Schuster Honoured For Good Mahi
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Rotorua Museum Restoration Consultation
June 12, 2023
Recognition for Renowned Weaver
“I thought, ‘What have I done to receive something like this?’” Lawless (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Ruakawa, Tainui) told the Rotorua Daily Post.
Becoming an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit was the latest in a long list of accomplishments for Lawless.
In 2015, the artist received Creative New Zealand’s Te Waka Toi Supreme Award. She also received the Toi Iho Te Ara Whakerei Distinguished Lifetime Award in 2002 and the Queen’s Service Medal for Public Services in the 1999 New Year’s Honours.
Lawless was a member of Te Roopu Raranga Whatu o Aotearoa National Māori Weavers collective until 2006 and had since been a founding member of Te Kāhui Whiritoi, an advisory group of senior distinguished raranga artists.