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Catherine Elizabeth Brown QSM (24 October 1933 – 7 August 2004) was a New Zealand Māori tohunga raranga (master weaver), ceramicist, educator and netball coach. She affiliated to the Ngāi Tahu iwi. Brown played a pivotal role during her lifetime in educating New Zealanders about Māori arts as well as organising workshops, hui, conventions, and exhibitions on Māori arts, particularly Māori weaving. As well as educating and organising, Brown was an acknowledged master weaver and artist whose work was exhibited both nationally and internationally. Brown was awarded a Queen's Service Medal in 1995 as well as the Ngā Tohu ā Tā Kingi Ihaka award in 2000 in recognition of her contribution to Māori arts.

Early life

Brown was born to Winifred Freeman and Arnold Henley Rewi Brown on 24 October 1933 in Leeston. She was raised in the Ngāi Tahu settlement of Taumutu near Kaitorete Spit. Although there were weavers at her marae she didn't learn from them. It was her Pākehā mother who taught her basic weaving while Brown was young. She attended Sedgemere Primary School, Southbridge District High School, Christchurch Girls' High School and then Dunedin Teachers' College. She qualified with a Diploma in Teaching and specialised in art education. It was while at teachers college that she came under the influence of Arthur Gordon Tovey. Because of this association she became part of a group known as the 'Tovey generation'.

Employment

In 1954, after completing her education, Brown returned to Christchurch having obtained a position with the Canterbury Education Board as an itinerant advisor to teachers. Brown advised them on how to deliver the arts curriculum to their students. While undertaking this work Brown, along with other art advisors, attended various courses to support and increase her knowledge in Māori arts. In 1960 she was taken, with other art advisors from around the country, to Ruatoria where they were all taught and influenced by Pine Taiapa. Brown then returned to Canterbury to pass on the knowledge she gained to primary and secondary school teachers. While teaching she was also learning as Brown, while travelled into local communities, encountered weavers who would be invited to participate in the weaving training being given to teachers.

Brown continued to work for the Canterbury Education Board for nearly 20 years. During that time she continued to regularly attended training courses in the North Island offered to the art and craft advisors, not just developing her own skills but also bringing that knowledge back to the teachers in her community. Brown specialised in passing on knowledge about weaving but also gained a background in teaching tukutuku and kowhaiwhai (Māori motifs and their meaning). Brown, along with other advisors, also worked with various Māori groups knowledgeable in Māori arts but who lacked teaching skills. In 1973 Brown was appointed as a lecturer in Art at the Christchurch College of Education. She was promoted to the Head of the Art Department in 1987 and retired in 1990.

Influences

Throughout her employment Brown would practice her art. While undertaking training courses as well as working with Māori groups as an itinerant art advisor, Brown learned from prestigious weavers from around the country including Raukura Erana Gillies, Marewa McConnell, Ngaropi White and Miriana Taylor. She lived most of her life in Southbridge, near the Taumutu marae Ngāti Moki. Brown dedicated time to the marae and was described as a kaumātua. Brown influenced the decoration of the new marae buildings with a mixture of traditional and modern elements.

Brown says of what she learnt in her life:

I know how lucky I am. The knowledge that I have had passed on to me is not mine. I am the kaitiaki (guardian) for it and have the responsibility to pass it on.

Art

Brown is regarded as belonging to the Māori modernism movement. She was not only a master weaver but was also a ceramicist and combined those two disciplines to produce some of her works. Brown also illustrated several books and school journals. Pieces created by Brown are held in the University of Canterbury Art Collection. Part of her artistic work was leading teams of weavers to produce artwork for marae including her home marae Ngāti Moki.

Netball

For many years Brown was the coach of the Canterbury region's netball team and coached Canterbury to 9 A-grade national titles up to 1983.

Positions held

Brown was a founding member of Te Roopu Raranga Whatu o Aotearoa. Brown was the chairperson of her marae Ngati Moki at Taumutu as well as a member of the Ngāi Tahu tribal council (Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu). In 1987 Brown became a Justice of the Peace.

Honours and awards

In 1995 Brown was awarded the Queen's Service Medal for Public Services. In 2000 she was awarded the Ngā Tohu ā Tā Kingi Ihaka (Sir Kingi Ihaka Award) in recognition of her lifetime contribution to Māori arts.

In 2005 after her death a community artwork was created by people who had been influenced by her each making a ceramic pātiki (flounder). This piece is named Moeka o te Pâtiki Mohoao (Sleeping Ground of the Flounder) and has over 100 individual pieces.

Exhibitions

• 1966 Maori Culture and the Contemporary Scene Canterbury Art Gallery.
• 1986 Karanga Karanga Wellington City Art Gallery, the Fisher Gallery in Pakuranga, Auckland, and the Gisborne Museum.
• 1994 Aoraki/Hikurangi Canterbury Art Gallery.
• 2003 Te Puawai o Ngai Tahu Canterbury Art Gallery.
• 2004 Toi Māori: The Eternal Thread — Te Aho Mutunga Kore Pātaka Museum, and touring internationally for three years.
• 2020 Te Wheke Pathways Across Oceania Canterbury Art Gallery.

References

1. ^ Underhill, Bridget. "Catherine Elizabeth (Cath) Brown". komako.org.nz. Archived from the original on 15 January 2020. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
2. ^ Chloe Cull (2019). "Cath Brown:For Us and Our Children After Us". ATE Journal of Māori Art. 1: 13–25. ISSN 2624-4446. Wikidata Q104516350.
3. ^ Dunbar, Anna (6 September 2000). "Strands of heritage; Cath Brown". The Press. Christchurch, New Zealand.
4. ^ Tamati-Quennell, Megan (2003). "Cath Brown". In Rogers, Anna (ed.). Te Puāwai o Ngāi Tahu (PDF). Christchurch: Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū. pp. 34–42.
5. Taiāwhio : conversations with contemporary Māori artists. Smith, Huhana. Wellington : Te Papa Press. 2002. ISBN 0-909010-86-2. OCLC 50999083.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
6. ^ "Ngāti Moki Marae". Christchurch City Libraries. Archived from the original on 3 January 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
7. ^ "Patiki tribute to master weaver and artist". archived.ccc.govt.nz. 21 July 2005. Archived from the original on 16 February 2020. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
8. "Kā Kohika o Macmillan Brown". kohika.canterbury.ac.nz. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
9. Romanos, Michael (1 April 1985). "Tu Tangata". Tu Tangata. No. 23. p. 16. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
10. "In Memory" (PDF). Bulletin. 139: 33. 2005 – via Christchurch Art Gallery.
11. "No. 53894". The London Gazette (2nd supplement). 31 December 1994. p. 35.
12. "Ngāti Moki Marae". my.christchurchcitylibraries.com. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
13. Mane-Wheoki, Jonathan (22 October 2014). "Contemporary Māori art – ngā toi hōu – Te toi hou a te Māori, te toi taketake a te Māori". TeAra.govt.nz. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
14. "City Gallery Wellington". citygallery.org.nz. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
15. Mane-Wheoki, Jonathan (1994). Aoraki / Hikurangi (PDF). Christchurch, N.Z.: Robert McDougall Art Gallery. ISBN 0-908874-36-7. OCLC 154451591.
16. Irish, Gina (2003). "Exhibitions Christchurch". Art New Zealand. 108.
17. Andrew Paul, Wood (30 June 2020). "Te Wheke Pathways Across Oceania. A Review from Andrew Paul Wood". Art Beat. Retrieved 30 December 2020.

External links

• Radio programme on Te Aho Raranga: Aotearoa Moananui a Kiwa Weavers Convention featuring Cath Brown.

• 1933 births
• 2004 deaths
• Ngāi Tahu people
• New Zealand Māori weavers
• New Zealand weavers
• New Zealand ceramicists
• 20th-century New Zealand women artists
• 20th-century women textile artists
• People from Leeston
• New Zealand netball coaches
• Dunedin College of Education alumni
• New Zealand Māori schoolteachers
• New Zealand schoolteachers
• 20th-century New Zealand textile artists
• 20th-century New Zealand educators
• 20th-century New Zealand women educators