Israel Tangaroa Birch
Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Kahungunu, Palmerston North
Visual arts
Israel Birch connects his early interest in art to when his father was laid off work from the Whakatu freezing works.
"He returned to carving. This was great for my dad as it was a way of healing him and our family. Since then, art has always been part of my life. I have since taken small steps and have now found myself doing a Masters in Māori art."
Those steps include:
- Being part of a collective that helped redesign the centre of the Hastings CBD which now includes numerous art works
- Working at Te Ao Marama, a Hasting's art school for at risk youth
- A degree in visual arts and te reo Māori papers from the Eastern Institute of Technology
- In collaboration with friends, entering wearable arts competitions. Successes have included a first place in the menswear section of Style Pacifika 2000 and a finals spot in the Nelson Wearable Arts competition.
- Working with renowned furniture designer David Trubridge
- A month long residency at a museum in the Netherlands
- Exhibiting in the Kiwa exhibition at the Spirit Wrestler Gallery, Vancouver alongside leading contemporary artists like Fred Graham and Bob Jhanke.
Israel's work has been critically acclaimed in the visual arts world, but it is a master of another artform he credits with a major turning point in his arts practice.
"It started when I was a student at EIT in my final year. I went up and had an interview with Hirini Melbourne about Taonga Puoro and I became interested in the sounds of Māori instruments and looking at translating sounds. He talked about the formula that anything that moves vibrates therefore that anything that vibrates sounds. So what I am really looking at is movement within painting or within sculpture to bring about in a visual form those kind of ideas. He told me that in Māori culture stones and wood have a resonant quality, a vibration. I just applied that to my work with what I'm doing in terms of movement within Maori culture like kowhaiwhai patterns and the materials in which I am working with."
How exactly he makes his paintings look like they move is a bit of a trade secret but he will reveal it has a lot to do with the materials he uses, primarily stainless steel and that his main influences include Ralph Hotere and Bob Jhanke.
Life doesn't slow down for Israel. He's busy preparing for his masters exhibition next year, which he hopes to take home to Hawke's Bay, he will be part of the Manawa Pacific Heartbeat show which follows on from Kiwa in Vancouver next year and he and his partner are expecting their first child in September.
