Alexis Neal
Alexis Neal is a full time New Zealand based artist producing contemporary maori art. Her work involves defining a place for women’s cultural identity and predominately has looked at the duality of artefacts in terms of personal adornment and material culture. Her studio practice is interdisciplinary, combining components of print, sewn feather canvases, weaving and installation works together to address Maori traditional whakapapa in a contemporary context.
Since completing a Masters degree in Fine Art Media at the Slade School of Fine Arts in London, Alexis has continued to develop her professional practice as a contemporary New Zealand artist. Alongside her professional career Alexis has also fulfilled tutoring positions in both academic and community institutions throughout New Zealand..
Alethea Nathan
Cerisse Palalagi
Inspiration has come from Papatuanuku herself, New growth on trees, freshly cut grass and making way for new ideas, new ways of thinking, living, and looking. I have always wanted to use Maori imagery in my prints, & this has presented me with the opportunity to express my love for Kowhaiwhai and Maori artefacts
Faith McManus
Faith McManus, Hei Tiki Hey Kiwi, 2001
Ruth Green-Cole
After completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Elam School of Fine Arts I have continued to investigate my Maori and Pakeha cultural identity and primarily looks at New Zealand History, museum display context, cultural artifacts and customary objects. My art practice is multidisciplinary, merging elements of print, paper construction, weaving and installation. The development of my work has come about through a personal comprehension and appreciation of the facets of my history that lay dormant; I look to the past to address my Maori traditional heritage in a contemporary context.
Sam Farquhar
Sam is of Scottish, English and Ngati Rahiri descent.
She currently resides on family land in rural Helensville, North of Auckland. Sam graduated with a Diploma in Textile & Design at Wellington Polytechnic in 1992 and after completing a post-graduate course in Nelson, she embarked on producing woodblock prints and small canvas blocks (depicting native themes) to supply a selection of galleries in Aotearoa. Sam also worked in the film industry in the art and costume departments.
Sam exhibits regularly with printmakers of ‘Toi Whakataa Press’ - a printmakers collective that is made up of strong and established individual printmakers. Sam describes her work as very graphic. She uses the print technique of woodcut to express and convey movemnet and emotion with line. Sam’s images depict a mix of Maori mythology and narratives from New Zealand history, often placing them into her immediate environment or into landscapes, which she strongly indentifies with.
Gabrielle Belz
Ida Edwards
Natalie Couch
Natalie Couch is a New Zealand artist of Maori, Scottish, English and French descent. Her tribal affiliations are Ngati Tuwharetoa and Te Arawa. She completed a BFA at Elam in 1998 and currently lives in West Auckland with her partner, a wood carver, and her daughter. Couch's works - exquisitely rendered in graphite on board - are greatly informed by her training as a print maker. In them, the sensual shape of the gourd is transformed from one work to the next, from a sold object engraved with text, to a soft, plump grub moth into the light, white feathers of a great bird.
Vanessa Edwards
Vanessa Edwards was born in 1980 and is of Ngati Tuwharetoa descent. In 2002 she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Distinction. Artist's Statement: "I am a printmaker who likes to weave. I am of both Maori and European descent and making art is a means to explore all these elements. Tradition is the reference point from which my work has emerged, those traditions being Western printmaking, drawing and Maori weaving. By combining the two long-standing customs I not only sustain the traditions but also bring them into a context wherein they become a reflection of me."