With this moai workshop, you'll learn how to carve these ancestral figures from the Rapa Nui culture on wood and discover the significance of these enigmatic statues from Easter Island. You'll take your creation home!
Workshop Details
At the designated time, we'll meet near Vai Kia Kia Street, the area in Hanga Roa where we'll find the artist's house, who will give us a demostration of carving moai from wood. We'll learn how this practice is an expression of Rapa Nui identity, resilience, and memory.
Once we're ready to start the workshop, you'll learn about the significance of moai statues. These monumental figures represent the guards of each clan and are the protectors of Easter Island's culture. Afterward, we'll dive into the manual work and assign the traditional tools used in the workshop.
We'll learn how to select the wood and begin working with our initial cut. The expert will show us how to start strong and with precision. We'll trace the outlines, letting the shape begin to reveal itself with each pass of the blade. Once we've mastered this technique, we'll move on to the Pao, the most physical stage, where we remove large sections to define the silhouette of the moai.
Before you know it, you'll structure will take shape with a prominent head, a straight nose, and a firm chin. Then, we'll move on to the fine features, where we'll work on the marked eyebrows and closed lips. It'll be almost like meditating!
After this 2-hour workshop, we'll say our goodbyes, and you can take the piece you created home.