The Story of Tapa

For thousand of years indigenous people of the Polynesian islands have been creating tapa for clothing from bark. Tapa cloth is handmade from the inner bark of the paper Mulberry tree, (Brousonetia Papyrifera). Tapa making is a very complex process involving skills developed over the centuries throughout the Polynesian Islands and handed down for generations. This highly evolved native craft is threatened with extinction today, primarily because the trees are scarce and the younger people are disregarding the cultural values binding together their communities. Painted tapa in a variety of artistic expression has been highly valued by newcomers such as the missionaries and navigators from the 1700s. Many fine examples are in private collections and displayed in museums worldwide.

The tapa cloth is produced by hand beating Mulberry strip with a wooden mallet against a tree base. After three hours or more each sheet becomes flexible. Modern attempts at developing machinery to replace these hand crafted methods have been a complete failure. Finally the sheets are joined by gluing them together with root crop starches. Master skill is necessary to meld sheets together for consistent thickness. Creations of the most skilled tapa makers are smoothly and seamlessly bonded. After drying in the sun for several days the cloth is bleached. Then the process of soaking, dying and bleaching is repeated to make the final product for decoration. The original designs were squares,triangles chevron bars,circles, diamonds etc. While superficially simple, these designs always conveyed a complex symbology known within the native culture. Painting is mostly done with Pandanus fruit brushes or coconut husks. Several hundred extracts from natural surroundings have been developed as dyes

Gifts of Tapa Cloth at weddings and birthdays and other ceremonial occasions were and are still an important part of the Polynesian culture, conveying traditions which serve to increase the permanence of the village family structures.

At Spirit of Polynesian Art we have devoted many years of research to produce the finest tapa cloth of consistent qualities. We are proud of this highly valued substance as the basis for our traditional modern art printing which is absolutely not available elsewhere. We do the utmost to convey and prese.rve the traditions and cultures of these noble descendants of ancient craft

Artist Highlights

• ArtWanted.com Gallery:    Art/Drawing Misc.
• Represented By:    Spirit of Polynesian Art