Neil Dawson
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Francis Neil Dawson (born 6 November 1948) is a
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
artist best known for his large-scale civic sculptures.


Early life

Dawson was born 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 ...
in 1948. The son of Methodist minister John Brent Dawson and Florence Emily (), he grew up in
Masterton Masterton () is a large town in the Wellington Region, Greater Wellington Region of New Zealand that operates as the seat of the Masterton District (a territorial authority or local-government district). It is the largest town in the Wairarapa ...
,
Petone Petone (Māori language, Māori: ''Pito-one'') is a large suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand. It stands at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. Europeans first settled in Petone in Januar ...
, and
Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...
, and received his secondary education at
Hastings Boys' High School Hastings Boys' High School is a boys' secondary school in Hastings, New Zealand. The school is part of the Super 8. The school was founded in 1904 as Hastings High School. In 1922, it became Hastings Technical School under the leadership of Wi ...
where he was taught by Russ Williams. While in the fourth form, Dawson climbed onto the assembly hall roof and painted ''April Fool'' in large white letters. This won him front page exposure in the '' Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune'' and he regards this escapade as the "beginning of iscareer in public art." Dawson attended the
University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...
(1966–1969) where he studied under
Tom Taylor Tom Taylor (19 October 1817 – 12 July 1880) was an English dramatist, critic, biographer, public servant, and editor of Punch (magazine), ''Punch'' magazine. Taylor had a brief academic career, holding the professorship of English literatu ...
and Eric Doudney. He gained a Diploma of Fine Arts (Hons) and then spent a year at teachers' college. This was followed, with the help of a Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council grant, by a Graduate Diploma in Sculpture from the
Victorian College of the Arts The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) is the arts school at the University of Melbourne in Australia. It is part of the university's Faculty of Fine Arts and Music (FFAM). It is located near the Melbourne city centre on the Southbank campus ...
,
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
, in 1973. On his return, Dawson drove a truck for four years and in 1975 began teaching drawing and design at Christchurch Polytechnic. He resigned from the Polytechnic in 1984 to work as a full-time sculptor out of the former
Oddfellows Odd Fellows (or Oddfellows when referencing the Grand United Order of Oddfellows or some British-based fraternities; also Odd Fellowship or Oddfellowship) is an international fraternity consisting of lodges first documented in 1730 in London. ...
' Hall in
Linwood Linwood may refer to: Places Many of the place names for Linwood come from the presence of linden trees. Australia * Linwood, South Australia *Linnwood, Guildford, 11-35 Byron Road, Guildford, New South Wales Canada * Linwood, Ontario * Linwood, ...
.


Exhibitions

Dawson's smaller works often use illusion and such optical patterns as moiré to achieve their effects. Many of these works are wall-hangings, although stand-alone pieces using such everyday patterned items as playing cards and
willow pattern The Willow pattern is a distinctive and elaborate chinoiserie pattern used on ceramic tableware. It became popular at the end of the 18th century in England when, in its standard form, it was developed by English ceramic artists combining and ...
crockery are also among Dawson's themes. Dr Michael Dunn, Emeritus Professor at the
University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...
and a former head of
Elam School of Fine Arts The Elam School of Fine Arts, founded by John Edward Elam, is part of the University of Auckland Faculty of Creative Arts and Industries, Faculty of Creative Arts and Industries at the University of Auckland. It offered the first Bachelor of ...
, describes Dawson in his book ''New Zealand Sculpture : A History'' as follows:
Dawson's sculpture is individual, unique and easy to recognise. In fact his sculptures flout convention in their lightness of feel, their transparency and their escape from the conventions of earthbound pedestal-based display.
Dawson has shown regularly with dealer galleries and public art museums since graduating from art school. Although he had already participated in a number of group exhibitions, his first solo dealer gallery show was ''House Alterations'' at the Brooke Gifford Gallery in Christchurch in 1978. The following year the
Robert McDougall Art Gallery The Robert McDougall Art Gallery is a heritage building in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was designed by Edward Armstrong and it opened in 1932. It is a Category I heritage building listed with Heritage New Zealand and is located within the Chr ...
gave Dawson his first major public museum exhibition which he titled ''Seascape'' . Since then Dawson has held solo exhibitions regularly throughout New Zealand and in Australia. In 1989 The National Art Gallery in Wellington (now
Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. Usually known as Te Papa ( Māori for ' the treasure box'), it opened in 1998 after the merging of the National Museum of New Zealand a ...
) presented a survey exhibition of Dawson’s work ''Neil Dawson Site Works 1981–1989''.


Public sculpture

Dawson is primarily known for his large scale civic sculpture. A selection of these is detailed below: 1981 Dawson’s first public outdoor sculpture was installed at the
Christchurch Arts Centre The Arts Centre Te Matatiki Toi Ora is a hub for arts, culture, education, creativity and entrepreneurship in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is located in the Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival former University of Canterbury, Canterbur ...
. Titled ''Echo'', it was constructed out of fibre glass tubing and suspended above the quadrangle. Although it seemed an abstract composition from most angles, when seen from one particular point it formed the outlines of a simple house. Dawson described the installation as ‘a three-dimensional life-sized drawing’ The work was removed after the
Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. local time (23:51 UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the Canterbury Region in the South Island, centred south-east of the centr ...
in 2010 and reinstalled in 2021. 1984 Dawson was commissioned by the
Bank of New Zealand Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) is one of New Zealand's Big Four (banking)#New Zealand, big four banks. It has been operating since October 1861, and since 1992 has been owned by National Australia Bank (NAB), retaining local governance with a New Z ...
for a large sculpture outside its Wellington head office. The 5 metre by 4 metre sculpture titled ''The Rock'' was suspended 4 metres in the air in front of the building on its Willis street frontage. The rock-shaped ‘drawing’ was computer-generated and based on a rock found by Dawson in McCormack’s Bay a few kilometres from his studio. The BNZ moved its head office to Auckland in 1998, and some time after that ''The Rock'' was moved to its current site on the Willeston Street side of the building. 1989 Dawson was invited to participate in the exhibition '' Magiciens de la Terre'' at the
Pompidou Centre The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...
in Paris. The curator Jean-Hubert Martin intended the exhibition to offer a ‘correcting perspective’ on Euro-centric programming. ''Globe'' was an 85kg metallic sphere depicting the earth from space. It was suspended 25 metres above the courtyard outside the Pompidou which created considerable logistical problems. 1992 ''Throwback'' was installed in Albert Park behind the
Auckland Art Gallery Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is the principal public gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It has the most extensive collection of national and international art in New Zealand and frequently hosts travelling international exhibitions. Set be ...
as a commission by the gallery to commemorate its centenary in 1988. 1994 ''Horizons'' was commissioned by Alan Gibbs as one of the first large-scale sculptural works that make up Gibbs Farm, the largest sculpture park in the Southern hemisphere. 1998 ''Ferns'' was commissioned by the
Wellington Sculpture Trust The Wellington Sculpture Trust is an independent charitable trust which funds and advocates for public sculptures in Wellington, New Zealand. It is funded by private and corporate donations and works with the Wellington City Council. It has commi ...
. Dawson cut 11 fern shapes and formed them into a sphere 3.4 metres in diameter and suspended it above Wellington’s Civic Square. The work was taken down in 2015 and a new stainless steel version installed three years later. Ferns is often used as a visual symbol for Wellington and is recognised as a city icon. 2001 ''Chalice'' was commissioned to mark the 150th anniversary of Canterbury's foundation. This 18 metre high inverted cone was sited near the Christchurch Cathedral to reflect the spire. The surface of ''Chalice'' was cut to reveal shapes of plants indigenous to the area. Although the Cathedral suffered extensive damage from the 2011 Christchurch earthquake ''Chalice'' itself remained standing. Dawson told reporters he hoped the survival of the sculpture would be seen as ‘a symbol of the recovery rather than the quake itself’ 2005–2015 Dawson's sculpture ''Fanfare'' was first suspended from the
Sydney Harbour Bridge The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, spanning Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour from the Sydney central business district, central business district (CBD) to the North Shore (Sydney), North ...
to welcome the 2005 year. The sculpture is made up of 350 reflective pinwheels arranged in a
sphere A sphere (from Ancient Greek, Greek , ) is a surface (mathematics), surface analogous to the circle, a curve. In solid geometry, a sphere is the Locus (mathematics), set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three ...
. In 2007 Sydney's Lord Mayor,
Clover Moore Clover Margaret Moore (née Collins, born 22 October 1945) is an Australian politician. She has been the Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney since 2004 and is currently the longest serving Lord Mayor of Sydney since the creation of the City of Sy ...
, presented the sculpture to the
Christchurch City Council The Christchurch City Council (CCC) is the local government authority for Christchurch in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Christchurch. Since October 2022, the Mayor of Christchurch is Phil Ma ...
as a gift. After a long time in storage, it was eventually decided to install ''Fanfare'' next to State Highway 1, just south of the Waimakariri River Bridge to welcome visitors coming to the city from the north. ''Fanfare'' was officially unveiled on 10 June 2015 by mayor
Lianne Dalziel Lianne Audrey Dalziel (; born 7 June 1960) is a New Zealand politician and former Mayor of Christchurch. Prior to this position, she was a member of the New Zealand Parliament for 23 years, serving as Minister of Immigration, Commerce, Minister ...
and Dawson. Dalziel, with reference to ''Fanfare's'' first installation in Sydney and to the destructive Christchurch earthquakes, said at the ceremony: 'today feels like it's come home and it's really going to be a big statement about what our city is and what it's going to become'. Dawson himself was more humble and described his artwork as "basically just a ball with some propellers on it". 2014, Dawson's ''Spires'' was installed in Christchurch's Latimer Square. The work was inspired by Dawson's attempts to draw from memory the demolished spire of
Christchurch Cathedral Christ Church Cathedral, also called ChristChurch Cathedral and (rarely) Cathedral Church of Christ, is a deconsecration, deconsecrated Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in the central city of Christchurch, New Zealand. It was built between 1864 ...
. It was initially planned that the sculpture would hover over the centre of Latimer Square, along the axis of Worcester Street, so make a visual connection with Christchurch Cathedral. Its current placement, however, is in the southern half of Latimer Square, not far from the Cardboard Cathedral. A structural engineer had approached Dawson in 2012 to enquire whether he wanted to design another sculpture for Christchurch, and when he agreed, she donated her time to undertake the structural design for the installation. 2017 Dawson’s sculpture ''Ascension'' can be seen suspended in the middle of Masterton's northern roundabout.


Selected works

* ''Elongation'' from the series ''House Alterations'' 197
view
* ''Interior'' 197
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* ''Seascape'' 197
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* ''Rock Construction'' 198
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* ''Tumble'' 198
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* ''Double Take'' 198
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* ''Throwback'' 199
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* ''Cones'' 200
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  * ''Solardome'' 200
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Honours and awards

In 1990, Dawson was awarded the
New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal The New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal was a commemorative medal awarded in New Zealand in 1990 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and was awarded to 3,632 people. Background The New Zealand 1990 Com ...
. He received the
Arts Foundation of New Zealand The Arts Foundation of New Zealand Te Tumu Toi is a New Zealand arts organisation that supports artistic excellence and facilitates private philanthropy through raising funds for the arts and allocating it to New Zealand artists. The foundatio ...
Arts Laureate Award in 2003, and in the
2004 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2004 were appointments by some of the Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations ...
he was appointed a
Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit () is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ...
, for services to sculpture.


Notes


References

*


External links


Neil Dawson
in the collection of the
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. Usually known as Te Papa ( Māori for ' the treasure box'), it opened in 1998 after the merging of the National Museum of New Zealand ...

Ferns: a guide to the Wellington Civic Square sculptureMilford galleries Neil Dawson pageUniversity of Canterbury Arts Trail Neil Dawson page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawson, Neil 1948 births Living people Artists from Christchurch People educated at Hastings Boys' High School 20th-century New Zealand sculptors 20th-century New Zealand male artists 21st-century New Zealand sculptors 21st-century male artists People associated with the Canterbury Society of Arts Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit