Marilynn Webb

Marilynn Lois Webb (11 September 1937 – 16 August 2021) was a New Zealand artist, noted for her contributions to Māori art and her work as an educator. She was best known for her work in printmaking and pastels, and her works are held in art collections in New Zealand, the United States, and Norway. She lectured at the Dunedin School of Art, and was made an emeritus principal lecturer in 2004.

Webb's art was inspired by land issues, activism and environmentalism, including notably in the 1970s work that criticised the New Zealand government's Think Big economic strategy and its impact on the environment, as well as by Māori culture and post-colonial history. Her landscapes include depictions of Lake Mahinerangi, the Ida Valley, Fiordland, and Stewart Island / Rakiura.

Early life and career Webb was born on 11 September 1937 in Grey Lynn, Auckland, New Zealand. She was the daughter of Trevor James Webb and Elizabeth Vaiven Webb, née Turner. She is of Māori (Ngā Puhi and Te Roroa) and European descent.

Webb was the direct descendant of Moe Ngaherehere, the 47th signatory of the Treaty of Waitangi. Her birth in Auckland was the result of her mother having previously lost children in Opotiki. Her maternal grandmother oversaw her birth in Auckland, and at a few weeks old she returned from Auckland to Opotiki on the NSS "Waiotahi". She was raised in Ōpōtiki, where she attended Opotiki Primary School and Opotiki District High School. In 1957 she attended Dunedin Teachers' College, and had her first art show at a coffee bar called Stewart's. In this role she worked for the Department of Education in Auckland and Northland and for the Northern Māori Project from 1958 to 1962, with the goal of promoting contemporary Māori art. The role included running arts courses for local teachers in city and country schools. In 1994 she collaborated and worked with local artists at the Eastern Southland Gallery, and created pastels of the Mataura River; She formed part of the artist team who worked on the Southland Art Foundation project Rakiura in 2000, which involved visiting Stewart Island / Rakiura and creating art that responded to the environment and the people, and was part of the Department of Conservation project Tamatea, exhibited at Southland Museum and Art Gallery in 2016 and 2017, which highlighted the fragility of the Tamatea / Dusky Sound ecology. She has undertaken a number of other projects with the Department of Conservation during her career.

Webb exhibited prolifically and was involved in over 180 exhibitions and over 35 curated exhibitions/symposiums, and with The Group in 1970, 1974, 1975, and 1976. Works by Webb are held in the collections of the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Norwegian Contemporary Graphic Museum, and the US Library of Congress. Lonie said in 2004 that Webb "works to remind people of the importance of the landscapes of the heart, to record places which will not remain the same for long, and to create images which hold local histories in a way which is accepted by those communities".

Honours and awards In 2000, Webb was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2000 New Year Honours, for services to art and art education. In 2010, the University of Otago awarded her an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.

In 2018, she was awarded Te Tohu Aroha mō Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu, the Supreme Award for excellence and achievement in Ngā Toi Māori (Māori art), at the Te Waka Toi Awards.

Personal life Webb's son, Ben Webb, was also an artist.

Webb died on 16 August 2021, aged 83.