Napier is a city on the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Hawke's Bay region. It is a beachside city with a seaport, known for its sunny climate, esplanade lined with Norfolk pines, and extensive Art Deco architecture. Napier is sometimes referred to as the "Nice of the Pacific", although that is largely outdated and a more common nickname is 'The Art Deco Capital of the world'.
Rita Angus, known as Rita Cook early in her career, was a New Zealand painter who, alongside Colin McCahon and Toss Woollaston, is regarded as one of the leading figures in twentieth-century New Zealand art. She worked primarily in oil and watercolour, and became known for her portraits and landscapes.
New Zealand art consists of the visual and plastic arts originating from New Zealand and comes from different traditions: indigenous Māori art and that brought here including from early European mostly British settlers.
John Puhiatau Pule is a Niuean artist, novelist and poet. The Queensland Art Gallery describes him as "one of the Pacific's most significant artists".
Fatu Akelei Feu'u is a noted Samoan painter from the village of Poutasi in the district of Falealili in Samoa. He has established a reputation as the elder statesman of Pacific art in New Zealand.
Clifford Hamilton Whiting was a New Zealand artist, teacher and advocate for Māori heritage.
Diggeress Rangituatahi Te Kanawa was a New Zealand Māori tohunga raranga of Ngāti Maniapoto and Ngāti Kinohaku descent. At the time of her death she was regarded as New Zealand's most renowned weaver.
The Dowse Art Museum is a municipal art gallery in Lower Hutt, New Zealand.
Wi Te Tau Pirika Taepa is a significant figure in contemporary New Zealand ceramics, and a leading figure in contemporary Māori clay art.
Colleen Elizabeth Waata-Urlich was a New Zealand ceramicist. Of Māori descent, she belonged to Te Popoto o Ngāpuhi ki Kaipara and Te Rarawa. Through education, involvement in Māori art collectives and production of exhibited work, Urlich was dedicated to the development of Māori art.
Marilynn Lois Webb was a New Zealand artist, noted for her contributions to Māori art and her work as an educator. She was best known for her work in printmaking and pastels, and her works are held in art collections in New Zealand, the United States, and Norway. She lectured at the Dunedin School of Art, and was made an emeritus principal lecturer in 2004.
Piri John Ngarangikaunuhia Sciascia was a New Zealand Māori leader, kapa haka exponent, and university administrator. From 2016 until his death, he served as kaumātua and advisor to the governor-general and government of New Zealand.
Mary Tupai Ama is a Cook Islands-New Zealand artist and community arts organiser.
Rānui Ngārimu is a New Zealand Māori weaver and textile artist. She has chaired Te Roopu Raranga Whatu o Aotearoa, the national Māori weavers' collective, and is formally acknowledged as a master weaver by appointment to the collective's Kāhui Whiritoi group in 2008.
Raymond Henry "Sandy" Adsett is a New Zealand visual artist and educator. He is acknowledged for championing the art of kōwhaiwhai painting, creating a context for the artform within the development of contemporary Māori art.
Nigel John Floyd Borell is a New Zealand Māori artist, museum curator, and Māori art advocate. He curated the exhibition Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki in 2020, the largest exhibition since they opened. In 2021 the Art Foundation of New Zealand created an award to acknowledge the work of Borrell in this exhibition.
Marilyn Rhonda Kohlhase is a New Zealand arts curator and administrator, specialising in Pacific Islands art. She has worked with Auckland War Memorial Museum and Creative New Zealand. Kohlhase set up the first uniquely pan-Pacific art gallery and is known as the "art lady" in some circles.
Claire Regnault is a New Zealand historian, curator and non-fiction writer. In 2022, her book Dressed: Fashionable Dress in Aotearoa New Zealand 1840 to 1910 won an Ockham New Zealand Book Award.
Bergman Gallery is an international commercial art gallery with an original gallery in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, and a second gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. The gallery was first established in 2016 by Ben Bergman in Rarotonga, Cook Islands. Bergman Gallery represents and has represented many significant international artists from New Zealand, Cook Islands and Australia, including Fatu Feu'u, Luise Fong, Andy Leleisi'uao, Reuben Paterson, Michel Tuffery, Billy Apple, Mahiriki Tangaroa, Sylvia Marsters, Benjamin Work, Lucas Grogan, Luke Thurgate and Telly Tuita.
Nina Oberg Humphries is a New Zealand multimedia artist and Pacific arts advocate and multimedia artist of Cook Islands descent. Born in Christchurch in 1990, Oberg Humphries graduated from Ilam School of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury in 2015.
