A Fellow of the NZAFA will have achieved a significant contribution to the fine arts in the wider community of Aotearoa New Zealand. This contribution is likely to include a demonstrable leadership role in some form, or recognised sustained commitment to, and/or excellence in, the visual arts. 

This contribution may be as:

• an artist
• an educator 
• a conservator
• a curator
• a commentator or populariser
• a patron
• an administrator
• an enabler, including as a funder.

Each of the new Fellows is considered a worthy recipient of this recognition.

Anneke Borren MNZM

Anneke Borren has been involved in studio ceramics since immigrating to New Zealand in 1963. She established Chez-Moi Ceramics in 1969 and was commissioned to produce a range of ceramic furnishings for the newly designed Executive Wing of Parliament in 1977. She was Pottery Lecturer at Whitirea Polytechnic from 1988 to 1993 and a sculptor in Wellington’s bi-annual Tareitanga stone symposium from 1995 to 2003. She is a regular participant in the Kapiti and Porirua City arts trails and a mentor at Driving Creek Railway Pottery.

Anneke served on the Council of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts from 1989 to 1991. She was Wellington delegate to the New Zealand Society of Potters for nine years, Vice-President from 1994 to 1996 and President from 1997 to 2000. She was made a Life Member of the Society in 2011. She was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to ceramic art in 2022.

Her work appears in collections nationally and internationally, including in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, New Zealand Embassy collections worldwide and national and private collections in many countries.

This nomination recognises her sustained commitment to the visual arts, as well as her  demonstrated leadership role in ceramic art in this country through the NZSP and the NZAFA over many decades. 

Darcy Nicholas QSO

Darcy Nicholas has been actively involved in the contemporary Māori arts movement since the 1960s. He has exhibited throughout Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, the USA and Canada, many European nations, and several African states. His works are in public and private collections around the world.

His vividly coloured expressionist style combines landscape and portraiture to explore and represent Māori perspectives and also universal themes across the many differing cultures that he has encountered. He is also well-known as a sculptor, where the female figure is a recurring theme.

Darcy has been hugely influential in the development of Māori art. He was the visionary behind the creation of Pataka. He organised several major cultural exchanges between Native American and Māori artists and has curated major touring exhibitions both to Australia and Africa. He was made a Companion of the Queens Service Order in 2010. His contributions were further acknowledged in 2013 with his receipt of “Te Tohu mo Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu Te Waka Toi Exemplary Award” for his lifetime contributions to Māori Art.

This nomination recognises his immense contribution, sustained commitment, and demonstrated leadership in the visual arts of Aotearoa New Zealand over many decades. 

Peter Coates

Peter Coates has exhibited with the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts for almost 70 years, following on from his grandmother who exhibited with the Academy as Maud Morgan in the 1890's. His interest and active participation in the arts has been a life-long passion. His contribution has been astounding.

He trained as a teacher and came under the influence of Doreen Blumhardt, John Drawbridge and the thinking of Clarence Beeby. At the age of thirty he decided to pursue his interests outside teaching, turning to performance, theatre design and production, and ultimately television production. He performed with the New Zealand Opera Company and was the artistic director of the De La Tour Opera, Wellington City Opera and the Martinborough Music Festival. 

He joined the documentary unit of TVNZ in 1970 and over the next thirty-five years produced over 400 programmes, including arts documentaries and opera productions. In 1975 he was awarded the QEII Broadcasting Award, which allowed him to study Documentary and Drama Production and Design in the UK, Munich, Finland, Moscow, Japan, Singapore and Australia. 

In 2010 he was selected to lead a sister city artists’ delegation to Xiamen in China. A work of his was included in the Beijing Biennale and became part of the national collection of China. He was on four occasions selected for the International Watercolour Biennale in Mexico, and also four times for the Wellington Regional Art Awards. He has been a finalist in the Adam portrait competition and was the first to exhibit in the new Parliamentary Gallery. In 2022 he was made a Life Member of the NZAFA. He continues to work on writing and painting, and retains a keen interest in contemporary arts developments in New Zealand.

This nomination recognises Peter’s immense contribution and sustained commitment to the visual arts over many decades, as well as the breadth of his involvement in the arts in New Zealand. 

Suzanne Herschell

Suzanne Herschell is an artist and poet who has exhibited with the Academy since 1973. She has exhibited in national and international group, solo and selected exhibitions. Her works are in corporate and private collections in New Zealand and overseas. 

She was awarded the Gordon Harris Award for Innovation in Watercolour 2018 and was a finalist in the Arts Gold Awards 2019. She exhibited in the Benson & Hedges, Norsewear and Molly Morpeth art competitions. A work acknowledging the gift of Tongariro National Park to the Crown by Ngati Tuwhareto in 1887 is on permanent display beside the Deed of Gift in the Tuwharetoa Gallery in Taupo Museum.

Suzanne was a Council member of Wellington Artists Group and has curated numerous exhibitions at the Academy, including the 2018 Parkin Drawing Prize and the 28th Wallace Art Awards in Wellington. She has been a selector and judge in national art competitions, most recently the 2017 Peters Doig Marlborough Art Award. 

This nomination recognises Suzanne’s demonstrated leadership, contribution and  sustained commitment to the visual arts in New Zealand over many decades. 

Vivian Manthel-French

Vivian Manthel-French is a life member of both the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts and Watercolour New Zealand, having been an early member of the Wellington Society of Watercolour Artists founded in 1975, and president from 1983-88. She served on the NZAFA Council to 2017.

For a period of about 20 years, Vivian spent six months of each year in London, where she was a member of Highgate Watercolour Group. She held solo exhibitions at New Zealand House and was chosen to hold a solo exhibition at the Commonwealth Institute, which resulted in an invited exhibition at Ballance House, Belfast, Ireland. She has been selected for the Royal Watercolour Society Open Exhibition. In New Zealand she has exhibited at the Academy, Millwood Gallery and with Watercolour New Zealand.

Vivian learned to paint attending weekend art classes at Wellington Technical College, where she later did her Fine Arts Preliminary. She went to work for an advertising agency but kept up her painting with the Wellington Art Club. At the age of 19, she submitted one of her paintings to the Academy and had it accepted. She eventually became an Elected Artist Member.

She paints a variety of subjects in watercolour and mixed media including landscapes from both countries. After becoming a mother, she became particularly keen on painting watercolour portraits of children. The New Zealand Portrait Gallery held a retrospective of these works. 

This nomination recognises her sustained commitment to the visual arts, as well as her  demonstrated leadership role in both the NZAFA and Watercolour New Zealand over many decades. 

Philip Markham

Philip Markham has retained an interest in painting from his school days and been a full-time painter since 1984. He trained as a dancer and performed with both the Royal New Zealand Ballet and Royal Opera Ballet Covent Garden. On retiring he became a teacher and was head of the art department at Wellington College for 15 years.

A versatile artist, well-disciplined in all media, Philip’s works are noted for their sound technique. He is an accomplished portrait artist and sought-after landscape artist. He is also a skilled calligrapher. Examples of his works can be found in public and private collections around the world.

He has served on the committees of many art organisations over many years and served as President of the NZAFA during 1994-97 and again during 2000-07. He was the recipient of the Governor General’s Art Award in 2000 for high attainment in painting.

Previous Fellows

For many years Fellowship of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts was limited to winners of the Governor-General’s Award (as a result of a mis-reading of the Rules). These previous Fellows include: Evelyn Page (1983), William Sutton (1984), Peter McIntyre (1985), Brian Brake OBE (1986), Roy Cowan MBE CNZM (1988), John Drawbridge MBE (1989), Doris Lusk (1990), Doreen Blumhardt CBE (1991), Dame Rangimarie Hetet DBE (1992), Raymond Boyce MBE (1993), Shona McFarlane CBE (1994), Tui McLauchlan (1996), Philip Markham (2000), Mirek Smisek OBE (2003), Avis Higgs (2006), Robin Kay FRSA (2007), Jeanne Macaskill MNZM (2009), Michael Browne (2017).