Graham Bennett (born 1947) is a New Zealand sculptor.

Early life and education

Bennett was born in 1947 in

Nelson, New Zealand Nelson () is a List of cities in New Zealand, city and Districts of New Zealand, unitary authority on the eastern shores of Tasman Bay at the top of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the oldest city in the South Island and the second-old ...

. He graduated from the

Ilam School of Fine Arts The Ilam School of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury, located in the Ilam suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand, was founded in 1882 as the Canterbury College School of Art. The school became a full department of the university in the ...

in 1970 where he trained in photography. Interested in the human body and three-dimensional form, he became a sculptor, often combining natural materials (wood, stone) with stainless steel and bronze. He refined his practice as a sculptor while lecturing at CPIT (now

Ara Institute of Canterbury Ara Institute of Canterbury, often simply referred to as Ara, is an institute of technology in Canterbury, New Zealand. It was formed in 2016 from the merger of Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT) and Aoraki Polytechnic. A ...

) in the School of Art and Design. Bennett lives in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

as a full-time artist.

Work

Bennett installed ''Sea/Sky Kaipara'' at Gibbs Farm in 1994. He is represented with four sculptures in the Brick Bay Sculpture Trail outdoor gallery at

Snells Beach Snells Beach is a small coastal town in the north of Auckland Region in the North Island of New Zealand. It is situated on the eastern coast of the Mahurangi Peninsula and its namesake beach faces east across Kawau Bay to Kawau Island. The neare ...

, north of

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

. For the

World Firefighters Games The World Firefighter Games is an international sporting event that welcomes all full-time, part-time and volunteer structural firefighters and bush firefighters, and aviation fire services and military emergency response personnel and their imm ...

held in Christchurch in October/November 2002, Bennett sculpted '' A Tribute to Firefighters'' from steel girders from the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are the hundreds of sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may also refer to: Buildings * World Trade Center (1973–2001), a building complex that was destroyed during the September 11 at ...

destroyed in the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

donated by the

mayor of New York City The mayor of New York City, officially mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The Mayoralty in the United States, mayor's office administers all ...

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman and politician. He is the majority owner and co-founder of Bloomberg L.P., and was its CEO from 1981 to 2001 and again from 2014 to 2023. He served as the 108th mayo ...

. The sculpture is placed on the banks for the Avon River immediately adjacent to the Central Fire Station in the central city in the Firefighters Reserve that was built for the games. A few months later, ''Reasons for Voyaging'' was installed in front of the

Christchurch Art Gallery The Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, commonly known as the Christchurch Art Gallery, is the public art gallery of the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. It has its own substantial art collection and also presents a programme of New ...

in 2003, consisting of seven angled stainless steel poles that are up to tall. Bennett was one of five artists in residency at the 2012

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

International Sculpture Festa, with his commissioned worked, ''Tipping Point'', permanently installed by

Crown Confectionery Crown Confectionery (, ) is a confectionery company headquartered in Jamwon-dong, Seocho District, Seoul, South Korea. It was established in 1947. Its manufacturing is based in Jungnang District, Seoul and Anyang, Gyeonggi. It is historically an o ...

in the Art Valley sculpture park in

Haitai Haitai () is a South Korean company based in Seoul. Its main businesses are retail and instant foods, especially confectionery, beverage and ice cream. The company was founded on October 3, 1945, and employs 3900 people at 8 plants in Cheonan ...

, South Korea. In 2013, he had residency at Lincoln University. During this time, he produced ''Oversight'', a sculpture installed in front of the School of Landscape Architecture.

Gallery

File:A Tribute to Firefighters 608.jpg, '' A Tribute to Firefighters'' (2002),

File:Flickr - JennyHuang - Christchurch (New Zealand) (2).jpg, ''Reasons for Voyaging'' (2003),

File:Oversight sculpture, Lincoln University Campus, New Zealand 07.jpg, ''Oversight'' (2013), Lincoln University File:Push Away The Sky - 39755727071.jpg, ''Push Away the Sky'' (2015),

Auckland Botanic Gardens Auckland Botanic Gardens is a botanical garden in the New Zealand city of Auckland. It is located in the suburb of Manurewa, in the Manurewa (local board area), Manurewa Local Board Area. The garden covers , and holds more than 10,000 plants.Auc ...

File:On Becoming Misdirected - 41625684562.jpg, ''On Becoming Misdirected'' (2017), Auckland Botanic Gardens

Notes

References

External links

Graham Bennett's
''Reasons to Return'' on

Waiheke Island Waiheke Island is the second-largest island (after Great Barrier Island) in the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand. Its ferry terminal in Matiatia Bay at the western end is from the central-city terminal in Auckland. It is the most populated island ...