In the 1960s and 1970s, Aotearoa New Zealand modernist painter Olivia Spencer Bower produced more than thirty paintings documenting women hand-spinning wool. This was a time of renewed interest in wool as a durable and lasting weaving material, and spinning was a social activity that many women at the time enjoyed. In 2015, art historian Julie King wrote, Many works from this series, such as Happy Spinners, are notable for their sense of optimism, if not exhilaration. Commenting on this painting, [Spencer Bower] observed: “it has remembrances of friends who spin [and] tussock country which is much loved”.

He Kapuka Oneone – A Handful of Soil (from August 2024)