Hemi Macgregor
Hemi Macgregor (b. 1975, Ngāti Rākaipaaka, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāi Tuhoe) is a highly respected artist and educator, who graduated from the prestigious Māori Visual Arts programme at Te Pūtahi-a-Toi, Massey University in Palmerston North, and is currently an Associate Professor with Whiti o Rehua School of Art at Massey University. Throughout his career, Hemi has contributed to the New Zealand arts arena with a particular focus on the field of Māori arts. Hemi is a former committee member for Te Atinga Māori Arts under Toi Māori and contributed to the establishment of the Ngaru Rua Rangatahi initiative, He was also a member of the Wellington Sculpture Trust Advisory Group and currently is working with local secondary schools in the Wellington region through the Ahurea Māori programme and Creatives in Schools initiative to provide Matauranga Māori art engagement.
Hemi’s artistic practice spans painting, sculpture, and installation, and collaboration with other artists is a central thread of his career. Exhibiting widely both nationally and internationally recent events include Waiora, Hastings City Art Gallery 2022 – 2023(painting and sculpture), Matarau, City Art Gallery Wellington with guest curator Shannon Te Ao 2021 – 2022 (painting and sculpture), Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art 2020 – 2021 (sculpture and collaborative installation with Saffronn Te Ratana and Ngataiharuru Taepa). From 2015 to 2021 Hemi was a member ofTe Kahui Toi, the Māori artist team that guided the creation of Te Rau Karamu Marae, at Massey Universities Wellington campus.
Glen Hayward
Glen Hayward (b. 1974, Auckland) graduated with a Doctorate from Elam in 2005. In 2003 he participated in the inaugural Sculpture on the Gulf, studied at Atelier Parekowhai 93-95 but fell in love prior with sculpture through the object put to use in the performances of John Lyall.
Art was and remains a place where it is not what it is. It being the English word for Id. This “it” or thingly quality of people and the world at large is what induces relationship, what artists dignify and ultimately what eludes us and in doing so tells us something about the world. It is the space in a vase, the gaps between timbers on a seat and the enlivening space under the table for a child at a dinner party. The miracle that the skin of a loved one contains your whole world.
He is represented by a dear friend Paul Nache.
Image credit Jim and Mary Barr.
Margaret Aull
Margaret Aull (b. 1978, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Fiji) is a Māori–Fijian artist and curator whose practice bridges painting, sculpture, and installation to explore whakapapa, tapu/tabu, and cultural knowledge systems. Based in Te Awamutu, Aull has exhibited widely across Aotearoa, Fiji, Australia, the United States, and Morocco, where she presented at the Casablanca Biennale in 2018.
Her work is both deeply personal and politically resonant, weaving Māori and Pacific perspectives to interrogate identity, ritual, and the role of art in cultural wellbeing. Recent projects include Toi is Rongoā (Waikato Museum, 2022), a significant exhibition that centered mātauranga Māori and artistic expression as the methodology for health and wellbeing; her ongoing work as a member of The Veiqia Project was recognised with the Pacific Heritage Art Award by Creative New Zealand in 2025.
She has also been instrumental in establishing kaupapa that strengthen Indigenous arts and cultural practice, including Āhua Gallery for New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute and project manager for Haumanu Collective a group dedicated to the vitalisation of Taonga Puoro. Alongside this, Aull maintains strong international engagement, contributing to projects and networks that connect and advance Pacific artists globally.
Beyond the studio, Aull is a respected arts advocate, serving on advisory groups for Toi Māori Aotearoa, Creative New Zealand, Toi Ngā Puhi, and Toi Tūwharetoa. Her work situates her practice across communities, and spaces of revitalisation whilst facilitating a number of events that celebrates cultural identity
Chris Bailey
Chris Bailey (b.1965) lives on Waiheke Island and is of Ngāti Paoa, Ngāti Hako, Ngāti Porou, descent. In the early 2000’s he studied Māori material culture at Auckland University before becoming a full-time sculptor and carver.
Much of his work is monumental public artwork which is informed by his heritage as he works to engage the public with Māori concepts and return his peoples voice to the physical landscape. Working in bronze, stone and timber his works are held in both public and private collections throughout New Zealand and globally.
He was granted Te Ara Whakarei – lifetime Toi Iho status by Creative NZ in 2005, James Wallace Trust New Zealand Sculptor in 2014, and Creative Visionary Award / Ko te tohu whakanui mō te ringatoi by HMBA in 2025. He has exhibited in several Sculpture on the Gulf events
SJ Blake
SJ Blake (b.1983) is an experimental artist and performance designer based on Waiheke Island. After studying at the Motley Theatre Design Course in London in 2007, she has worked across experimental performance while steadily moving toward a fine arts practice.
Blake explores mixed media, combining digital technologies with handmade processes to create new aesthetics, meanings, and emotional curiosities. Recent projects include Nikau Superette (Participating Artist)-New Lynn dairy, Tinned Goods – Anomalous Gallery / Studio One Toi Tū and Night Flight (a community site specific performance)-the culmination of a six-month Blake NZ artist residency.
Her immersive performance A Fantastical Journey by Boat, which incorporated VR, was selected to represent Aotearoa at the 2021 ARS Electronica Festival. Environmental decline and the ocean remain central themes in her work.
Elliot Collins
Elliot Collins is an artist, researcher, and tutor who works across a range of media within the visual arts. He gained a practice-led Ph.D. from AUT University in 2019, researching Memory Markers in the Landscape in Aotearoa New Zealand.
His interests focus on ideas of present/absent texts within ‘memory markers’ in Aotearoa New Zealand, alongside motifs that represent distinctive forms of meaning-making narratives. Collins’ practice references poetry and language, the naming of things, as well as memorials, memory, and time. He aims to expand ways of recording and documenting silences in relation to the environment and cultural narratives, contributing to expanded knowledges.
Born in Tāmaki Makaurau in 1983, he now lives and works in Waitara, North Taranaki with his wife, son, and dog, on the whenua of Te Ātiawa.
Sione Faletau
Dr. Sione Faletau (b. 1991) is an Aotearoa-born Tongan artist based in Ōtara, South Auckland. His multidisciplinary practice spans performance, sculpture, installation, and digital art.
He completed a BFA (Hons, First Class) in 2013, an MFA (Hons, First Class) in 2015, and a Doctor of Fine Arts in 2022 at Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland. His doctoral research examined Tongan masculinity from an Indigenous perspective, drawing on Talanoa conducted with more than 140 people across the Tongan islands of ‘Eua, Ha‘apai, Niuatoputapu, Tongatapu, and Vava‘u.
Grounded in Moana knowledge systems—particularly ongo (sound, feeling, presence) and kupesi (patterns)—Faletau’s recent work explores sonic mark-making and projection mapping to create immersive spatial environments.
He was part of the inaugural Creative Australia & Creative New Zealand Digital Fellowship (2022) and has undertaken residencies with Te Pūnaha Matatini and Tautai. His work has been presented in major exhibitions including the Hawai‘i Triennial, Bundanon Art Museum, and the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery.
Anton Forde
Forde (Taranaki, Gaeltacht, Gaelic, English) is widely celebrated both locally and internationally for his esteemed sculptural practice, which explores whakapapa, wairua, and our profound connection to the natural world. His work bridges tradition and contemporary form, honouring Māori worldviews while engaging universally with themes of identity, guardianship, and spirituality. Grounded in indigenous knowledge yet resonant across cultures, his sculptures invite reflection on our responsibilities to the whenua and to one another.
Forde studied under Professor Robert Jahnke within the Māori Visual Arts programme, Toioho ki Āpiti, at Massey University, where he completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Māori Visual Arts with Distinction, followed by a Master of Māori Visual Arts with First-Class Honours. His academic grounding continues to inform a practice deeply committed to cultural continuity and artistic innovation.
Gill Gatfield
Gill Gatfield (b. 1963) lives in Whangaparāoa. She completed a Master of Fine Arts (Hons) in 2004 and Bachelor of Laws in 1988 from University of Auckland. Her abstract sculptures and installations address ancestral intelligence and speculative futures, in real and virtual worlds.
She was artist in residence at NARS Foundation New York 2025, Foreign Objekt 2024–25, Saas-Fee Art Institute NYC 2024, Poison Creek 2023–24, Ionion Center Greece 2023, Vermont Studio Centre USA 2019, and KØN Museum Denmark 2015. Her work is exhibited internationally, including at Sculpture by the Sea, Venice Art Biennale 2022 European Cultural Centre, Kunstverein Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz Berlin, UNESCO Geopark Ionion Islands, and Venice Architecture Biennale 2018.
Gill has public sculptures in Auckland and Sydney. She created the virtual monument HALO for Wellington Sculpture Trust 40th Anniversary, presented also at Waitangi and New York.
Sean Hill
Sean Hill is a multidisciplinary artist of Kiwi/Samoan descent based in Ngamotu, Taranaki. He completed an Honours degree in Visual Arts at Auckland University in 2016. Sean’s practice focuses on conceptual exploration using movement, frequency, colour, texture, nature, and materials to express energy in a physical form, creating a visual language often through abstract representations.
Sean has exhibited overseas with Scott Lawrie Gallery (Scotland) and Alcaston Art Gallery (Naarm/Melbourne). His exhibitions include Synchrotopia in 2024 (solo) and 2026 (solo) at Govett-Brewster window space, and Energtopia in 2024 (solo). He received a CNZ emerging artist funding in 2024 and a Govett-Brewster artist residency in Tonga funded by CNZ in 2024. He exhibited at Govett-Brewster Art Gallery with Lalaga in 2022 and 2024, was a finalist for NZPPA Awards and Molly Morpeth Canaday Awards in 2025, and created a commissioned sculptural artwork for Te Tuhi Art Gallery, Flowergy, in 2025.
