Emily Schuster
{{short description|New Zealand weaver}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2015}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=March 2015}}
Emily Rangitiaria Schuster {{post-nominals|country=NZL|OBE|QSM|size=85%}} (née Hicks, 12 January 1927 – 5 September 1997) was a New Zealand master weaver of Te Arawa descent.{{cite book|last1=Evans|first1=Miriama|last2=Ngarimu|first2=Ranui|title=The Art of Māori Weaving|date=2005|publisher=Huia|location=Wellington|isbn=186969161X}}
Early life and family
Born in 1927 in Rotorua, Schuster was the niece of Rangitiaria Dennan, better known as Guide Rangi.{{cite news | url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=4355 | title=Carved residence a proud legacy | date=27 March 1999 | work=New Zealand Herald | accessdate=16 March 2015 | first=Bronwyn | last=Sell }}{{Cite journal|last=|first=|date=January 1992|title=Personalities: Emily Rangitiaria Schuster, Q.S.M.|url=|journal=Aotearoa Moananui a Kiwa Weavers|volume=14|pages=3|via=}} She married Bob Schuster in 1950,{{cite web |url=http://marvin.otago.ac.nz/marriages/search_test.php?init=0&maori_year=1950&folionum=163&search=search |title=Search results |date= |website=Varcoe's New Zealand marriages index |publisher=University of Otago |accessdate=16 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402101316/http://marvin.otago.ac.nz/marriages/search_test.php?init=0&maori_year=1950&folionum=163&search=search |archive-date=2 April 2015 |url-status=dead }} and the couple had six children.{{cite news | url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rotorua-daily-post/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503438&objectid=11051846 | title=Beautiful in all its different moods | date=18 January 2012 | work=Rotorua Daily Post | accessdate=16 March 2015 | first=Alison | last=King}} Her twin daughters Dawn Smith and Edna Pahewa became weaving tutors and experts.{{Cite web|url=https://www.burkemuseum.org/static/eternal_thread/artists.html|title=Eternal Thread|website=www.burkemuseum.org|access-date=2020-03-09}} She lived all her life in Rotorua.
Contribution to weaving
Schuster was the convenor of the Aotearoa Moananui a Kiwa Weavers Committee since its inception in 1983, and was the weaving representative on Te Waka Toi's Māori Art Committee.
Schuster founded the weaving school at the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute in Rotorua, in 1969.{{Cite book |last=Chitham |first=Karl |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1118996645 |title=Crafting Aotearoa : a cultural history of making in New Zealand and the wider Moana Oceania |date=2019 |others=Kolokesa Uafā Māhina-Tuai, Damian Skinner, Rigel Sorzano |isbn=978-0-9941362-7-5 |location=Wellington, New Zealand |pages=208 |oclc=1118996645}} Her daughter, Edna Pahewa, is the school's current head.{{cite web|title=Edna Pahewa |url=http://www.maoriart.org.nz/edna-pahewa-p-159.html. |website=Toi Māori Aotearoa |accessdate=27 January 2015 }}{{dead link|date=December 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} In 1988, Schuster and Diggeress Te Kanawa were awarded a travel grant to visit taonga kept in museums in the United Kingdom and United States. Schuster represented Aotearoa at a conservation conference in Brazil. Schuster continued to travel and teach until her death in 1993.{{cite web|title=Māori Weaving|url=http://craftinfo.org.nz/html/displayPage.php?docid=65|website=Ngā Taonga a Hinetiwaiwa|accessdate=27 January 2015}}
Daena Walker writes that Schuster has been "acknowledged internationally as one of the most gifted weavers of her generation. Her contribution to the art of Māori weaving and her knowledge of kaitiakitanga, particularly the cultivation and conservation of harakeke (flax) and its origins, has ensured the survival of this craft today."{{cite web|title=Celebrating Matariki at Auckland Libraries |url=http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/newseventsculture/OurAuckland/mediareleases/Pages/celebratematarikiataucklandlibraries.aspx |website=Auckland Council |accessdate=27 January 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402113741/http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/newseventsculture/OurAuckland/mediareleases/Pages/celebratematarikiataucklandlibraries.aspx |archivedate=2 April 2015 |df=dmy }}{{Cite book |last=Chitham |first=Karl |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1118996645 |title=Crafting Aotearoa : a cultural history of making in New Zealand and the wider Moana Oceania |date=2019 |publisher=Te Papa Press |others=Kolokesa Uafā Māhina-Tuai, Damian Skinner, Rigel Sorzano |isbn=978-0-9941362-7-5 |location=Wellington, New Zealand |pages=211 |oclc=1118996645}}
Honours and awards
In the 1983 Queen's Birthday Honours, Schuster was awarded the Queen's Service Medal for community service.{{London Gazette |issue=49376 |date=11 June 1983 |page=35 |supp=2}} In 1993, she was awarded the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal.{{cite web |url=https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/our-programmes/new-zealand-royal-honours/new-zealand-royal-honours-system/types-new-zealand-royal-honours/other-distinctive-new-zealand-honours/suffrage-medal-register |title=The New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993 – register of recipients |date=26 July 2018 |publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet |accessdate=18 September 2018}} She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to Māori arts and crafts, in the 1994 Queen's Birthday Honours.{{London Gazette |issue=53697 |date=11 June 1994 |page=34 |supp=2}}
References
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External links
- [http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/teahikaa/audio/2563318/nga-taonga-korero-emily-schuster Radio New Zealand National Interview]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20150103173451/http://collections.soundarchives.co.nz/search.do A Tribute]
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Category:New Zealand Māori weavers
Category:Recipients of the Queen's Service Medal
Category:New Zealand Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Category:New Zealand women textile artists
Category:Recipients of the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993
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