Michelle Mayn
Biography
Michelle Mayn holds a Masters of Visual Arts from Auckland University of Technology and studied Traditional and Contemporary Māori Weaving at Unitec (Auckland) and mixed media at The Art Students League of New York in 2017.
Mayn works primarily with harakeke, New Zealand native flax, using traditional Māori techniques of weaving, binding, twining and knotting; often incorporating found objects. These time intensive methods of gathering, processing and making develop an intimate relationship with material and the natural world.
Material, light, form and movement are combined to create ephemeral object-based installations and sculptures that explore the mauri (life force) of materials beyond the world of sense perception.
Personal
Born Takapuna, North Shore City, Auckland/Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa/New Zealand
Education
2020 AUT Auckland University of Technology, Masters of Visual Art with Honours (First Class)
2018 AUT Auckland University of Technology, Post Graduate Diploma in Visual Art
2016 to 2017 Art Students League of New York, Mixed Media, New York City, USA
2011 Traditional and Contemporary Maori Weaving, Unitec School of Art & Design, Auckland, NZ
Solo Exhibitions
2019 Of Journeys Between Two Places, Studio One - Toi Tū, Auckland
2017 Shimmer, Weaving Dark to Light, Village Arts Gallery, Hokianga, Northland
2015 Decoded: Exploring traditional weaving in a contemporary context, Northart, Auckland
Exhibitions:
2024 Winter Members Exhibition, Northart, Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland
2024 Changing Threads; Contemporary Textile Fibre Art Awards, Refinery ArtSpace, Nelson
2023 Suburbia, mothermother Iteration 22, Northart, Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland
2023 breathing space/space breathing, St Paul Street Gallery, Auckland
2022 Contextile 2022, Contemporary Textile Art Biennial, Guimarães, Protugal.
2022 Changing Threads; Contemporary Textile Fibre Art Awards, Refinery ArtSpace, Nelson
2022 Mana Moana, Waiheke Community Art Gallery, Tāmaki Makaurau
2022 Future Propositions, Depot Artspace, Devonport, Tāmaki Makaurau
2021-2022 Sculpture in the Gardens, Auckland Botanic Gardens, Tāmaki Makaurau
2021 Finger Pricks & Curses, TENT, mothermother, Tāmaki Makaurau
2021 What we do with our Hands, Corban Estate Arts Centre, Tāmaki Makaurau (curated by Shari Lett)
2021 Mothermother, Iteration 12, Eden Terrace, Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland
2021 E Tiake-Take Care, artHAUS, Ōrākei, Auckland (curated by Sonja van Kerkhoff)
2021 Changing Threads; Contemporary Textile Fibre Art Awards, Refinery ArtSpace, Nelson
2020 Material Issues, Village Arts, Northland
2020 Ko rātou, ko tātou|On Otherness and Us-ness: Northart Gallery, Auckland (curated by Salama Moata McNamara and Sonja van Kerkhoff)
2019 Tatai Whenua: Sailing Under the Same Stars, Waiheke Community Art Gallery, Waiheke Island, Auckland
2019 First Encounters, Village Arts, Northland
2019 Wawata: Pā Te Aroha Weavers, Village Arts, Northland
2019 X-Marks: Conversations in Cloth, Northart, Auckland
2019 Matariki Postgraduate Exhibition: St Paul Street Gallery, AUT, Auckland
2019 Sea Conversations, Waiheke Community Art Gallery, Waiheke Island, Auckland
2019 The Barrel Store Project, Corban Estate Arts Centre, Auckland
2018 Rubbish 2, Village Arts, Kohukohu, Northland
2018 Unbound: the exhibition, Dunedin School of Art Gallery, Dunedin
2018 X-Marks: Conversations in Cloth, Te Kōngahu Museum of Waitangi, Bay of Islands
2018 PostPILOT: ‘A Light Reflection’ – St Paul Street Gallery III, Auckland CBD
2018 GRiD: Waiheke Community Art Gallery, Waiheke Island, Auckland
2017 Make Yourself at Home, Village Arts, Northland (curated by Heiwari Johnson)
2016 Student Concours, Phyllis Harriman Mason Gallery, New York City, USA
2015 Strands: Weaving a new fabric, Objectspace, (curated by Doris de Pont, [catalogue])
Auckland
2015 Small Expressions, HGA, Textile Centre, Minnesota, USA
2015 Rubbish, Village Arts, Kohukohu, Northland
2010 to 2014 Various group shows, Northart Gallery, Auckland
Awards
2022 Finalist – Molly Morpeth Canaday - 2022 3D; e Kōputu a te whanga a Toi – Whakatāne Library and Exhibition Centre, Whakatāne
2020 Dean's Award for Excellence in Post Graduate Study, Te Ara Auaha - Faculty of Design & Creative Technologies
2019 Finalist - 28th Wallace Art Awards; Pah Homestead, Auckland
2015 Finalist - World of Wearable Art
2015 Edith Whiteman Award, Small Expressions, HGA Handweavers Guild of America
Residency
2014 - Artists Residency, Wharepuke, Kerikeri, Northland
Publications featured in:
Stella Brennan, Exhibitions, Art New Zealand, Issue 179, Spring 2021
Natalie Smith & Victoria Bell, ‘Unbound: the exhibition’, Dunedin School of Art Gallery catalogue, Sept 2018
Cait McLennan Whyte, From Here to There, Fabricate, Issue 4, Winter 2017
Mark Amery, On The Edges: Hokianga (part two), The Big Idea, 12 July 2017
Robin Shepherd, “You will not see better than this” Northland Age, 30 March 2017
Suzanne P. MacAulay, Ph.D, “Winds of Change: Maori Samplers and the Colonial Ethos” presented at the Textile Society of America’s 15th Biennial Symposium, Crosscurrents: Land, Labor and the Port, Savannah, Georgia, USA, October 19-23, 2016.
Doris de Pont, ‘STRANDS: Weaving a New Fabric’, Object Space Extended catalogue, Oct 2015
Leigh Bramwell, “These Northland women are ... WOW!” Savvy Our People; 15 Sept 2015,
Rebecca Barry Hill, ‘Taking their sweet time’, Viva; 28 Aug 2015
Sarah Harris, “Weaving between Kohukohu and New York”, Stuff.co.nz, 28 Aug 2015
Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot vol. XLVI No. 3 Issue 183 Summer 2015, The Handweavers Guild of America, Inc
Texts:
Michelle Mayn, “Beyond the World of Sense Perception: Manifesting the Life Force of Materials Through Principles That Guide Actions”, Masters Thesis, Auckland University of Technology, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10292/13204
Michelle Mayn, ‘Observations and reflections on agency, mauri and tikanga Maori in contemporary art practice’, Context: Dress, Fashion, Textiles, Issue 37, Summer 2018/19, pg.76-89