Robin Slow
Ko parapara te maunga
Ko mōhū te takiwā
Ko te tai tapu te moana
Ko pariwhakaoho te awa
Ko huria o waikoropupu te taniwha
Ko onetahua te marae
Ko te ao mārama te whare
Ko te whānau onetahua
Ko Robin tōku ingoa
Robin Slow is an artist and educator. Robin was born in Blenheim (Wairau) and has lived and worked throughout Te Wai Pounamu as an art teacher. He undertook a Diploma of Teaching with an art major at Christchurch Teachers’ College going on to work in Christchurch, Twizel and Golden Bay. As the art teacher at Golden Bay High School in Takaka for thirty-one years, Robin has taught generations of students of this region. Since 1991, Robin and his wife Rose, have worked as part of Te Whānau o Mōhua to establish Onetahua Marae at Pohara, Mōhua/Golden Bay. Robin was tasked with the design and layout of this innovative koru-shaped whare whakairo. In recent years, he has commitied to full-time art practice with regular solo exhibitions at galleries around Aotearoa. A recent highlight was designing and producing etched wooden kōwhaiwhai pou (posts) that run through the foyer of the redeveloped Suter Art Gallery Te Aratoi o Whakatū along with motifs for the marae ātea.
Brian Flintoff
Brian Flintoff is a carver and educator. He is a member of Te Haumanu, a group dedicated to the revival of taonga puoro, Māori musical instruments. Support and guidance from the Māori community has been the greatest influence and inspiration for his carving. He considers the most satisfying acknowledgement of this work is to have it accepted by many marae throughout Aotearoa, most prominently, at Onetahua marae in Golden Bay. His contribution to the revival of taonga puoro was recognised with the award of a Queens Service Medal in 2010, with his nomination supported largely by Māori. In his work he aspires to the standards established by the ancestral artists, who strove for excellence in order to please the spirit world. An absorbing interest in the art of the West Coast Canadian First Nations people led him to research animal forms in Māori Art. This remains a focus through which he can express his love of, and concern for, nature.
Bob Bickerton
Bob Bickerton has a long history in the New Zealand music industry as a performer, educator, sound engineer and manager. As a performer in schools, he presented education programmes, which included taonga pūoro, to over 300,000 students around the country over a 30 year period. His interest in the traditional instruments and enthusiasm to explore and record their sounds resulted in him working closely with Richard Nunns on a number of projects including Green Fire Islands and North South (with Glenn Colquhoun), and several film scores for Kathleen Gallagher which also featured Aroha Yates-Smith. Bob was appointed as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2015 New Year’s Honours list for services to music.
Ariana Tikao
Ariana Tikao (Kāi Tahu) is a composer and performer of waiata in te reo Māori and English, as well as being an exponent of taonga puoro. She has written many waiata in the Kāi Tahu dialect and has performed extensively around Aotearoa. In 2020 the Arts Foundation Laureate awarded her the Jillian Friedlander Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa Award.
Holly Tikao-Weir
Holly Tikao-Weir (Kāi Tahu) completed a degree in Maori performing arts and went on to perform extensively with the Kahurangi dance company as well as with various kapa haka groups that have competed at Te Matatini. In 2018 she completed a masters degree in Māori and Indigenous Leadership at Canterbury University.
Solomon Rahui
Solomon Rahui (Tūhoe, Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha) is a highly experienced performer and teacher of Māori performing arts and as well as being a practitioner of taonga puoro, has featured at Ngā Hau e Whā marae and has performed kapa haka at Te Matatini.