Rangi Hetet

Hetet first rose to recognition in New Zealand as one of the carvers of the meeting house at Waiwhetū in the 1950s,[1] during which time he met Erenora Puketapu-Hetet, who become his wife.

[2] His grandmother, Rangimārie Hetet was a renowned weaver from Te Kūiti, who passed her skills on to Erenora Puketapu-Hetet.

Hetet trained in the fraternity of carvers known as Konae Aronui under legendary tohunga whakairo Tuhaka Kapua and later Hōne Taiapa at the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute.

[9] In 1986, Hetet travelled to the Field Museum in Chicago to demonstrate his craft in support of the international exhibition Te Maori, which toured the United States and New Zealand from 1984 to 1987.

[10] In the 2004 New Year Honours he was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services as a Māori master carver.

Detail of a poupou by Rangi Hetet hanging in the Dowse Art Museum , one of a pair of poupou commissioned by the museum on their fifth anniversary in 1975. The poupou are carved wooden figures with inset pāua shell eyes. This figure represents Te Puni .