Lois was instrumental in the establishment of the Pakuranga Arts Centre. She went on to support the establishment of the Fisher Gallery by the Pakuranga Arts Society, of which she was president from 1981 to 1985. She remained a committee member of the society until 2002, at which point she became the chair of Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts, a post she retained until 2007. From 2007 until 2017 she was a trustee of the two trusts which govern Te Tuhi, now the Contemporary Art Foundation and Te Tuhi Contemporary Art Trust.
As well as her involvement at board level from the 1960s until 2017, Lois has supported Te Tuhi and arts education in Auckland through her teaching practice, starting with children’s art classes in the early 1970s.
From 2005 to the present day she has developed and taught art history and contemporary art to adult students at Te Tuhi, known today as Art Today. Her programme of weekly and fortnightly classes run annually, with more than 110 students each year from beginners to advanced, many of whom have attended her classes for over 10 years. The classes she teaches are an invaluable part of the life-long learning programmes at Te Tuhi for children, young people, adults, artists and others in the community.
In 2019 Lois was the recipient of a Queen’s Service Medal for services to art and governance.
back to History