Davina Duke (born 1975) is a MÃÂori contemporary clay artist from New Zealand. She was included as an example of a contemporary MÃÂori artist in the 'teacher guidance' section of the NCEA Visual Arts Standard 1.1 entitled NgÃÂ taonga.
Duke is of NgÃÂti Wai, NgÃÂti Rehua, Taitokerau, and Patuharakeke descent. She was born in Auckland in 1975, but spent her time practising in Takahiwai and Bay of Islands in a head of arts department position at a secondary school. Her son, Marino Duke, attributes much of the inspiration for his career as a MÃÂori graffiti artist to his mother and her mentors, including Manos Nathan.
Duke began her artistic career by studying at NorthTec WhangÃÂrei in the 1990s and gaining knowledge and skills from artists Geoff Wilson, Manos Nathan, and Colleen Waata Urlich. She has worked as a ceramist, artist, sculptor, and art teacher in Kamo High School, WhangÃÂrei.
She is a member of NgÃÂ Kaihanga Uku, a Maori clayworkers collective, and was the 2023 Secretary and Senior Arts Associate of the Takahiwai MÃÂori Committee.
Duke experiments with the materiality of clay and its relationship with the land that she whakapapas to, Tai Tokerau and Takahiwai. She uses layers of varying texture and finish on her pieces, and her specific use of the sgraffito method to scrape puhoro designs into her works connects the pieces to her whakapapa (genealogy) and te ao MÃÂori.