• The Blumhardt Foundation

Dame Doreen’s Gift 2024

The Blumhardt Foundation announces that the 2024 recipients of Dame Doreen’s Gift are contemporary jeweller Frances Stachl (Ngāpuhi) from Whanganui and contemporary weaver Annie Mackenzie who currently resides in Torea Granity, Te Tai o Poutini, West Coast South Island, both of whom receive gifts of $10,000 from the Foundation.

Annually Blumhardt Foundation Trustees present Gifts to encourage an establishing artist and a mid career artist whose craft/object art practices are outstanding and have garnered the admiration and respect of peers, sector leaders and institutions.

The announcement was made today by Foundation Chair Brian Wood who said “all Trustees were thrilled to present these gifts to two very dedicated practitioners. Annie Mackenzie was awarded the gift on the strength of her exhibition Genuine Article at the Sarjeant Gallery which featured intricate new woven works inspired by the paintings of Edith Collier and Joanna Margaret Paul, and the Whanganui Woollen Mills. Annie is an active maker that shows commitment to the history of craft in Aotearoa. Frances Stachl was awarded the gift for dedication to her practice as a self-supporting working jeweller, which balances making with selling; her development as a maker, respect for material, acknowledging her heritage and being a great support to others in the sector.”

Quote from Frances Stachl on receiving the gift “Thank you so much to the Blumhardt Foundation for this incredible, astonishing vote of confidence. As a fairly reclusive mid-career jeweller who works in the provinces rather than the city, an award like this is intensely surprising. My work is what it is because of so many other ringatoi/ringarehe Māori who have gone before me, beside me and everyone who will come after. I would not be who I am as a maker or as a person without this whakapapa and whanaungatanga. I’d also like to acknowledge the hype gangs, online and off, Māori and Tangata Tiriti. And to my littlest irāmutu, aē, this gift will buy us a LOT of aihikirīmi."

Quote from Annie Mackenzie on receiving the gift “Thank you so much. I am quite blown away by all this. It is really tremendous for me on all sorts of levels, to receive this outside affirmation of my work. It has woken me up and put the wind back in my sails."

The Blumhardt Foundation was established by notable potter and arts advocate the late Dame Doreen Blumhardt to advance the craft/object sector.

Both artists have works in numerous public and private collections.