Kohai Grace (born 1966) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

weaver. Her

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

are

Ngāti Toa Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Toarangatira or Ngāti Toa Rangatira, is a Māori ''iwi'' (tribe) based in the southern North Island and in the northern South Island of New Zealand. Its ''rohe'' (tribal area) extends from Whanganui in the north, Palmerston N ...

Rangatira In Māori culture, () are tribal chiefs, the hereditary Māori leaders of a hapū. Ideally, rangatira were people of great practical wisdom who held authority () on behalf of the tribe and maintained boundaries between a tribe's land and that ...

Ngāti Porou Ngāti Porou is a Māori iwi traditionally located in the East Cape and Gisborne regions of the North Island of New Zealand. Ngāti Porou is affiliated with the 28th Maori Battalion and has the second-largest affiliation of any iwi in New Zealand ...

Te Āti Awa Te Āti Awa is a Māori iwi with traditional bases in the Taranaki and Wellington regions of New Zealand. Approximately 17,000 people registered their affiliation to Te Āti Awa in 2001, with around 10,000 in Taranaki, 2,000 in Wellington and arou ...

and

Ngāti Raukawa Ngāti Raukawa is a Māori iwi with traditional bases in the Waikato, Taupo and Manawatu/Horowhenua regions of New Zealand. In 2006, 29,418 Māori registered their affiliation with Ngāti Raukawa. History Early history Ngāti Raukawa reco ...

Biography

Grace learnt weaving under Kataraina Hetet-Winiata at the Wellington Arts Centre. She also learned under the esteemed

Rangi Hetet Rangikaiamokura Wirihana Hetet (born 18 April 1937) is a Maori master carver (tohunga whakairo) of Ngāti Tuwharetoa and Ngāti Maniapoto descent. Early life and family Hetet was born in 1937 to Charles Wilson Hetet and Lillian (née Smallman ...

and

Erenora Puketapu-Hetet Erenora Puketapu-Hetet (née Puketapu, 28 January 1941 – 23 July 2006) was a noted New Zealand weaver and author. A key figure in the Māori cultural renaissance, she helped change perceptions of Māori weaving/raranga from craft to int ...

whilst completing a Bachelor of Design and Art at Te Wānanga o Raukawa. She holds a Masters in Māori Visual Arts from

Massey University Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...

. From 1998 to 2005 Grace was a weaving teacher at Te Wānanga o Raukawa. In 2008, she was the

de Young Museum The de Young Museum, formally the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, is a fine arts museum located in San Francisco, California. Located in Golden Gate Park, it is a component of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, along with the Legion of Honor ...

's artist-in-residence in San Francisco, which coincided with the event ''Māori Art Meets America''.

Works

Her weaving is based upon customary practice and the use of natural materials and has been described as having a "strong contemporary edge". Her work has been included in international exhibitions such as ''E tū Ake'' which toured to Musée du quai Branly, Paris and Museo de las Culturas, Mexico City. Her work is also held in the collection of the

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

. In 1990, she was commissioned by the

National Library of New Zealand The National Library of New Zealand ( mi, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa) is New Zealand's legal deposit library charged with the obligation to "enrich the cultural and economic life of New Zealand and its interchanges with other nations" (''Nat ...

to produce

tukutuku Tukutuku panelling is a distinctive art form of the Māori people of New Zealand, a traditional latticework used to decorate meeting houses (wharenui). Other names are tuitui and arapaki. Tukutuku flank the posts around the edge of the wharenui ...

(woven panels) for the Nga Kupu Korero exhibition which toured the country and focused on issues surrounding the

Treaty of Waitangi The Treaty of Waitangi ( mi, Te Tiriti o Waitangi) is a document of central importance to the history, to the political constitution of the state, and to the national mythos of New Zealand. It has played a major role in the treatment of the M ...

, 150 years after its signing. Two festivals Grace has participated in are the Island to Island Festival,

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

in 2001, and the

Festival of Pacific Arts The Festival of Pacific Arts, Pacific Arts Festival, or FESTPAC is a traveling festival hosted every four years, in the same year as the Summer Olympics, by a different country in Oceania ( map). It was conceived by the Pacific Community (former ...

Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caro ...

in 2004. In 2004, she presented the ''Tui Cloak'', a garment made with

harakeke ''Phormium tenax'' (called flax in New Zealand English; in Māori; New Zealand flax outside New Zealand; and New Zealand hemp in historical nautical contexts) is an evergreen perennial plant native to New Zealand and Norfolk Island that is an i ...

and inspired by the white throat feathers of the Tui bird. In 2007, her garment ''Wahine o te Pō'' won awards at Style Pasifika in Auckland in 2007, and was in the

New Zealand Fashion Museum The New Zealand Fashion Museum is a virtual fashion museum in New Zealand established in 2010. It was the brainchild of fashion designer and fashion historian Doris de Pont. Established as a charitable trust in January 2010, the museum holds "p ...

exhibition ''Black in Fashion: Wearing the colour black in New Zealand''.

Exhibitions

*2004: ''Toi Māori: The Eternal Thread – Te Aho Mutunga Kore'' at the

Pataka Art + Museum Pātaka Art + Museum is a municipal museum and art gallery of Porirua City, New Zealand. Te Marae o Te Umu Kai o Hau is the name of the building where Pātaka Museum + Art is located and opened in 1998. It also houses the Porirua City Library, Caf ...

and The

Māori Art Market Māori Art Market is biennial Toi Māori event features art exhibitions, art sales, live art demonstrations, such as wood carving and tattooing, as well as presentations and master classes. It features traditional and contemporary Māori art by Mā ...

. *2005: ''Te Tataitanga Matatau'', an exhibition of artwork from Massey University's postgraduate Mäori Visual Arts students. *2005 to 2006: ''Toi Māori: The Eternal Thread – Te Aho Mutunga Kore'', the featured component of ''Māori Art Meets America'', San Francisco. *2007: ''Tukākahumai: Garments Stand Firth'' at

solo exhibition of weaving as part of her masters course. *2009: ''He Maumahratanga - A Woven Tribute'' at Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision, Wellington. *2011 and 2012: ''Black in Fashion: Wearing the colour black in New Zealand''. *2011 to 2013: ''E Tū Ake: Standing Strong''. *2013: ''Call of Taranaki: Reo Karanga o Taranaki'' (2013) at

Puke Ariki Puke Ariki is a combined museum and library at New Plymouth, New Zealand which opened in June 2003. It is an amalgamation of the New Plymouth Public Library (founded in 1848) and the Taranaki Museum (founded in 1919). Its name, Māori for "hill ...

, New Plymouth. *2015: Work by herself, and past and present students of

Whitireia New Zealand Whitireia New Zealand, previously called Whitireia Community Polytechnic and Parumoana Community College (Māori: Te Kura Matatini o Whitireia), is a government-owned and funded tertiary education institute in New Zealand. It was established ...

's Toi Poutama weaving and carving course where she teaches, at

Awards

* 2007: ''Wahine o te Pō'' won the Traditionally Inspired and Overall Runner Up awards at ''Style Pasifika'' in Auckland in 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grace, Kohai 1966 births Living people New Zealand artists New Zealand Māori weavers New Zealand Māori artists New Zealand educators Women textile artists