Feathers And Fibre BOOK

Feathers & Fibre: A Survey of Traditional and Contemporary Māori Craft
Mick Pendergrast | Penguin Books, 1984 | Softcover
An important and increasingly difficult-to-find reference on Māori fibre arts, Feathers & Fibre grew directly from the landmark exhibition of the same name curated by Mick Pendergrast for the Rotorua Art Gallery in 1982. The exhibition was conceived in response to the relative neglect of Māori fibre work in museums and exhibitions, where raranga and related arts had often been overshadowed by whakairo. Its purpose was ambitious: to bring together traditional and contemporary work from different tribal and family traditions, both as a record and as a practical source of inspiration for artists and weavers. Contemporary accounts described it as the most comprehensive gathering of Māori craft of its kind then assembled in New Zealand. 
The resulting book became the permanent record of that exhibition. Across 237 extensively illustrated pages, Pendergrast documents an extraordinary range of Māori fibre work—from kete, whāriki and cloaks to fishing equipment, poi, hats, belts and other rarely illustrated forms. Works are carefully identified wherever possible by maker, tribal association, date and technique, making the book considerably more than an exhibition catalogue: it remains a valuable visual and research reference for collectors, weavers and students of Māori material culture. Photographs are by John Martin and Alex Wilson. 
About Mick Pendergrast
Mick Pendergrast (1932–2010) was one of New Zealand's respected authorities on Māori fibre arts—a curator, ethnologist, researcher, collector and prolific author. His interest developed while teaching for many years in communities on the East Coast and Eastern Bay of Plenty, and was broadened by time teaching in the Solomon Islands and on Tikopia. He subsequently worked with several New Zealand museums and became closely associated with Auckland Museum, where he was later recognised as Associate Emeritus. 
His publications include Te Mahi Kete, Raranga Whakairo: Māori Plaiting Patterns, Te Aho Tapu: The Sacred Thread, Kākahu: Māori Cloaks and, with Roger Neich, major works on Pacific tapa. Feathers & Fibre occupies an important place in that body of work: an early attempt to give Māori fibre art the scholarly and visual attention that had long been afforded to carving. 
Original 1984 Penguin softcover edition. 237 pages, illustrated in colour and black & white. ISBN 0-14-006838-4.