A renowned Dunedin artist who spent her early years in Ōpōtiki, the late Marilynn Webb, is the subject of an exhibition at Ōpōtiki Museum.

Webb (1937-2021) won the Te Tohu Aroha mō Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu, the supreme award at the 2018 Te Waka Toi Awards, and was well known as a print maker and, in later years, for work in pastels.

Her art explored concepts of land conservation, ecology, Māori women’s and political issues, and the post-colonial period.

Her childhood and teen years were spent attending school in Ōpōtiki. She swam with whales at Lottin Point and became a passionate drawer.

After training as an art teacher in Auckland and Dunedin, she became an arts adviser for the Department of Education’s Tovey Scheme.

This work took her around Auckland, Northland and the Pacific. She was involved in the Northern Māori Project to help stimulate the development of contemporary Māori art.

In 1974, she became the first Māori woman artist to receive the Francis Hodgkin Fellowship at Otago University, and later an honorary doctorate of laws from the university.

In 2010, she received the NZ Order of Merit.