welcomed into the Museum with a special blessing ceremony attended by the artists and Museum staff.

Funded through the Blumhardt Foundation, the acquisition supports the work of contemporary New Zealand craft practitioners and strengthens the Museum’s growing collection of contemporary taonga Māori.

The Museum commissioned 12 taonga pūoro pieces from Grammy Award-winning taonga pūoro producer and composer Jerome Kavanagh Poutama and his partner Ruiha Turner. In a generous gesture, the pair created and gifted a total of 16 pieces for the collection.

Both Jerome Kavanagh Poutama and Ruiha Turner are highly respected taonga pūoro practitioners and performing artists. Specially named Te Whaanau Rongoa Puoro Māori o te Ranga Tupua, the collection reflects the ceremonial and healing roles of taonga pūoro Māori.

Jerome Kavanagh says the collection encourages people to reconnect with taonga pūoro through a te ao Māori perspective. “We invite whānau to re-remember and re-indigenise the way we interact with and value our own taonga pūoro Māori through an ancestral lens, rather than through a Western mainstream art and music approach,” he says.

“Ceremonial use is the primary function. Next to that, they were used to help support the hauora of our people in times of old. Part of the tikanga (of the collection) is reviving that practice and maintaining the reverence and respect these taonga deserve – recognising that they are far more than musical instruments or toys.”

Acting Pou Ārahi at Whanganui Regional Museum, Trish Nugent-Lyne, says the acquisition marks an important moment for the Museum.

“These are powerful contemporary works that connect artistry, mātauranga and cultural practice,” she says. “To welcome these taonga into the Museum through ceremony, and to receive such a significant contribution from Jerome and Ruiha in the creation of this collection, has been incredibly special.”

The Blumhardt Foundation was established in 2003 in the name of Dame Doreen Blumhardt ONZ, DNZM, CBE — a passionate ceramic artist and arts educator — to support the growth and development of New Zealand craft and object art.

The aim of the Blumhardt fund is to enhance New Zealander’s access to the work of contemporary makers, and to support the practice of those makers through public art galleries and museums.

The Foundation supports practices including studio ceramics, glass, jewellery, metal, fibre work and other contemporary craft forms.