Sandy Adsett | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Adsett in 2020 | |
| Born | Raymond Henry Adsett (1939-08-27)27 August 1939 (age 86) Raupunga, New Zealand |
| Education | Ardmore Teachers' College Dunedin Teachers' College |
| Known for | Kōwhaiwhai painting |
| Awards | Arts Foundation of New Zealand Icon (2020) |
Raymond Henry"Sandy" AdsettMNZM (born 27 August 1939) is a New Zealand visual artist and educator. He is acknowledged for championing the art ofkōwhaiwhai painting, creating a context for the artform within the development of contemporaryMāori art.[1]
In 2020 Adsett was honoured by theArts Foundation of New Zealand with an Icon Whakamana Hiranga award "for his profound impact on the Māori community and Māori arts education system within Aotearoa."[2]
Adsett was born inRaupunga nearWairoa on 27 August 1939.[3] OfMāori descent, he affiliates toNgāti Kahungunu andNgāti Pāhauwera.[4] He attendedTe Aute College in Hawkes Bay. His interest in art first began on his family farm as a way to fill in time and grew from there.[5]
He received his first formal art training atArdmore Teachers' College in Auckland. He completed his third year of teachers' college inDunedin.[6] While at Ardmore, he began travelling to regional schools to introduce Māori arts into the school syllabus.[4] This was a focus of his work that would continue throughout his life. He was one of a group of teachers that started this work in the 1960s.
In 1961, Adsett became an arts specialist for the Department of Education's Advisory Service, within a programme established by educational leaderGordon Tovey. Adsett has cited the mentorship of theNgāti Porou master carverPine Taiapa as the most significant influence on his life as an artist and educator.[7] Adsett's role in the department was helping introduce the new Māori Arts in Schools programme.
In 1991, Adsett became a principal tutor atTairawhiti Polytechnic in Gisborne, working in the Toihoukura School of Māori Visual Arts. He took over fromIvan Ehau, the founder of the school, who had died that year. Adsett was involved in formatting awānanga arts direction for the programme.[8][9][10]
In 2002, Adsett returned to Hawke's Bay, where he set up the Toimairangi School of Māori Visual Culture withinTe Wānanga o Aotearoa inHastings. He continues to work there as an adjunct professor.
In 2021 a major retrospective of Adsett's work was organised byPātaka Art + Museum, curated by Reuben Friend.[11] The accompanying book contains essays by Friend, artists Elizabeth Ellis,Tina Kuckkahn andRobert Jahnke and curators / historiansNigel Borell andDavid Butts.[12]
Outside of his work in the education sector, Adsett's own artwork has been included in major art exhibitions. This includes:Headlands: Thinking Through New Zealand Art (1992) inSydney, Australia; "Te Waka Toi" (1992-1994), which toured the United States; and "Toi tū Toi Ora" atAuckland Art Gallery.[13]
In 2024 Adsett's 1978 paintingWaipuna was included in the exhibitionStranieri Ovunque,Foreigners Everywhere curated byAdriano Pedrosa for the 60th international exhibition at theVenice Biennale. Other New Zealanders selected for the exhibition were:Brett Graham andFred Graham, theMataaho Collective and Selwyn Te Ngareatua Wilson.[14]
1986
1992
2003
2007
2011
2013
2020
2021
1985 Adsett won the Montana Lindauer Award with his paintingAue.[23] In the2005 New Year Honours, Adsett was appointed aMember of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to art.[24][4] In 2014, Adsett was conferred an honorary doctorate by Massey University,[25] and he received Te Tohu o Te Papa Tongarewa Rongomaraeroa award in the 2018 Te Waka Toi Awards.[26]
In 2020, Adsett was named as an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Icon, an honour limited to 20 living New Zealanders.[2][4]
Adsett's work is held in public gallery collections throughout Aotearoa New Zealand, including:
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