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The News, March 14 2002
ARTIST DRAWS ON THE SACRED
Holly Wademan
Hidden away at Punatapu Lodge outside Queesntown, contemporary Maori artist John Bevan Ford is a fountain of knowledge. Ford took up artistic residency at exclusive Punatapu Lodge in January of this year and will remain until mid-April. His recent collection of work named “Punatapu” detailed the peaks in the area. The area known as Punatapu or sacred pool was enclosed by unique sandstone cliffs once part of an old sea bed pushed up by extreme tectonic activity. It bordered Bob’s Cove and Maori people used to rest there on journeys to the Greenstone valleys. “The old people thought this area was special and sacred as indicated by the area’s name” Mr Ford said. Imbued with an ancestry that reached back to the great Maori explorer Kupe, his work echoed the history, mythology and beauty of the Maori culture.
Ford’s work was relatively unknown outside artistic circles but a number of books have been written about him, and he had exhibited works in major international galleries and museums, including the British Museum in London, the National Art Gallery of Australia, and the Museum fur Volkerkunde, Berlin. He was a founder of the Maori Art Renaissance in the 1960’s and only resigned from his Maori Studies position at Massey to become a full-time artist in 1987. His work was symbolic and ranged from tradition carvings to renderings of tribal traditions in acrylic ink. His last series was based on the cultures and peoples of the Pacific Rim. Punatapu’s Lodge owner and art collector, Sue Farry said Ford’s work was a reflection on New Zealand’s bi-culturalism. “New Zealand is still struggling with its identity and contemporary Mari art is helping us to find our selves” she said.
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