Aaron Brown
Gallery Pacific Carving and Sculpture
New Zealand Carving and Sculpture
Gallery Pacific offers a superb collection of New Zealand carving and sculpture from a group of established artists at the forefront of their field. A strong environmental consciousness is evident in the artists' depictions of the natural world and its inhabitants. Maori material culture and design is a significant influence and inspiration.
These artworks, traditional and contemporary, are definitive of the unique carving and sculpting culture evolving in Aotearoa New Zealand today.
Showcasing an assortment of Carvings & Sculpture
Doug Marsden Netsuke Carving
Netsuke carving is a particular discipline within the world of sculpture. Originating in Japan hundreds of years ago, the artform is practiced by very few people worldwide today. Doug Marsden chose to study and make netsuke carving his career during the 1980's, travelling to Japan and exhibiting in Tokyo on several occasions. Locally grown boxwood is his preferred medium, and his exquisite tactile characters are charming depictions from the animal and human realms.
Doug Marsden bronze sculpture
Complimenting Doug Marsden's carving is his range of miniature bronze sculptures. New Zealand's unique bird species are represented with Kiwi, Ruru and Kakapo. The marine environment, with which Doug has a strong affinity, is inspiration for Humpback Whale Mother and Calf. His Whalerider sculpture evokes the Maori story of Paikea, depicting a woman riding a sperm whale, at one with the mammal and its ocean domain.
John Collins Carving and Sculpture
John Collins is an artist sculptor whose powerful and original work descends from and continues the pure essence of 'Whakairo' ; Maori wood carving. At his studio on the edge of coastal Southland, unique artworks are created relating to the human culture and natural environment of Aotearoa / New Zealand. Encountering them, we sense intuitively another dimension beyond the physical object before us. John Collins' artistic skill enables a connection between the world of the present we stand in, and that of the figure depicted.
Ken Auton bronze sculpture
Ken Auton initially trained as a jeweller, working in Auckland and London, before applying techniques from this discipline in making his meticulously detailed bronze sculptures. New Zealand fauna, such as the 'Weta' insect species and 'Tuatara' reptile are anatomically correct and life like. Humpback Whales and Pacific Octopus sculptures are fluid, animated studies of these fantastic creatures from the ocean domain. At his tranquil rural workshop north of Auckland, with his wife Carol's encouragement, these collectable bronzes are produced in limited numbers.
Neil Brown Jade Sculpture and Carving
Neil Brown is an Auckland based carver of Pounamu, the treasured stone commonly referred to as Greenstone, but also correctly identified as New Zealand Nephrite Jade.
Discovered by Maori, Pounamu was used to make tools and adornment until the introduction of steel by Europeans in the eighteenth century, following which its use declined.
A gradual renaissance of Pounamu carving started in the 1960's, spurring on a group of artisans primarily influenced by traditional Maori design, while striving to develop new sculptural forms that reflected the changing culture of the times.
Commencing his career in the mid 1970's, Neil Brown approaches four decades of experience mastering Pounamu carving. Superlative works of both adornment and sculpture bridge traditional and strikingly modern design.
Donn Salt Sculpture and Jade Carving
Donn Salt has practiced professional stone carving longer than anyone in New Zealand today.
In the late 1960's, he was part of a new wave of carvers intent on forging an artistic identity based on originality in design, as opposed to replication of symbols and motifs from the Maori world.
He has achieved global recognition, becoming, in 2013, the first Western jade carver invited to exhibit alongside Chinese masters at the Suzhou Jade Exhibition.
Donn creates diverse sculptural artwork in very limited quantity at his Northland workshop. Bronze, cast glass, and precious metals feature alongside the jade and stone carving he is renowned for.
Adam Blackwell articulated Crayfish sculptures
Adam Blackwell is a Northland based farmer with a sideline in superbly crafted articulated crayfish.
When you pick them up the antennae and tail move in a surprisingly realistic manner.
Like sculptor Ken Auton, Adam also trained as a jeweller, and employs jewellery manufacturing techniques to create these palm sized life like sculptures in bronze and sterling silver.
Steve Myhre Jade and Stone Carving
Steve Myhre is a world traveler who resides on the Kapiti Coast of 'Te Ika A Maui' , the North Island of New Zealand. He is one of a group of established artist carvers that emerged in the 1970's, inquisitive of the stone working and carving culture that evolved in Aotearoa with the arrival of Maori. With integrity and restraint, Steve carves sculptural forms as amulet pendants to be worn, however they are equally satisfying as tactile hand held objects . His work references, and continues the local use of Pounamu, stone and shell in tool making and adornment.
Rangi Wills Bone Carving
Rangi Wills (Tainui Iwi / Ngati Amaru - Port Waikato) is one of very few bone carving specialists in Aotearoa New Zealand. Most artists within the contemporary carving scene gravitate towards Pounamu as their preferred medium, however bone has a much longer history of use, in the Pacific and globally. Today, beef bone for carving is a by product of New Zealand's farming industry, while whale bone is occasionally found in the coastal environment, the weathered remnant of whales beaching.
Rangi Wills apprenticed to teacher Bill Rawhiti at age sixteen in 1988, receiving instruction in technique and design. His traditional Maori carving is notable for fine surface decoration, imbuing it with dynamism and power.
Aaron Brown bronze sculpture
Aaron Brown lives with his family and works in Cambridge, in the Waikato region south of Auckland. He had studied 2D character animation before realizing he preferred three dimensional artistic creativity, leading him to sculpture.
His practice is devoted mostly to carving in stone, particularly jade, however his repertoire extends to sculpture in glass and bronze.
His series of bronze sculptures in miniature, several of which feature child and pet animal subjects, are charming. They evoke a simple pastoral scene, and nostalgia for the naivety of youth.
Nora Shayeb 'Wildlings' bronze sculpture
Nora Shayeb's limited edition 'Wildlings' bronze sculptures depict native and endemic Australian wildlife. Palm sized, they are cast in solid bronze, then hand painted by fine brush with enamel.
They are born of Nora's concern for the fragile natural world of plants and animals. She creates them as ambassadors for their domain, to remind us we share our existence on earth with life forms we may not see in daily life, but to whom we are inextricably linked.
Born in Egypt, educated in Germany, resident in New Zealand for 30 years, Nora Shayeb's art practice draws on her wealth of exposure to different cultures and lands.
Natural Specimens
Exceptional rare specimens are sculptures made with minimum intervention to their natural form.
The single procedure undertaken is to polish the object painstakingly by hand, removing the opaque weathered surface layer.
The resultant polished surface is a window to the fascinating interior of the artefact. Kauri Gum hand polished by Nick Slocombe, Opal hand polished by professional gem cutters.
Get in touch
Gallery Pacific address
Gallery Pacific
Shop 8, Queens Arcade
34 Queen Street
Auckland 1010
New Zealand
Phone: +64 9 308 9231
Email: nick@gallerypacific.co.nz
