Sandy Adsett
"Sometimes we have to stand up and say 'enough'. Sometimes our need is to show ourselves as Maori to Maori."
28 Aug 2002
Sandy Adsett was born in 1939 in Wairoa on the East Coast of the North Island where he has spent most of his life.
Maori life and culture have remained strong in the relatively isolated area which is home to some of the finest carved and painted meeting houses in New Zealand.
He was part of a movement in the late 1950s and 1960s to introduce Maori culture into schools.
Sandy has worked in art education since that time as a specialist arts and crafts adviser at various levels.
He has also contributed in many ways to developing structures to support Maori art through a number of National art committees and organisations.
One of Sandy's central convictions is that Maori artists must work first and foremost for their own people.
"A Maori has an obligation to the art of his/her people." "It's the people's art. It doesn't belong to you."
"It must identify Maori to Maori if it is going to remain relevant to statements about our tribal beliefs, values and mana (standing) in today's and tommorrow's world."
Sandy was one of three principal art tutors at Toihoukura, School of Maori Visual Arts in Gisborne, and now resides in Hastings, having established a new school of Contemporary Maori Visual Arts, Toimairangi, Te Wananga o Aotearoa.