Alumni Profile – Marianne Hargreaves

Alumni Profile:

Marianne Hargreaves

St Margaret’s College Old Girl Marianne Hargreaves’ creative flair started at an early age, when she and her sisters made everything from paper dolls’ houses, embroidery samplers, clothes and even their wedding dresses.

So it’s no surprise that after seven years as a school dental nurse when she left school, Marianne returned to the arts.

“I was always attracted to textiles and when I came back to Christchurch as a dental nurse, I began weaving with a table loom, something creative to do after work. Once I had our two sons, and realised I didn’t have the time needed to concentrate on weaving, I started patchwork because it was easily portable.”

A two year City & Guilds Creative course in embroidery subsequently opened a new world for Marianne.

In 1990, the NZ Embroiderers Guilds were involved in making four stage curtains for the newly-built Globe Theatre in London. Marianne made the boar on the Adonis panel. Other highlights include: exhibiting at The Barbican in London in 1996; coordinating the Women’s Suffrage Commemorative Wall Hanging (involving over 100 women) that now hangs in the Christchurch Town Hall; and receiving a grant to travel to UK and USA to visit textile artists.

“I think there’s a resurgence of interest in textiles at the moment and it’s being accepted more into mainstream art practice. Patchwork and quilting have always had a large following and exhibitions are well attended.”

Aside from pursuing her own art, Marianne was President of the Friends of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū for nine years and is still a member of the Executive Committee.

She also worked for the Christchurch Arts Festival before taking over as Executive Director of WORD Christchurch in 2010 – a role she only retired from in 2022. This year she received a MNZM (Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit) for her services to the community as an artist and administrator.

“Knowing that what you are doing makes a difference to people’s lives is the best reward. Hearing speakers talk about personal experiences, issues, politics, and seeing people come out of a session knowing it has changed something in their lives is what drove me to continue doing it. Being able to bring issues out into the open in a safe environment is really important.”

Marianne says her early work as a dental nurse taught her patience and opened her eyes to a different world. Becoming a textile artist took her into a wonderful world of visual art while the arts festivals introduced excitement, entertainment, challenge and reward. With WORD, she combined all these different skills.

But those more recent years have not been without challenges, including the Christchurch earthquakes and the Covid pandemic.

“Running events in a world where months, years of planning can suddenly be irrelevant, can be demoralising. But, there are solutions to be found, and with technology there are different options available now than there were in the post-earthquake era.

“Sourcing the money to enable arts to happen is always a challenge which many people are oblivious of, and working on a shoe-string budget to make giant things happen has been one of my biggest challenges.

“The rewards, though, are the amazing people you meet. Whether it’s an actor, dancer, writer or artist, most of them will be able to recount the moment that they knew they had to follow this path.

Marianne and her three sisters all attended SMC, continuing the St Margaret’s family tradition set by their 95-year-old mother, Bet Godfrey .