(Written by Elizabeth Ellis, Chair Toi Iho Kaitiaki)

Kua hinga he  totara o te wao nui a Tane
ONZ  Hone Papita Raukura ‘Ralph’ Hotere
Nona te ao,  nona te mana, nona nga ringa toi,
i ekehia te taumata teitei o te Ao Hou.

E te rangatira Ralph, maringi ana nga roimata mou kua wehea nei, waiho mai o taonga whakahirahira, hei matapihi tirohanga ki to ao .

With heartfelt grief at your loss, we take pride in being able to view your world through the windows of an empowering legacy.

Hone Papita Raukura (Ralph) Hotere was born in Mitimiti, Northland, in 1931, one of 11 children. He passed away in Dunedin, 24 February 2013. He was educated at Hato Petera College and Auckland Teachers’ College, and he moved to Dunedin in 1952 to specialize in art.

He became an itinerant art and crafts advisor in Te Tai Tokerau (Northland). The Maori Art Team including Katerina Mataira, Muru Walters, Arnold Wilson and Selwyn Wilson worked in schools around the north, advising students and their teachers about the nature of Maori Art. In 1958, Ralph and the team curated an exhibition of work by contemporary Maori artists in the University of Auckland’s Adult Education centre. This was the first such exhibition of contemporary Maori art in history.

Ralph was awarded a New Zealand Art Societies Fellowship to study in London at the Central School of Art in 1961. He saw this as a great chance to travel away from New Zealand for the first time and to see the world. In 1994 he was awarded an Honorary doctorate from the University of Otago and in 2005 he was conferred an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Auckland.

In 2004 Ralph accepted Te Ara Whakarei- Lifetime membership of Toi Iho, the distinctive trademark and tohu of high quality and authentic Maori art. Additionally, in 2006 he received Te Waka Toi’s Te Taumata Award in recognition of his outstanding leadership and service to Maori arts and he was awarded New Zealand’s highest honour – Membership of the Order of New Zealand – in the New Year Honours 2012.

Ralph was a magnificent, brilliant artist, a quiet, private man of his time who spoke out clearly through his beautiful artworks in support of political and social inequities and in celebration of life.

At this time he is lying in state in Tumoana, the wharenui at his beloved Mitimiti where he will be buried with his whanau in the urupa on the hill overlooking the Tasman Sea.

We mourn with his close companion and wife Mary, daughter Andrea, mokopuna, whanau, loved ones and friends. Farewell dear Ralph from Toi Iho and Maori artists everywhere. We will miss you.

For a beautiful selection tributes, please read The Listener’s article, Remembering Ralph Hotere.

Takoto mai, takoto mai, takoto mai.

Arohanui,

Elizabeth Ellis

Chair Toi Iho Kaitiaki.

Saturday 2 March 2013