In the late 1970s master carver Matahi Whakataka-Brightwell had completed his 10-year training period with Māori elders. He came to his grandmother's land at Lake Taupō to mark the occasion with a significant carving.
Aalto Colour created the Toi Māori palette from colours used by Māori in nineteenth-century meeting houses.
The range was commissioned by Helen Kedgley, curator at Pataka Art Gallery and Museum in Porirua, under the leadership of Darcy Nicholas, contemporary Māori artist and General Manager of Cultural Services of Porirua Council to create authentic and unique colours for the walls of the Koru and Kōwhaiwhai exhibition (2002).
Respected ethnologist Roger Neich (1944-2010) supported Aalto to match the colours used in the Ngāti Maru/Marutūāhu whare rūnanga, Hotunui, which has been on display in the Auckland Museum Māori Court since 1925.
The colours were named and described by Garry Nicholas, General Manager of Toi Māori Aotearoa and Sandy Adsett, contemporary Māori painter and Chair of Te Ātinga, the national Māori visual artists committee, with expert advice from Sir Tīmoti Kāretū, founding Trustee of Toi Māori Aotearoa, Māori Language Commissioner and Chair of Te Kohanga Reo National Trust.
In 2024, the colour descriptions were translated into te reo Māori by Te Kirikātōkia Rangihau (Ngāi Tuhoe), Toi Māori Aotearoa.
The palette was created to celebrate the traditional hues used in early Wharenui but also the rich pigments of Papatuanuku found in art forms.
Dr. Sandy Adsett
"I’ve been really fortunate in being able to participate, enjoy and share in a life-long arts passion that engages in the challenges and welfare of our Maori arts identity." - Dr Sandy Adsett.
Dr Sandy Adsett MNZM is a revered New Zealand artist and painter with experience in carving, weaving, costume and stage design. His immense career in Maori visual arts and education has seen him train many of Aotearoa’s celebrated Maori artists, while his influence and artwork can be found across Aotearoa in meeting houses, churches, art museums, government and corporate venues and private collections.
Roger Neich
One of the foremost authorities on Maori art, Neich was an anthropologist, former curator of Ethnology at Auckland War Memorial Museum and professor of Anthropology at The University of Auckland, he wrote extensively on Maori and pacific carvings, textiles, and other arts.
He published widely on traditional Maori and Pacific art and is the author of Painted Histories, Pacific Tapa, The Maori Collection of the British Museum amongst other titles.
Garry Nicholas
General Manager at Toi Maori Aotearoa, an independent Maori arts organisation that cares for the interests of Maori art and artists at a local, national and international level for the benefit of Maoripeople.
Toi Maori continues to advocate for increased support for Maori art from the government to achieve the aspirations of iwi Maori as guaranteed by Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Darcy Nicholas
Darcy Nicholas has been actively involved in the contemporary Maori art movement since the late 1960’s. He has exhibited throughout New Zealand, Australia, Africa, United States, France, India, Britain, Germany, Netherlands, and Canada.
He was the visionary behind the creation of Pataka Museum, for which in 2010 he was made a companion of the Queens Service Order (QSO) for his services to Museums. In 2013 he was given the Supreme award for Maori arts, `Te Tohu mo Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu Te Waka Toi Exemplary Award.
Helen Kedgley
Helen Joan Kedgley is a retired New Zealand art curator and gallery director, who remains active in arts governance. She attended Samuel Marsden Collegiate School and Victoria University of Wellington where she earned a Bachelor of Arts majoring in politics. After a year studying at the Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland Kedgley moved to Paris and studied fineart and art history, graduated from the École du Louvre with a diploma in art history and from the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts with an advanced diploma in fine arts.
On her return to Wellington, Kedgley became involved in Page 90 Artspace Gallery, a women's art initiative in Porirua. When Page 90 was absorbed into Pataka Art + Museum on its opening in 1998, Kedgley became a curator at the new gallery, and took over as director when founding director Darcy Nicholas stepped down in 2012.
