Gabrielle Belz

Initially trained as a commercial artist, Gabrielle is now a full-time painter and printmaker. She continues to support and promote art in the local and wider community as current chair of Te Atinga (Committee of Contemporary Māori Visual Arts) of Toi Māori Aotearoa, a founding member of Kauwae (National Māori Women’s Art Collective), trustee of Toi o Manukau, a long-serving member of Nga Puna Waihanga (a national community-oriented organization that supports all Māori arts), a founding member of the artists’ co-operative Pukeko, and she serves on the Creative Community Funds committee for Manukau City.

She has participated in solo and group exhibitions throughout New Zealand and elsewhere, including “Mana Wahine” (1995) in Tucson, Arizona; “Haka” (1997-98), which toured the United Kingdom; “Sisters/Yakkananna/Kahui Mareikura” (2002) in Adelaide, Australia, and “Kiwa-Pacific Connections” (2003) in Vancouver, Canada. Recent commissions include design work for Manukau City.

Excerpt from Manawa—Pacific Heartbeat, 2005.