Artist Darcy Nicholas has received the supreme award in this year’s Te Waka Toi Awards.
Mr Nicholas, from Te Atiawa, Ngati Ruanui and Tauranga Moana, has been actively involved in the contemporary Maori art movement since the late 1960s.
He has also been an important influence as an administrator and curator, running the Pataka Museum in Porirua and putting together shows that introduced contemporary Maori artists to international audiences.
He has exhibited nationally and internationally, and his distinctive work is held in many private and public collections world-wide.
Actor, writer and director Rawiri Paratene from Ngapuhi, the first Maori to graduate from the New Zealand Drama School, was given the Te Tohu Toi Ke a Te Waka Toi for making a difference to the arts in Aotearoa.
Lifetime achievement awards went to sculptor Fred Graham from Ngati Koroki Kahukura and Raukawa, orator Hohepa Mason from Ngati Awa, feminist writer Renae Taylor from Ngati Kahungunu, playwright and poet Rowley Habib from Ngati Tuwharetoa, and Tuhoe stalwart Tiwi Black, who has been an integral part of Te Hui Ahurei a Tuhoe since it started over 40 years ago.
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