When you look closely at the unfolding head of a fern frond with its greenery fresh, bright and untarnished, you see the essence of life itself. That is my view anyway.

The Maori people used the unfolding fern as inspiration for the koru or spiral form, which in all Polynesia is unique to New Zealand.

With suitable timber and the hard, sharp stone they found in Aotearoa, the Maori people were able to take the carving of the spiral form to the very highest level of achievement and art.     They used, and still use it in many forms on many different surfaces, from tattoos to carvings on meeting houses, waka (canoes) and domestic objects.

The Maori were masters of stylisation and their koru are simpler in form that this drawing, though they are often combined in such a way as to make a very complex pattern. This drawing is a rendering of the complexities of the unfolding pinnate structure of the fern frond.

Colored pencil on Art paper. Size 6in x 6in.