Milford Galleries Dunedin

"From 'Ferns' in Wellington's Civic Square and 'Chalice' in Christchurch's Cathedral Square, to 'Raindrops' in Manchester, United Kingdom, and the 'Globe' in Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, Neil Dawson's public artworks have become city icons." (1)

“Born and bred in New Zealand, Neil Dawson is a sculptor of international standing. All of Dawson’s works emphatically echo aspects of this nation’s socio-cultural environments and, literally, elevate these in spatial celebrations that are at once accessible and challenging. A central achievement discernable in this sculptor’s work is his ability to embody in pure space, clusters of socio-cultural and global concerns.”(2)

Neil describes his work as "an obsession, like it is for the majority of artists," adding that he "continue[s] to be excited by new projects." In the 1998 catalogue for "Ferns," Jim and Mary Barr say his work offers a "multiplicity of views that people can create for themselves as they move beneath or around his sculptures," emphasising that while "Dawson has used the interplay of the constant and the serendipitous in many of his works, in the spheres the combination has proved inspiring." (2)

Born in Christchurch 1948, Diploma of Fine Arts (Hons), Canterbury University 1970 and Graduate Diploma in Sculpture, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne 1973. Dawson was awarded an Arts Laureate by the Arts Foundation of New Zealand in 2003. In August 2005 he unveiled his Bomber Command war memorial sculpture Canberra, Australia.

1. Lee Suckling, 'The Sky's the Limit' in Art News, Summer 2009
2. Dr Cassandra Fusco, Ways of seeing presence and absence – The work of Neil Dawson, Crafts Arts International No. 58, 2003
3. The Arts Foundation of New Zealand, 2003