Avis Higgs

Avis Winifred Higgs (21 September 1918 – 14 October 2016) was a New Zealand textile designer and painter.

Higgs was born in 1918 in Wellington into a family of artists.

Both her great grandfather and her grandfather were highly regarded Tasmanian landscape painters.

Avis’s father, Sydney Higgs, was a well-known Wellington watercolourist who exhibited at the New Zealand Academy of Arts between 1921 and 1971.

She attended Wellington East Girls' College and in February 1936 enrolled at the Art School of Wellington Technical College.

She did not complete her course in design but was recommended by one of her tutors for a design position at National Distributors Ltd in Wellington, where Higgs undertook lettering and poster design work and learned the principles of screenprinting.

With the outbreak of the Second World War Higgs resigned from National Distributors and trained as a nurse; however, while on section at Wellington Hospital she contracted diphtheria.

Following her illness an aunt suggested a convalescent holiday in Sydney, and Higgs resigned from nursing to accept this offer.

1937: Second place in League of Nations' national poster design competition for the best poster symbolising peace.

In Australia Higgs applied for a role at Sydney firm Silk & Textile Printers, and from 1941 to 1946 she was the company’s head designer.

Here Higgs drew on the Sydney environment for her textiles designs, especially nearby Bondi Beach, resulting in patterns featuring sailing boots, water skiers, surfers, seashells and sun umbrellas.

1945: Commonwealth Government commendation from the Australian Federal Treasurer and Prime Minister Ben Chifley, received for her work designing textiles for the war effort with Victory Loan campaign slogans.

Higgs returned to New Zealand in 1948.

As in Australia Higgs drew on her surroundings for her work, creating designs based on native plants, flowers, and taonga held at the National Museum.

In the 1950s and 1960s Higgs was a very active member of the Wellington artistic community, including the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, the Wellington Architectural Centre Gallery and the Helen Hitchings Gallery.

In 1951 Higgs travelled to England, but returned to New Zealand in 1952 after a car accident.

The trauma of her car accident spelled the end of Higgs’ career as a textile designer, and on her return to New Zealand painting became her focus.

She exhibited throughout New Zealand and won several awards, including the National Bank award for watercolour in 1964.

1964: Winner of the National Bank of New Zealand Art award for watercolour painting.

1968: Special Merit prize from the National Bank of New Zealand for watercolour painting.

1985: Winner of the IBM New Zealand Fine Arts Award.

In 1999 Higgs was included in The Eighties Show at The Dowse Art Museum, an exhibition of artists who were still active in their eighties, including Doreen Blumhardt, John Drawbridge, Roy Cowan and Juliet Peter.

1999: The Eighties Show, The Dowse Art Museum

2000: Avis Higgs: joie de vivre, Hawke's Bay Museum and Art Gallery (now MTG Hawke's Bay)

In 2001 her life and work was the subject of a survey exhibition and publication by design historian Douglas Lloyd-Jenkins, Avis Higgs: joie de vivre.

In 2006 Higgs was awarded the Governor-General’s Art Award for her contribution to New Zealand art, and given a retrospective of her work at the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts.

Higgs was inducted into the College of Creative Arts Toi Rauwharangi (Massey University) Hall of Fame in 2010, along with ceramicist Manos Nathan.

Higgs has also been named as one of the five most important Australian designers in the 20th century by the Australian Ministry of Culture.

She died on 14 October 2016, aged 98.