About Us

 

Kei aku whakataparahi i te rangi, nau piki mai, nau kake mai ki taku paetukutuku e whakatairanga ake i aku mahi toi ataata. Ko Toa-Ariki Clausen ahau. No Te Whãnau-a-Apanui, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Hine me Te Waiariki anō hoki.

My name is Toa-Ariki Clausen i’m 30 years old. I am a by product of Te Aho Matua. I’m a contemporary Māori visual artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland). I specialise in digital art, painting and wood sculpture. I’m passionate about expressing my culture and heritage through visual art. I have been practicing māori visual art for 10 years.

I’ve grown up in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) and was fortunate to have been brought up in total immersion from kohanga through to kura kaupapa, graduating in 2011. This is where the foundations of growing a passion for māori visual arts started. Not only creating art enticed me, but the stories and expressing my work through visual art, whakapapa (genealogical) connection to land, mythologies and the environment all played a key role in what I enjoy the most about Toi Māori.

My aspirations is to leave behind a legacy of high quality maori visual art that will be passed down to many generations to come and encourage other emerging/aspiring māori artist to follow their passion of visual art by sharing our beautiful intricate culture to the world.