Margery Blackman

Margery Blackman is a textiles artist and scholar based in Ōtepoti Dunedin who has made a lasting contribution to craft, cultural heritage and local exhibition histories over the course of half a century, starting in the early 1960s.

Described as "a skilled colourist working with fibre" who "developed a distinctive abstract language that was unique in local weaving and the studio craft movement of Aotearoa during the late 1960-80s", Blackman combined an awareness of local and international art and textile histories with her innate creativity to develop "an oeuvre that is resolutely local while also contributing to the international story of modernist textiles in the 20th century." (Elle Loui August & Jane Groufsky, Margery Blackman: Weaving, Life, exhibition roomsheet, 2024)

Born in Ōtepoti Dunedin in 1930, Blackman first engaged with the science of fibre and fabric production while studying towards a diploma of Home Science at the University of Otago in 1953. In 1955 she married Gary Blackman, a pharmacologist, academic and photographer. She began to teach herself the art of weaving in 1959 while living in Edinburgh where Gary was undertaking a research fellowship. Taking advantage of her access to British Museums, Blackman also pursued her interest in historic textiles.

Returning to Dunedin in 1963 she embarked on a career that included research, writing, curating, teaching public workshops, and advocating for craft and cultural heritage at a local and national level. She was a founding member of the Dunedin Spinners and Weavers Guild (1971); served periods on the editorial and education committees of the New Zealand Spinning, Weaving, and Woolcrafts Society (NZSWWS); was an elected member of the Crafts Council Executive (1981-83); a member of the Visual Arts Association (VAA, 1952-71) and the Friends of the Otago Museum.

In 1965 she, Gary, and other members the VAA organised Aotearoa's first national exhibition of contemporary handweaving, Weaving in New Zealand, held in the foyer of Tūhura Otago Museum. This led to further independent curatorial projects for cultural institutions in Dunedin, including Development of the Loom (1968); Islamic Rugs (1975); Indonesian Weaving (1981); Stitched Legacies (1996); Lily Daff: Illustrator and Museum Designer in ‘3 Dunedin Designers’ (1999); Threads of Tradition: Costume and Textiles from the Dunedin Public Art Gallery Collections (2001); Cover Stories: Quilts old and new from the Otago Settlers Museum (2006); and Dorothy Theomin of Olveston (2006).

Though she began curating exhibitions and working with the collection of Tūhura Otago Museum from the late 1960s, it was during her tenure as Honorary Curator of Ethnographic Textiles (1988-1999) that she made an especially enduring contribution to local exhibition histories and public knowledge of global textile cultures. Exhibitions she developed during this tenure include Nga Taonga no ngā Wahine: Treasures from Māori Women (1989); Friendly Gifts (1991); Small Tapestries from Medieval Egypt, 400-1300 AD (1993); and From Emperor’s Court to Village Festival: Chinese costume and textiles from the collection of the Otago Museum (1998).

Over several years of international travel Blackman was able to identify and catalog korowai and kākakhu (cloaks) held in collections in London, Oxford and Cambridge, im Scotland, Switzerland, Italy, France, Germany, Sweden, North American and Australia. In 2021 Blackman gifted her private textile collection to Tūhura Otago Museum.

Blackman was awarded the Queen's Service Medal in the 1995 New Year Honours.

In 2024 a major survey exhibition of Blackman's career, Margery Blackman: Weaving, Life took place at Dunedin Public Art Gallery. The exhibition was curated by Elle Loui August and Jane Groufsky with the support of Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum and Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage.

Her works are held in the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the Dowse Art Museum.

Public Art Heritage Aotearoa New Zealand would like to acknowledge Elle Loui August and Jane Groufsky for their contribution to this biography.

See also:

• Charmian Smith, Material progress, Otago Daily Times, 11 Nov 2010
• Lecture at Te Papa Tongarewa
• Margery Blackman (Wikipedia page)
• 'Weaving culture together in Ōtepoti Dunedin: Margery Blackman', Mark Amery interviews Elle Louie August and Anna Blackman, Culture 101, Radio New Zealand National, 30 June 2024
• Margery Blackman: Weaving, Life, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, 18 May 2024 - 13 October 2024