McCarthy Gallery have represented Dagmar Dyck since 2022​

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As a first-generation New Zealander, Dagmar is an interdisciplinary artist, researcher, art educator, and social justice advocate. In 1995 Dagmar graduated from the Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland. She was the first woman of Tongan descent to do so. She has spent the last 25 years regularly exhibiting nationally and internationally with her works being held in both significant public and private collections in New Zealand. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, scholarships and Creative New Zealand grants.

Dagmar taught for 10 years at Sylvia Park School and as Deputy Principal led Curriculum design whilst championing their Arts programme and whole school Inquiry learning. She is currently Programme Manager - Pasifika at Tui Tuia | Learning Circle at the University of Auckland. Her Masters research focused on examining art teachers’ beliefs, attitudes and pedagogical practices and how these could affirm Pasifika students’ success as Pasifika.

Dagmar says “How we, as Moana people, engage the arts is often as a collective, with a strong focus on storytelling, often reflecting raw, honest  narratives. Until now, within arts education, we have only had academics without Pacific heritage write about us. I knew this was an issue as
we need to not just tell our own story, but, critically, own it.” 

 

She holds several governance roles and is a Council Board member (Ministerial Appointment) for The Teaching Council. Dagmar sits on the NCEA Pacific Peoples Review Panel for the Ministry of Education, the Pacific Advisory Group for Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum and is on the Executive Committee for Aotearoa NZ Association of Art Educators and Aotearoa Tongan Teachers Association.

Dagmar’s maternal lineage hails from the Wolfgramm and Hemaloto kainga from the villages of ‘Utungake and Tu’anuku. Her paternal lineage includes Dutch, Polish and German ancestry and links to her father’s birthplace in Gdansk, Poland.

Education

Bachelor of Fine Arts 1991-94,
Post-graduate Diploma of Fine Arts 1995
Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland
Graduate Diploma Teaching (Primary) 2009 Victoria University
Master of Professional Studies (Education) (Hons) 2019 University of Auckland

Selected Solo Exhibitions
2019 Works, Miranda Gallery, Thames
2017 Un/trained thoughts, Warwick Henderson Gallery, Auckland
2016 Kofukofu Koloa, Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland

Overseas Solo Exhibitions
2014 From Ngatu to Self, Gallery Winkler, Papeete, Tahiti
1995 South Seas Polynesian Culture Week, Sandefjord, Norway

Selected Joint Exhibitions
2021 ‘Amui ‘i Mu’a - Ancient Futures, The Wallace Arts Centre, (with Filipe Tohi)
2018 Whānau, Miranda Farm Gallery, Thames,(Fatu Feu’u/Helen Feu’u/Ercan Cairns)
2014 Tonga ‘I Onopooni: Tonga Contemporary, Pataka Museum, Wellington
Selected Overseas Group Exhibitions
2019 ‘Amui ‘ Mu’a - Ancient Futures, Me’a ‘Ofa Gallery, Nuku’alofa, Tonga
2017 Putahi V, Museum of Tahiti, Tahiti
2013 Made in Oceania - Tapa Art and Social Landscapes,

Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum – Cultures of the World, Cologne, Germany
2012 Made in NZ - Contemporary Art from NZ, Agora Gallery, New York, USA
SHContemporary Art Fair, Shanghai Exhibition Centre, Shanghai, China

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Selected Group Exhibitions
2022 Pacific Print Project, Global Community
Peau Kula, Online Tongan Arts Fundraiser
Heterodox Us, Franklin Arts Centre
2021 Open Channels, Miranda Gallery, Thames
2020 Legacy of an Era, Lake House Gallery
2019 Paradise Lost: Daniel Solander’s Legacy, Solander Gallery, Wellington
2018 Shine on Seleka, Small Axe Studio

Auckland Art Fair, Warwick Henderson Gallery, The Cloud

2017 Art + Auction, Raparua School, Blenheim

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Selected International Collections

Tonga High Commission – Hong Kong
New Zealand High Commission - Tonga
Tjiboau Cultural Centre – New Caledonia

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Selected National Collections
Wallace Art Collection
New Zealand Parliamentary Collection, Wellington
MFAT Collection – Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade Art
Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs, Wellington
Sky City Hotel, Auckland

Selected Awards and Honours
2019 Arts Grant (65K), Creative New Zealand
Teacher Study Award - Sabbatical

2016 - 2020 Marsden Fund - Selected Research Artist for ‘Ancient Futures: Late 18th

& early 19th Century Tongan arts and their legacies’

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Selected Bibliography (* Reviews)
2021 We are all accountable, The Big Idea, by the artist

Joy, colour, wonder, fun life: wellbeing and the arts by Melissa Schwalger
* ‘Amui ‘I Mu‘a – Ancient Futures’ linking traditional and contemporary Tongan
art: Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples
‘Amui ‘i Mua: Ancient Futures: Dagmar Vaikalafi Dyck and Sopolemalama Filipe
Tohi, Exhibition catalogue with contributing essays by Billie Lythberg, Phyllis
Herda, Melenatie Taumoefolau and Seini Taufa
Ngatu Led me North: Reflections on ‘Amu’i Mu’ua-Ancient Futures*, Art New
Zealand, By Hatesa Seumanutafa

2020 Ancient futures, Art News Summer, by Billie Lythberg

Raised amongst the Kainga, The Pantograph Punch, by the artist
2019 Paradise Lost, Daniel Solander’s Legacy, Exhibition Catalogue
2018 Building Bridges, Article by Claire Chamberlain, Channel Magazine, October
2017 Connections from Here to There, from Yesterday to Today: Cologne Exhibition
2013-14 “Made in Oceania:Tapa - Art and Social Landscapes”, Article by Oliver
Lueb, for TAPA From Tree bark to Cloth: An Ancient art of Oceania Publication
2016 Between the Folds, Article by Ane Tonga, Art New Zealand, Winter

Selected extra curricular activities
2021 Tonga Research Association: Anga, Tala, & Lea Tu’ufonua: Indigenous Culture,
History and Language. Presentation, Virtual Conference, University of Hawai’i
The Kingdom of Tonga - Language and Arts, Panel talk, The University of Auckland
‘Amui ‘i Mua: Ancient Futures: Artist talanoa and Catalogue launch, The Wallace Arts Centre

2020 The Nomadic Art Gallery Project participant

Panelist, South Pacific Islander Organisation Virtual Summit
2019 Artist Talk at ‘Georg-Forster-Gesellshaft’, Woerlitz/Dessau, Germany
Presenter at Museum Ethnographers Group, Horniman Museum, London
2018 Artist talk at Raven Row hosted by University of Auckland & In*ter*is*land

Collective, London
Co-ordinator of Shine on Seleka Fundraiser Initiative

2016 Artist Talk for ‘Kofukofu Koloa’ Gus Fisher Gallery, Akld Arts Festival
Panel Participant ‘The Duality of Artefacts’, PAA International Symposium, Akld