One of New Zealand’s finest self-taught artists, John Edgar was a master of his craft. Spanning a career of over fifty years, John Edgar died on 3 April 2021.  A great loss for the Arts and a man who will be missed by many.

“Edgar has been slicing, altering and reassembling banded stones since the early 1980s; it is perhaps his signature mark as a stone sculptor.  They range from pebble-sized stones that can be held in the palm of your hand….to the towering red and grey granite-banded Transformer (2004) in the Auckland Domain that reaches to more than three-and-a-half metres”.  (Peter Simpson, “Array, Arc & Ballast, Art New Zealand, Summer 2009)

In 2009 he became an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for services to art, in particular sculpture.  In the same year Edgar mounted a major exhibition Ballast in Edinburgh, with works made from Scottish-sourced stone.  

Key stages in his career have been covered with nationally touring exhibitions Calculus 2002-2004, Lie of the Land 1998-1999, Cross Country 1996 and Making Amends 1993-1995.  In 2012, his sculpture Lie of the Land was installed in the Savill Garden, the New Zealand Garden at Windsor, United Kingdom.  

His public sculptures in Auckland are in the Auckland Domain, Queen Street and Waitakere City Civic Centre.  Edgar was actively involved in conservation and environmental projects and was the President of the Waitakere Ranges Protection Society for thirteen years. He was also on the Trust Board of the Corbans Estate Arts Centre. 

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS AT ARTIS

2009 – Ballast, National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh; Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland Arc, Artis Gallery, Auckland
2006 – Counting Stones, Avid Gallery, Wellington Core, Artis  Gallery, Auckland
2003 – Flags, Artis Gallery, Auckland
2001 – Sum, Artis Gallery, Auckland
1999 – Digit, Artis Gallery, Auckland

EDUCATION

1972    B Sc (Hons), University of New South Wales, Australia

KEY AWARDS

2009 – Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (for services to art, in particular sculpture)
2006 – WaitakereCityArtsLaureate 2000 Waitakere City Millennium Medal (for services to the community)
1997 – Waitakere City Certificate of Appreciation (for outstanding contribution to the Arts)

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2014 – Orbin, Milford Galleries, Queenstown
2012 – In Transit, Milford Galleries, Queenstown
2010 – Matrix, Avid Gallery, Wellington
2009 – Ballast, National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh; Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland Arc, Artis Gallery, Auckland
2008 – Green Fish, Avid Gallery, Wellington Array, Milford House Gallery, Dunedin
2006 – Counting Stones, Avid Gallery, Wellington Core, Artis  Gallery, Auckland
2004 – Phases, Janne Land Gallery, Wellington
2003 – Flags, Artis Gallery, Auckland
2002 – Calculus, Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt; Millennium Gallery, Blenheim; Dunedin Public Art Gallery; Canterbury Museum, Christchurch; Rotorua Museum; Ashburton Art Gallery; Manawatu Museum, Palmerston North; Auckland Museum
2001 – Sum, Artis Gallery, Auckland
2000 – Range,Avid,Wellington
1999 – Digit, Artis Gallery, Auckland
1998 – Lie of the Land National Tour, Auckland Museum, Auckland; Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt; McDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch; Southland Art Gallery, Invercargill; Suter Art Gallery, Nelson; Sarjeant Art Gallery, Whanganui; Hawke’s Bay Museum,Napier; Waikato Museum, Hamilton
1996 – Cross Country, Lopdell House Gallery, Waitakere; Hawkes Bay, Exhibition Centre; Gisborne Museum and Arts Centre; Whakatane Museum and Gallery, Insignia, Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt; Fisher Art Gallery, Auckland
1995 – Badge, Fluxus, Dunedin
1994 – Light Relief, Fingers, Auckland
1993 – Panacea, Fluxus, Dunedin; Crawford Gallery, Sydney. Making Amends, National Tour 1993-1995, Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt; Southland Museum & Art Gallery, Invercargill; Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch; Left Bank Gallery, Greymouth; Bishop Suter Art Gallery, Nelson; Manawatu Art Gallery, Palmerston Nth; Rotorua
Art & History Museum; Auckland Museum, Auckland
1992 – Making Ends Meet; Fingers, Auckland
1989 – Stone Lines, Survey Exhibition 1977-1989, National Museum, Wellington; Auckland Museum, Auckland
1988 – Land Tokens, Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt Stones in Glass Houses, Villas Gallery, Wellington Rock Erosion, Fingers, Auckland 1986 In China, Villas Gallery, Wellington
1984 – Cardinal Points, Janne Land Gallery, Wellington
1983 – Signs of the Comet, Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt
1981 – Detachments, Auckland Museum, Auckland
1979 – On the Tail of a Dragon, Denis Cohn Gallery, Auckland