{{short description|New Zealand Māori weaver}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Riria Smith | honorific_suffix = | image = <!-- use the image's pagename; do not include the "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and do not use brackets--> | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name --> | birth_date = 23 July 1935 | birth_place = New Zealand | death_date = {{Death date and age|2012|11|28|1935|07|23|df=y}} | death_place = | education = | alma_mater = | known_for = Weaving | notable_works = | style = | movement = | spouse = | partner = | parents = | father = | mother = | relatives = | family = | awards = <!-- {{awd|award|year|title|role|name}} (optional) --> | elected = | patrons = | memorials = | website = <!-- {{URL|Example.com}} --> | module = }}
'''Riria Smith''' (23 July 1935 – 28 November 2012) was a master in traditional Māori weaving from Northland in New Zealand. She was affiliated to the iwi Ngāti Kurī and the hapū Pohutiare of Te Aupōuri.
== Biography == alt=a sweeping beach with blue sea on the left and green hills on the right, small wooden dwellings dotted on the hills|thumb|Ahipara Bay Smith was born in 1935. She lived in Ahipara near Ninety Mile Beach in the north of New Zealand.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|date=1986-01-10|title=Amokura o te Maori|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/TUTANG19861001.2.6?items_per_page=10&query=Amokura+o+te+Maori&snippet=true|journal=Tu Tangata|issue=32}}</ref> Smith learnt from her parents and grandparents generations the art of weaving, including collecting and caring for the plants and natural dyes used in traditional Māori textiles. Her mother was a renowned weaver although Smith was the only one of her ten siblings to follow on with it.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=2012-11-29|title=Far North mourns master weaver Riria Smith|url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/122166/far-north-mourns-master-weaver-riria-smith|access-date=2021-01-04|website=RNZ }}</ref>
Smith was one of eight weavers to be featured in the first international exhibition of contemporary weaving called ''Amokura o te Maori.'' Smith's work was exhibited alongside Nora Pikia, Te Aue Davis, Puti Hineaupounamu Rare, Diggeress Te Kanawa, Florrie Berghan, Emily Schuster and Eddie Maxwell. It opened in London and then toured Europe.<ref name=":0" />
Smith has works in the collection of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, as well as in many marae her region of Northland.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Collections Online - Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa|url=https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/agent/11801|access-date=2021-01-04|website=Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> One of the items at Te Papa is a sail for a waka. A group of Northland weavers studied the only existing historic sail woven by Māori, held in the British Museum,<ref>{{cite web |title=sail (ra) |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Oc-NZ-147 |website=The British Museum |publisher=The British Museum |access-date=28 September 2024}}</ref> and then went about recreating what they had studied.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Northland weavers on mission to replicate Māori sail|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/northland-weavers-on-mission-to-replicate-maori-sail/5ZTWI7OPL3LS77T2XLPT5AJLOI/|access-date=2021-01-04|website=NZ Herald}}</ref> thumb|Kuta or sedge growing in shallow freshwater Smith's weaving technique tended towards patterning with undyed fibres, using a planned holes (''kupenga'') and reverse leaf approach.<ref name=":0" /> Examples of her work are used by Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research (a New Zealand government research institution) to illustrate the weaving use of the New Zealand plant kuta or sedge (''Eleocharis sphacelata).''<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kuta and Kāpūngāwhā|url=https://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/tools-and-resources/collections/new-zealand-flax-collections/weaving-plants/kuta-and/|access-date=2021-01-04|website=Manaaki Whenua}}</ref>
She was appointed a member of the group Kahui Whiritoi. This group is a formal acknowledgement of master weavers in Aotearoa and is decided by New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute and the management committee of Te Roopu Raranga Whatu.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kahui Whiritoi|url=https://www.maoriart.org.nz/kahui-whiritoi.html|access-date=2021-01-04|website=Toi Maori Aotearoa - Maori Arts New Zealand}}</ref>
She died after a long illness in 2012. Her ''tangi'' (funeral) was held at Te Ohaaki Marae in Ahipara.<ref name=":1" />
== References == {{reflist}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Riria}} Category:1935 births Category:2012 deaths Category:New Zealand Māori weavers Category:New Zealand weavers Category:Ngāti Kurī people Category:Te Aupōuri people Category:New Zealand women textile artists