Robin Slow trained as a commercial artist before completing a teaching diploma with an art major at Christchurch Teachers’ College. In the last 22 yrs he has completed a visual art-based teaching diploma at Golden Bay High School. Since 1991 he has worked with whanau at Onetahua Marae producing murals, traditional intruments, kowhaiwhai and carving, culminating in the completion of the wharenui, Te Ao Museum.

“Nothing is in isolation. The completed art works are part of a whole, a journey in itself and not always just an expression of that journey. I am influenced by the area, people, the natural resources (and the protection of them), the histories and stories that go to make Mohua (Golden Bay) a special place.”

Robin's works are images of the whenua (land) and from the land. They tell of the layers of footprints that have walked over the area of Mohua (Golden Bay) where he resides.

Often painted in kokowai, soot and using gold leaf, the materials become part of the stories being expressed and though from a local perspective they have a universal meaning.