Anne Daniel – weaver/fibre artist
Anne Daniel is a Hokitika-based fibre artist whose work brings together harakeke, natural plant fibres, weaving, basketry, and sculptural form. Shaped by the rugged West Coast environment, her creative approach reflects a deep engagement with material, hand process, and place.
Artist statement
My artistic practice is a collaboration with nature. I have an innate desire to create with my hands using materials that come from the earth. For about 25 years, harakeke has been central to my work, with other plant fibres becoming part of it more recently.
Living in Kaniere near Hokitika, I am strongly influenced by the rugged West Coast of Aotearoa New Zealand’s South Island. The bush around my home and studio, my garden, and the nearby beach all shape the way I gather, observe, and make, using what grows, what falls, and what the landscape offers.
Some materials are used raw; others are processed by hand through basketry and fibre techniques. My process is tactile, thoughtful, and often experimental, guided by close attention to the qualities of each material.
Connection is central to my practice. The materials link me to the land and seasons, the techniques to ancestral knowledge, and the finished works to viewers. Each piece becomes a record of relationship between maker and material, with its elements physically entwined.
There is deep satisfaction in growing, harvesting, and processing my own materials, and I like to use as much as possible of what I gather. At the end of their life, my works can be returned to the earth, completing a cycle of renewal and sustainability.
Materials and process
I love working with harakeke because it offers endless possibilities in technique and form. I use it both natural and dyed, though I now prefer its natural state, where variations in colour and pattern can be stunning.
Alongside harakeke, I use plant fibres selected for their texture, strength, colour, and response to different techniques, including raranga/plaiting, coiling, twining, wrapping, knotting, and looping.
I have expanded from weaving small containers and traditional kete, including patterned kete whakairo, into wall hangings, three-dimensional works, and larger sculptural pieces. I am continually looking at new ways of using the fibres I harvest or gather. Most of the harakeke I use is grown in my garden from cultivars of the Te Kohinga Harakeke o Aotearoa – National New Zealand Flax Collection.
Artist biography
Anne’s interest in weaving began while studying at university during the 1970s, first through hand weaving in wool and later through cane basketry. After years of teaching and parenthood, that early fascination returned in 2000 when she joined a weekend course in flax (harakeke – phormium tenax) weaving with Veronica Maser.
Having worked as a maths and chemistry teacher for much of her life, Anne came to recognise the depth of her creative side during a period of personal reassessment, when she began to reconsider where she wanted to focus her time and energy. Weaving became central to that renewed direction.
Although largely self-taught, Anne spent time weaving with the late Tungia Baker during the early 2000s. Working with Tungia and others to produce a hieke, a traditional rain cape, was a motivating and inspirational experience. She later helped make a small whāriki (mat) from kuta for the opening of the marae at Bruce Bay.
In 2009, Anne further developed her skills through a five-day course with Deb Price, using natural fibres such as harakeke, dead tī kōuka leaves, and pine needles to explore other basketry techniques.
Anne has presented two solo exhibitions, with a third scheduled, and regularly contributes to group exhibitions. Her work has been purchased by businesses and individuals internationally, and pieces are held in the collections of Left Bank Gallery in Greymouth and Puke Ariki Museum in New Plymouth.
Her notable achievements include being shortlisted twice for the Parkin Drawing Prize and winning the major award at the Creative Fibre National Exhibition.
Her work continues to draw on this mix of formal learning, shared knowledge, experimentation, and self-directed exploration.
Artistic practice
Anne’s current work brings together traditional fibre knowledge and contemporary sculptural exploration. Rather than beginning with a fixed outcome, she works responsively, allowing material, process, and form to develop through close observation and hands-on making.
Her recent work is concerned with balance, tension, rhythm, and the relationship between contained and open forms. Some pieces retain echoes of vessel or kete; others move further into abstraction, where fibre becomes line, surface, shadow, and structure.
This body of work reflects an ongoing interest in how natural materials can hold movement, tension, and a sense of place. It extends Anne’s long engagement with fibre into forms that are grounded in tradition while continuing to evolve through new approaches.