Terry Stringer

Terry Stringer is a leading New Zealand sculptor and a key figure in the history of art in New Zealand. Born in Cornwall, England in 1946, Stringer trained at Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland. He graduated with Honours in 1967 and in the following years received virtually every significant scholarship and award available to New Zealand artists.

Working predominately in bronze, the majority of Stringer’s sculptures depict figures and still-life subjects. Allusions to his interest in classical antique art and literature can be seen, along with the influence of cubism displayed in Stringer’s faceting and juxtaposition of form.

His signature works have become synonymous with high profile public sites throughout Aotearoa/New Zealand. These include The Risen Christ in Christchurch’s Cathedral Square (now in storage), his Grand Head in Wellington, and Mountain Fountain, in the forecourt of Auckland’s Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, The World Grasped to showcase the renewal of Newmarket, Dance to the Music of Time, a gateway sculpture for the City of Nelson, and Hygeia unveiled in 2018 at the entrance to th University of Auckland School of Medicine.

Throughout his career Terry Stringer has exhibited extensively, with solo shows in Auckland, Sydney, Los Angeles and London. He is represented in major public collections, including the Auckland and Christchurch Art Galleries, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the Alexander Turnbull Library.

Stringer was awarded the prestigious Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council Scholarship four times – 1977, 1981, 1982 and 1986. His contribution to New Zealand art was acknowledged in 2003, when he was the recipient of the country’s national honour, the ONZM (Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit).

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS AT ARTIS

2020 – ASPECTS, ARTIS Gallery, Auckland
2018 – Some New Works, ARTIS Gallery, Auckland
2016 – Model with the Sculptor’s Hands, ARTIS Gallery, Auckland

ACADEMIC HISTORY

1965 – 1967 Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland

PRIZES, AWARDS & RESIDENCIES

ONZM, Order of New Zealand Merit Award
Portrait Sculpture Award, New Zealand Portrait Gallery, Wellington
QE II Arts Council Awards

MAJOR COMMISSIONS

Awarded Nelson City Gateway Sculpture Commission
Dance to the Music of Time, Nelson, New Zealand
Mountain Fountain, Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Auckland, New Zealand
Body Language/Spirit of Place, Palmerston North, New Zealand
The World Grasped, Newmarket, Auckland, New Zealand
Te Kawau Thinks of Queen Victoria, Selwyn College, Auckland
The Fates, Peter Craze Memorial’ Ealing, London
Faith, Hope, and Love, St Cuthbert’s College, Auckland
Risen Christ, Cathedral Square, Christchurch
Kiri Te Kanawa, Aotea Centre, Auckland
White Lightning, Tutanekai Mall, Rotorua
Grand Head, Victoria Street, Wellington
Aotea Square Water Sculpture, Auckland

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2020 – ASPECTS, ARTIS Gallery, Auckland
2018 – Some New Works, ARTIS Gallery, Auckland
2016 – Model with the Sculptor’s Hands, ARTIS Gallery, Auckland
2015 – Growing in the 1960s and Other Stories, Milford Galleries, Queenstown
2013 – Terry Stringer: Transfigured Heads, The Pah Homestead, TSB Wallace Arts Centre, Auckland
2011 – Figure & Ground, Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Recent Exhibition, Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2010 – A Secret Room in the Head, Koru Contemporary Art, Hong Kong
Figure in a Landscape, Beppu Wiarda Gallery, Portland, USA
2009 – Figure in the Landscape, Brook Gifford Gallery, Christchurch
2008 – Head Room, Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Head Room, Beppu Wiarda, Portland, U.S.A.
2006 – About Face, Black Barn Gallery, Hawke’s Bay
A Life in Sculpture, Webb’s, Auckland
Our Home is Our Childhood, Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Our Home is Our Childhood, Beppu Wiarda Gallery, Portland, U.S.A.
2005 – The Head is a Theatre of Dreams, Mark Woolley Gallery, Portland U.S.A
2004 – The Architecture of Memory, Brooke/Gifford Gallery, Christchurch
2003 – Going Home, Milford Galleries, Dunedin
The Privileged Eye, Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2002 – A Little Theatre Work for the Hands, Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney, Australia
A Little Theatre Work for the Hands, Simmons Gallery, London, U.K.
A Little Theatre Work for the Hand, Janne Land Gallery, Wellington
2001 – Living in my Head, te tuhi, Auckland
The Palace of the Mind, Brooke Gifford Gallery, Christchurch, and FHE Gallery, Auckland
1999 – Behind the Studio Screen, Janne Land Gallery, Wellington
1998 – Personal Museum, Bishop Suter Gallery, Nelson
Personal Museum, Hawke’s Bay Exhibition Centre
1996 – All We Are One Body, Anna Bibby Gallery, Auckland
1994 – Hawke’s Bay Museum, Napier
1989 – Figures in a Landscape, Fisher Gallery, Auckland
1988 – Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
1986 – Aspects of Recent New Zealand Art, Sculpture 1 Auckland
City Art Gallery, Auckland
1982 – Wrap Around Sculpture, National Art Gallery, Wellington
Seen, Denis Cohn Gallery, and subsequent exhibitions, Auckland, New Zealand Ankrum Galleries, Los Angeles, U.S.A.
Recent Works, Rotorua City Gallery, Rotorua, New Zealand
1981 – Living Room, Manawatu Art Gallery, Palmerston North
Living Room, Sarjeant Gallery, Wanganui
Living Room, Dowse Art Gallery, Lower Hutt
Janne Land Gallery, Wellington
Brooke/Gifford Gallery, Christchurch
1978 – Bronzes & Painted Wood Sculpture, Waikato Art Museum, Hamilton
Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, Australia 1975 Barry Lett Galleries, Auckland
Regular solo exhibitions nationally and internationally since 1975.