How Light Came into the World

[Andrew Biggs]

How Light Came into the World

Rangi and Papa were the first gods and they were perpetually joined together. Because of this the world was in darkness. Their children lived in the crevices of a dark universe. Tane, the greatest of their children and himself a God, forced his parents apart and in doing so, brought light into the world.

There was a time of great chaos during the separation and Rangi was eventually forced up and became the sky father and Papa stayed where she was and became the earth mother.

The God Tane brought life into the world by creating all the forests and birds. His brothers and sisters once released into the light went on to become the Gods of war, fertility and all the other things that affect our daily lives.

Some notes:

1. Rangi on the left has a full facial Moko (tattoo) which befits a male.
2. Papa on the right only has the chin and lip Moko which befits a woman
3. The word Aotearoa is the Maori word for New Zealand and literally means the “Land of the long white cloudâ€￾

As usual your thoughts and comments are always welcome.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[monk]

absolute beauty. is this of your creation or a maori traditional design ? do i see your "bird beaks" in 6 of the scrolls here ? or are these part of the design heritage of the maori ? why the intentional asymmetry ? is that symbolic of the bringing of the light ? certainly fascinating, to say the least, to look at !

 

[DaveH]

Fantastic !!! A wonderful design depicting Maori mythos. I'm blown away.

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Hi monk

Thanks for that.

It's all entirley my own design. The Maori design elements are fairly generic to the traditional wood carvings. All I've done is tried to combine traditional western scroll work with Maori design concepts (rather than purley traditional, although they contain traditional elements) and create something entirley unique and new.

The challenge was to tell the story within the design like indiginouse tribes do all around the world. Indeed they are the birds you can see and part of Tane's creation. They are entirley of my own making.

Cheers
Andrew

Also........those pointed flowers hanging down from the first scroll next to Rangi and Papa. They are native New Zealand flowers called Kowhai. They come out in spring and are a beautiful golden flower and only hang downwards.

 

[monk]

stylistically that's something that sets you apart from any other engraver.many strive to develop a style uniquely their own. very few really do this with a serious deviation that strays far from all the others. yours is so different that perhaps it should be an entire new specie of design altogether in its own right. not only as a completely new style, but it carries with it a message of an entire cultural heritage. that's not likely to be surpassed anytime soon !

 

[Marrinan]

wonderful, simply wonderful-I am so proud for you-you are finding your "voice" as the musicians say and it is beautiful-I am really enjoying the meld of scroll with your country's past and present native culture.
Fred

 

[vanknife]

Andrew really spectacular and the story with it, I enjoyed it a lot.

Cheers

"VAN"

 

[Alain Lovenberg]

Andrew,
cheer! you carried out a very beautiful composition in your personal style. It seems to me that you succeed always better in integrating the Western scrolls into Maori decoration. I like also the writing on the reverse, very elegant, clean and well cut.

Alain

 

[Tira]

Just beautiful. Wonderful elements and great execution as always. Great photographs too! Thanks for posting.

 

[pierre]

realy beautifull Andrew, you have a superb writing on the reverse, do you write like this usually (not in engraving)
see you next
pierre

 

[Sam]

That's a show stopper, Andrew! You did one heck of a job on this. You just keep getting better and better!!
Sam

 

[bronc]

Andrew,
Beautiful! Whether it be with graver, pen, paintbrush, or a little comic relief, you are a top hand. Thanks so much for sharing with us.

Cheers to you,
Stewart

 

[KCSteve]

The owner is going to really enjoy this!

Not only they get a bracelet that they can look at for hours and hours while still finding new tidbits, they get a multi-level automatic 'story' to go with it. Talk about an ice-breaker / conversation piece!

 

[Mike Cirelli]

Andrew that's so cool. It's quite a work of art, love it. Knowing the icon meanings makes even more intriguing.

 

[James Mitchell]

Spectacular!!!

 

[Christian DeCamillis]

Andrew This is fantastic!!! Its just pleasing to look at. There are so many interesting things happening.while still being balanced. Your creativity is expressed so well in this piece. I have a question, When do you sleep? Between doing the magazine .your work. and engraving, it seems like 24 hours a day isnt enough. Chris

 

[Christiaan]

Now that is out of the box creativity!! Masterpiece.

 

[Ron Smith]

Have you depicted Rangi and papa in the traditional manner, or have you altered them to suit the design?

Very interesting to say the least and unique. I like unique.
Well done Andrew. First class!!
Ron S

 

[Joe Mason]

Very nice Andrew. Lots of detail in this design. Thanks for showing.

Joe

 

[pilkguns]

Stellare absolutely STELLAR