Davina Duke
Davina Duke is a Māori contemporary uku artist from Aotearoa/New Zealand. She was included as an example of a contemporary Māori artist in the 'teacher guidance' section of the NCEA Visual Arts Standard 1.1 entitled Ngā taonga.
Family background
Duke is of Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Rehua, Taitokerau, and Patuharakeke descent. She was born in Tāmaki Makaurau in 1975, but spent her time practising in Takahiwai and Bay of Islands in a head of arts department position at a secondary school. Her son, Marino Duke, attributes much of the inspiration for his career as a Māori graffiti artist to his mother and her mentors, including Manos Nathan.Career
Duke began her artistic career by studying at NorthTec Whangārei in the 1990s and gaining knowledge and skills from artists Geoff Wilson, Manos Nathan, and Colleen Waata Urlich. She has worked as a ceramist, artist, sculptor, and art teacher in Kamo High School, Whangārei.She is a member of Ngā Kaihanga Uku, a Maori clayworkers collective, and was the 2023 Secretary and Senior Arts Associate of the Takahiwai Māori Committee.
Duke experiments with the materiality of uku and its relationship with the land that she whakapapas to, Tai Tokerau and Takahiwai. She uses layers of varying texture and finish on her pieces, and her specific use of the sgraffito method to scrape puhoro designs into her works connects the pieces to her whakapapa and te ao Māori.
Exhibitions
| Date | Title | Medium | Location | Source |
| Unknown | Large Terracotta Vase | Terracotta clay, 21 x 26cm | Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki | |
| 2014 | Ipu Puhoro | Uku | Kokiri Putahi 2014 7th Gathering of International Visual Artist Exhibition |
Projects
- In 2012, Duke was one of 100 Maori and Pacific artists representing Aotearoa at the 11th Festival of Pacific Arts in the Solomon Islands in July, attending as a member of Ngā Kaihanga Uku collective.
- In 2013, she organised a three day long mural project with three Kamo High School students and five graffiti artists. The result of the project was a 55 square metre sized mural.
- In 2017, Duke, alongside other clay artists Rhonda Halliday, Noelle Jakeman, Dorothy Waetford, and print artist Jasmine Horton attended the "Tears of DukwibahL" convention for Indigenous artists worldwide in Olympia, Washington State, at the Evergreen State College Longhouse Education and Cultural Centre. Together the artists all delved into different mediums including print, painting, carving, fibre, adornment, digital art, photography, clay, and glass, through events like presentations, exhibitions of work and trips to local tribes in the event's area. With the assistance of Creative New Zealand, eight artists from Ngā Kaihanga Uku also attended.