Heather Avis McPherson (28 May 1942 – 10 January 2017) was a feminist poet, publisher and editor who played a key role in supporting women artists and writers in New Zealand. In 1976, she founded the Spiral Collective group and ''Spiral,'' a women's arts and literary journal that later published monographs. Her poetry book ''A Figurehead: A Face'' (1982) was the first book of poetry published in New Zealand by an openly lesbian woman. She published three further collections during her lifetime, and an additional two collections were published posthumously by fellow Spiral members.

Career

Born in

Tauranga Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...

, McPherson initially trained as a primary school teacher in the early 1960s. She subsequently studied at the University of Canterbury, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1971, and at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

. Her poetry first appeared in print in 1963, with her early work being published in New Zealand journals like ''Landfall''. Her influential literary and visual arts activism was inspired by an all-male poets' evening at the 1973 Christchurch Festival, where she observed "twenty young men getting up on the stage one after another". In later years, she said that in the early 1970s she approached

Leo Bensemann Leo Vernon Bensemann (1 May 1912 – 2 January 1986) was a New Zealand artist, printer, typographer, publisher and editor. Bensemenn was born in Tākaka, New Zealand, on 1 May 1912. He moved to Christchurch in 1931 with his friend Lawrence Ba ...

, then the editor of ''Landfall'', to see if he would be willing to publish a collection of her works; when she mentioned she had become a feminist, he responded that

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had also become a feminist "but it didn't do her any good either". It was not long after, in 1974, that she founded one of New Zealand's first women's artist collectives, the Women Artists Group in Christchurch, with other members including Paulette Barr,

Allie Eagle Allie Eagle (9 January 1949 – 25 May 2022) was a New Zealand artist whose work in the 1970s was key to the development of feminist art practice in New Zealand. She was the subject of the 2004 documentary ''Allie Eagle and Me''. She identified he ...

(also known as Alison Mitchell) and Kathryn Algie. This group co-founded the first New Zealand women's art journal, ''Spiral'' and the women artist's collective Spiral. ''Spiral'' provided a forum for female artists and writers to publish their work, during a time in which female artists struggled to be recognised in New Zealand. McPherson herself said, "I worked with the material we received–that it didn't reflect our own reality didn't bother me too much, it was the idea of women working together positively, that was the aim, and the amalgam of arts – photographers as well as poets, writers, painters etc." The journal was first published in 1976 through the efforts of the Spiral Collective, which was to become a floating

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used by different feminist groups. The first four issues were published by McPherson and the Christchurch collective (1976–79), issue five was published by a Wellington collective, issue six by a Tauranga collective, and issue seven by a national collective. A letter published in an early issue suggested that work should be accepted on merit rather than limited to work by women only; in response, McPherson said she supported positive discrimination for women and noted the barriers faced by women to publication in most magazines. ''Spiral'' also became an

used by different feminist groups to publish other books by New Zealand women, including McPherson's debut poetry collection, ''A Figurehead: A Face'' (Spiral, 1982), which was the first New Zealand poetry collection by an out lesbian. In her introduction to the collection McPherson noted that since the 1970s she had sought "to make a new start, to clear out the 'patriarchy in the head'", and on other hand to "redefine such emotionally charged concepts as 'woman' and 'lesbian' with their pejorative accretions". Other works published by Spiral included

Keri Hulme Keri Ann Ruhi Hulme (9 March 194727 December 2021) was a New Zealand novelist, poet and short-story writer. She also wrote under the pen name Kai Tainui. Her novel '' The Bone People'' won the Booker Prize in 1985; she was the first New Zealan ...

's Booker Prize-winning novel ''

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'' (1984), ''The House of the Talking Cat by'' J C Sturm (Jacquie Baxter, 1983), and ''Drawing Together'' by

Janet Charman Janet Charman (born 1954) is a poet from New Zealand. Background Born in 1954, Charman grew up in the Hutt Valley and Taranaki. Charman initially trained as a nurse and worked in social welfare. After receiving an MA in English from the Univ ...

, Marina Bachmann and Sue Fitchett (1985). Artists and writers who were associated with the Women Artists Group initiatives and the Spiral Collectives included Joanna Margaret Paul, Marian Evans,

, Bridie Lonie, and Anna Keir, all prominent figures in the women's art movement in New Zealand. In 1980, McPherson was involved in the opening show at the

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in Wellington, where she worked as a co-ordinator. Her poem, ''Have You Heard of Artemisia?'' was painted on the 1981 Matariki Mural on the outside wall of the gallery on Harris Street. In 1986, she attended the second International Feminist Book Fair in

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with other Spiral members. She was a supporter of and advisor to the Spiral video project ''Getting Free'' (1997 to 2009), led by Marian Evans and Bridie Lonie. After ''A Figurehead: A Face'', McPherson published three further collections of poetry in her lifetime. Her poetry was described by Aorewa McLeod in ''The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature'' as "strongly feminist, combining myth with the implications of being a woman and a lesbian in New Zealand", and featuring "a distinctive witty intelligence together with a sensitive and lyrical voice".

Personal life and legacy

McPherson was a single mother and grandmother, and in her early career worked various "survival jobs" such as fruit picking and school bus driving in order to support her family. In her obituary, Michael O'Leary said that family "was also a big part of her life as well as writing and she was very involved with her grandchildren". She identified as a lesbian feminist and as a part of the

women's liberation movement The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism that emerged in the late 1960s and continued into the 1980s primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which effected great ...

. She died in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

on 10 January 2017. After her death, in early 2018, a collective of Spiral members Janet Charman, Lynne Ciochetto and Marian Evans published a collection of poetry by McPherson, called ''This Joyous, Chaotic Place: Garden Poems'', as part of an exhibition called "This Joyous, Chaotic Place: He Waiata Tangi-ā-Tahu" at Mokopōpaki, an Auckland dealer gallery with Māori values at its centre. The event included the screening of an interview of McPherson in 1980, and was a project that formed part of the celebrations in New Zealand marking 125 years since

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

. The collection featured what McPherson called her "garden poems", inspired by her visits to the graveside of early New Zealand poet

Ursula Bethell Mary Ursula Bethell (pseudonym, Evelyn Hayes; 6 October 1874 – 15 January 1945), was a New Zealand social worker and poet. She settled at the age of 50 at Rise Cottage on the Cashmere Hills near Christchurch, with her companion Effie Pollen, ...

Works

Poetry books

Source: National Library of NZ * ''i do not cede'', edited and with an introduction by Emer Lyons (eBook), Spiral, Wellington, 2022 * ''This Joyous Chaotic Place: Garden Poems'', Spiral, Wellington, 2018 * ''Travel and Other Compulsions'', Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop, Paekakariki, 2004 * ''Other World Relations'', Old Bags, Wellington, 1991 * ''The Third Myth'', Tauranga Moana Press, Tauranga, 1986 * ''A Figurehead: a Face'', Spiral, Wellington, 1982

Exhibition

''This Joyous, Chaotic Place: He Waiata Tangi-ā-Tahu'' Mokopōpaki, 2018

Anthologies

Sources: National Library of NZ and Aotearoa Poetry Sound Archive * ''This Joyous, Chaotic Place: He Waiata Tangi-āTahu'' (with texts from Allie Eagle, Dr P (Cushla Parekowhai), Heather McPherson, Margery Blackman, M (Marian Evans), Tiffany Thornley), Mokopōpaki & Spiral, 2019 * ''Manifesto Aotearoa'' ed. Philip Temple & Emma Neale, Otago University Press, Dunedin, 2017 * ''Live Lines IV'' ed. Miriam Barr, Rachael Naomi Heimann, Penny Sommervaile, Jeremy Roberts, Poetry Live, Auckland, 2011 *''Remember us: women who love women, from Sappho to liberation'' ed. Miriam Saphira, Heather McPherson & Fran Marno, Charlotte Museum Trust, New Zealand, 2008 *''Big Smoke: New Zealand Poems 1960–75'' ed. Michele Leggott Murray Edmond, Alan Brunton, Auckland University Press, Auckland 2000 *''Eat These Sweet Words'', ed. Sue Fitchett,

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, Cary McDermott & Rhona Vickoce, Giant Publishing Press, Christchurch 1999 *''Car Maintenance, Explosives and Love'', ed. Susan Hawthorne, Cathy Dunsford & Susan Sayer, Spinifex, Nth. Melb, 1997 *''Spiral 7: a collection of lesbian art and writing from Aotearoa/New Zealand'', ed. Heather McPherson, Julie King, Marian Evans, Pam Gerrish Nunn, Daphne Brasell Associates Press, Wellington, 1992 *''Lavender Annual'', ed. Miriam Saphira, Papers Inc., 1989 *''Kiwi and Emu: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry by Australian and New Zealand Women'', ed. Barbara Petrie, Butterfly, 1989 *''The Penguin Book of Contemporary New Zealand Poetry'', ed. Miriama Evans, Harvey McQueen and Ian Wedde, 1989 *''A Women's Picture Book: 25 Women Artists of Aotearoa New Zealand'' ed. Marian Evans, Bridie Lonie, Tilly Lloyd, Government Print, Wellington, 1988 *''Yellow Pencils: Contemporary Poetry by New Zealand Women'', chosen by Lydia Wevers, OUP, 1988 *''The New Poets of the ‘80s'', ed. Murray Edmond & Mary Paul, Allen & Unwin, 1987 *''The Penguin Book of New Zealand Verse'', ed. Ian Wedde and Harvey McQueen, 1985. *''The Turning Face, Twelve Writers from Tauranga Moana'' ed. Robert de Roo, Tauranga Moana Press, 1984 *''Spiral 4'' ed. ''Spiral Collective:'' Ruth Lawley, Heather McPherson, Wendy Prestney, Tiffany Thornily, Chris Smith, Gladys Gurney, Spiral, Christchurch, 1979 *''Spiral 3'' ed. Spiral Collective: Patsy Keene, Anna Keir, Ruth Lawley, Heather McPherson, Wendy Prestney, Tiffany Thornley, Spiral, Christchurch, 1978 *''Spiral 2'' ed. Spiral Collective: Kath Algie, Paulette Barr, Heather McPherson, Alison Mitchell, Spiral, Christchurch, 1977 *''Private Gardens: An Anthology of New Zealand Women Poets'', ed. Riemke Ensing, Caveman, 1977 *''Spiral 1'' ed. Heather McPherson, Spiral, Christchurch, 1976 *''Arts Festival Year Book'' 1969, New Zealand Universities, ed. Bill Manhire & John Dickson, Dunedin *''Kiwi'' 1963, ed. Tyme Curnow & Terry Snow, Auckland University Press

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McPherson, Heather New Zealand feminists New Zealand women poets People from Tauranga 1942 births 2017 deaths University of Auckland alumni University of Canterbury alumni New Zealand LGBT poets New Zealand editors New Zealand women editors 20th-century New Zealand poets 20th-century New Zealand women writers 21st-century New Zealand poets 21st-century New Zealand writers