Friday 14 March
11am - 12pm
This public programme is part of the exhibition Toi Koru
In Conversation with Sandy from Pahauwere: Nigel Borell, Elizabeth Ellis & Reuben Friend
Discussing the practice, influence and legacy of Dr. Sandy Adsett
This korero explores Adsett's innovative practice and his significant contributions to the development of contemporary Māori art. The speakers discuss his influence on future generations of toi Māori and the broader cultural landscape, highlighting his role in shaping Māori artistic identity and fostering a deeper understanding of indigenous creativity.
Sandy Adsett
Ngāti Pahauwera
Born in 1939 on the family farm in Raupunga, a small Kahungunu (Ngāti Pahauwera) Māori community just north of Wairoa on the East Coast of the North Island, Adsett has had a hugely successful international career as an artist. Sandy Adsett received his formal art training from the renowned Ngāti Porou master carver Pine Taiapa [1901-1972] as part of the Education Department’s Art in Schools itinerant teachers training programme of the 1950s and 1960s.
Reuben Friend
Ngāti Maniapoto, Pākehā
Reuben Friend is a Wellington-based Aotearoa New Zealand artist, curator and writer. Friend has curated numerous national and international art projects in Aotearoa New Zealand, Taiwan, Australia and Canada as the Director of Pātaka Art Gallery and Museum in Porirua from 2015-2021, and Curator Māori-Pacific Art at City Gallery Wellington from 2009-2013. Current roles include Co-Chair of the Indigenous Curatorial Collective based in Toronto, Canada; Committee Member of Te Haerewa Māori Advisory Board for Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Art Gallery; and Member for the Wellington Sculpture Trust Arts Advisory Committee. Friend has a degree in Māori Visual Arts from Toimairangi School of Māori Visual Arts at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa (2006), and a Masters in Māori Visual Arts from Te Pūtahi a Toi School of Māori Studies at Massey University in Palmerston North (2009).
Elizabeth Ellis CNZM JP
Ngāti Porou, Ngāi Tane, Te Whānau ā Takimoana, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kuta
Elizabeth is a Māori arts and culture advocate. She is currently Chair of the Toi Iho Charitable Trust, the trademark for high-quality Māori-made art and Chair of the Wairau Māori Art Gallery Charitable Trust, the first public Māori Art Gallery.
Elizabeth initiated Haerewa, Toi o Tamaki, Auckland Art Gallery in 1994 and as Chair, she led delegations to Berlin, Pilsen and San Francisco with the Lindauer Māori Portraits exhibition. She resigned in late 2020.
She is a Life Member of the Auckland Institute and Museum 1964 and an inaugural Trustee on the Judith Binney Trust Te Toimairangi o Te Aroha since 2013.
Elizabeth graduated from Elam School of Fine Arts, The University of Auckland. She was on the New Zealand Arts Foundation for seven years; CNZ Council for three years and Chair of Te Waka Toi, the Māori Arts Board of CNZ nine years (1994–2006); NZ Representative on the Council of Pacific Arts and Culture, SPC Noumea 1996-2006 when she led the NZ delegations with Dame Te Atairangikahu to Samoa, New Caledonia and the Republic of Palau. She was on the International Federation of Arts Councils and Cultural Agencies (1999-2006).
Elizabeth’s professional background is in Art Education from 1966 and ERO, Education Evaluation (1990-2013).
Nigel Borell
Pirirakau, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi, Te Whakatōhea
Nigel Borell is of Pirirakau, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi, Te Whakatōhea tribal descent. He is a curator, writer and artist specialising in Māori art in both customary and contemporary fields of research. His career began working on three meetinghouse projects under tohunga whakairo Pakaariki Harrison and Peter Boyd followed by formal study at Massey University’s Bachelor of Maori Visual Arts (Hons) in 2000 and a Master of Fine Arts (Hons) in 2003 from Elam School of Fine Arts, The University of Auckland.
Key curatorial projects include The Māori Portraits: Gottfried Lindauer’s New Zealand, to deYoung Fine Arts Museum, San Francisco (2017), co-curating with Zara Stanhope Moa Hunter Fashions by Areta Wilkinson, for 9th Asia Pacific Triennial, QAGOMA, Brisbane (2018) and co-curated with Adriano Pedrosa Histōrias Indīgenas- Indigenous Histories at Museu de Art de (MASP), São Paulo, Brazil (2023) and KODE, Bergen, Norway (2024).
Borell curated the large survey exhibition Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki (2020-2021), where he was the Curator Māori art from 2015-2020.
He was the inaugural recipient of The New Zealand Art Foundation’s A Moment In Time – He Momo, awarded for curating the landmark exhibition Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art and made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Māori art in 2022. He is currently Curator Taonga Māori at The Auckland War Memorial Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira.