Zena Abbott

[2] Growing up in Depression-era New Zealand, Abbott left school at the age of thirteen to become a dressmaker, and was subsequently drafted into essential work during World War Two.

[3] Abbott first studied weaving with German-born weaver Ilse von Randow at the Auckland City Art Gallery in 1952.

[5][6] In her work Abbott used natural and artificial dyes, and materials ranging from art silk and flax fibre to alkathene piping and burglar alarm tape.

[4] From the studio she ran a small-scale commercial operation, teaching and employing several women and selling her work through craft shops and galleries throughout New Zealand.

[9] In 1986 her work was featured in Elizabeth Eastmond and Merimeri Penfold's book Women and the arts in New Zealand - Forty Works: 1936-86: the work the authors chose to reproduce was Scrolls (1980), a large sculptural piece made up of a triptych of wall hangings and two large woven scrolls placed on the floor, which viewers were encouraged to unroll to reveal the woven text 'From thorny plants the hidden fibre', which referenced the sisal derived from cactus plants which was one of her favourite materials.