Bill Culbert
{{Short description|New Zealand artist (1935–2019)}}{{Infobox artist
| name = Bill Culbert
| birth_name = William Franklin Culbert
| birth_date = 23 January 1935
| death_date = 28 March 2019
| nationality = New Zealand
| alma_mater = Ilam School of Fine Arts Canterbury University College
| known_for = Sculpture
| image = BillCulbert.png
| caption = Bill Culbert (right) and Michael Parekowhai at the Gibbs farm, 2012
}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2017}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=November 2017}}
William Franklin Culbert {{post-nominals|country=NZL|MNZM|size=85%}} (23 January 1935 – 28 March 2019) was a New Zealand artist, notable for his use of light in painting, photography, sculpture and installation work, as well as his use of found and recycled materials.{{cite news|last=Clifford|first=Andrew|title=Culbert finds light in other people's throwouts|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10377041|accessdate=2 April 2013|newspaper=New Zealand Herald|date=12 April 2006}}
He was born in Port Chalmers, near Dunedin, and divided his time between London, Croagnes in southern France, and New Zealand. He was married to artist Pip Culbert (1938–2016) and made many collaborative works with artist Ralph Hotere.
Early life and education
Culbert was educated at Hutt Valley High School, where his teachers included James Coe.{{cite web |url=https://dowse.org.nz/news/blog/2013/a-morning-with-bill-culbert |title=A morning with Bill Culbert |date=23 October 2013 |first=Courtney |last=Johnston |publisher=Dowse Art Museum |access-date=16 October 2021}} He then studied at the Ilam School of Fine Arts at Canterbury University College in Christchurch from 1953 to 1956, alongside Pat Hanly, Gil Taverner, Quentin McFarlane, Trevor Moffitt, Ted Bracey, John Coley and Hamish Keith, many who lived in the same house in Armagh Street.{{cite news|last=Moore|first=Christopher|title=International artist seeks Chch roots|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/christchurch-life/art-and-stage/visual-art/8631910/International-artist-seeks-Chch-roots|accessdate=7 May 2013|newspaper=The Press |date=6 May 2013}} Culbert received a National Art Gallery scholarship in 1957 and left New Zealand to study painting at the Royal College of Art, London. He exhibited in the Young Contemporaries and Young Commonwealth Artists exhibitions alongside fellow expatriate New Zealander Billy Apple.
Career
Culbert began to experiment with electric light in 1967. He had a solo exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery, London, in 1977 and in 1979, with funding from the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council the Brooke Gifford Gallery in Christchurch assembled the survey exhibition Bill Culbert: London and New Zealand Works that was toured to public art museums throughout New Zealand.{{Cite web |last=McCreedy |first=Athol |title=Going Public: New Zealand Art Museums in the 1970s |url=https://mro.massey.ac.nz/server/api/core/bitstreams/adf9c4ae-557d-41dd-8b4b-c364e2fc1a54/content |access-date=4 March 2024 |website=Massey University}} The touring survey exhibition Lightworks was organised by City Gallery Wellington in 1997. He participated in the first Auckland Triennial in 2001. In 2013 he represented New Zealand at the 55th Venice Biennale. His exhibition, titled Front Door Out Back, was displayed in the New Zealand pavilion, sited at the Istituto Santa Maria della Pietà.File:Bill Culbert - SkyeBlues0001.pngHe has permanent commissioned sculptures in London, Wellington and Auckland. Many are collaborative works with Ralph Hotere, including Fault on the facade of City Gallery Wellington (1994), Void (2006) in the atrium of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and Black Stump, a 20m-high column outside the Vero Centre in Auckland.{{cite web|last1=Farrar |last2=Tamati-Quennell|first1=Sarah |first2=Megan|author2-link=Megan Tamati-Quennell|title=Ralph Hotere, 1931-2013|url=http://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/2013/02/25/ralph-hotere-1931-2013/|work=Te Papa Blog|date=25 February 2013 |publisher=Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa|accessdate=7 May 2013}} His work is held in public and private collections throughout New Zealand and Europe.
Culbert died on 28 March 2019.{{cite news | url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/arts/111757098/bill-culbert-the-master-of-light-dies-aged-84 | title=Bill Culbert, the master of light, dies aged 84 | date=6 April 2019 | work=Stuff.co.nz | accessdate=9 April 2019 | first=Bess | last=Manson}}
Awards, honours and fellowships
- National Art Gallery Scholarship (New Zealand), 1957
- Artist in Residence, University of Nottingham, 1963–65
- Greater London Arts Association Award, 1981
- Arts Council of Great Britain Holographic Bursary, Goldsmiths' Holography Workshop, Goldsmiths' College, London, 1982
- Residency, Museum of Holography, New York, 1985
- Residency, Exploratorium, San Francisco, 1989
- Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to art, particularly sculpture, 2008
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- Ian Wedde, Making Light Work (Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2009) {{ISBN|9781869404390}}
- Justin Paton, Light Wine Things (Dunedin: Dunedin Public Art Gallery, 2005) {{ISBN|9780908910441}}
- Lara Strongman (ed.) Lightworks (Wellington: City Gallery Wellington, 1997) {{ISBN|0958355452}}
- [http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/arts/5818727/Lighting-the-way-with-art Christopher Moore , Lighting the way with art, in Stuff, 20 October 2011]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20111120072552/http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/the-lightness-bill-culbert-115587 John Daly-Peoples, The lightness of Bill Culbert, in National Business Review, 27 November 2009]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20160305051317/http://landfallreviewonline.blogspot.co.nz/2011/06/lightness-of-being-bill-culbert.html#!/2011/06/lightness-of-being-bill-culbert.html David Eggleton, The lightness of being Bill Culbert, in The landfall review online, 1 June 2011]
- [http://www.listener.co.nz/culture/art/the-light-fantastic/ Gregory O'Brien, The Light Fantastic, in New Zealand Listener, 15 August 2009]
External links
- [http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/party.aspx?irn=541 Artist page at Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa]
- [https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/discover-collections/read-watch-play/art/its-meaning-bill-culbert-on-void Sarah Farrar, Te Papa's Senior Curator Art, interviews Bill Culbert]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20101121083543/http://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/collection/browse/person/culbert-bill-new-zealander-b1935/ Artist collection page at Christchurch Art Gallery]
- [http://www.aucklandartgallery.com/the-collection/browse-artists/1342/bill-culbert Artist page at Auckland Art Gallery]
- Artist page at [http://laurentdelaye.com/artists/bill+culbert/81 Laurent Delaye Gallery], London
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20150121013539/http://www.creativenz.govt.nz/en/arts-development-and-resources/international-programme/significant-international-events/new-zealand-at-the-venice-biennale#2013 Artist profile at Creative New Zealand]
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Category:People from Port Chalmers
Category:Ilam School of Fine Arts alumni
Category:University of Canterbury alumni
Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Art
Category:New Zealand modern painters
Category:New Zealand modern sculptors
Category:People associated with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Category:20th-century New Zealand sculptors
Category:20th-century New Zealand male artists
Category:Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit