Marilyn Rea-Menzies (born 1 February 1944) is a New Zealand artist, principally known for her tapestry work, but who also exhibits drawing, painting, and digital print.

[2] She was educated at St Mary's College in Westport, where her teacher Sister Christopher encouraged her artistic skills, to the point of her passing the preliminary exam for the Diploma of Fine Arts.

[2] After a short stint in Wellington and the birth of their first child, the couple returned to Westport,[2] where her husband managed the Buller Valley Dairy Company until its closure in 1971.

[1] The family then moved to the North Island, where David Menzies had a series of dairy factory management jobs in Te Puke, Wairoa, and finally Tauranga.

[7][2] Visitors occasionally commissioned works from her after visiting the studio; Rea-Menzies would invite them to do some of the weaving themselves, and to cut the tapestry from the loom when it was finished.

[6] In the 1970s, influenced by Robert Kaupelis' book Experimental Drawing, she started applying grids and distortions to her paintings, which later appeared in her tapestries.

"[10] Although principally known for her tapestries, Rea-Menzies has regularly exhibited photography and drawing; all three media were part of her 2008 show Underfoot at the Centre of Contemporary Art (CoCA) in Christchurch.