Tui Hobson
Tui Hobson is a New Zealand sculptor based in Auckland. She has completed multiple residencies overseas including the Kaoshiung Museum in Taiwan,[1] and Le Quesnoy in Northern France where she dedicated carved seats in the Rangimarie Gardens to the 100 year commemoration of First World War New Zealand soldiers.[2][3][4][1]
Family background
[edit]Hobson is of Cook Islands and New Zealand European descent with family from Rarotonga and Atiu.[5] When young she observed her father, Ken, a teacher, sculptor and wood craftsman, and her mother, grandmother and aunt, weavers and tivaevae artists.[6][2][1][7] Her father had a joinery factory in Newtown that she would visit after school.[6] Hobson's career is inspired by her father's work and assisted by the tools, chisels and other materials her father left to her after he died.[8][7]
Career
[edit]Hobson's artistic career as a sculptor and artist[3] began in the 1990s with her teaching herself carving techniques.[1] She is one of the first female carvers of Cook Islands descent.[1][5]
Her practice has been consistent across three decades,[3][4] but was particularly active up until 2014 when she travelled more frequently.[9] As of 2025[update] she is based in Auckland as a full-time carver and artist,[9] and has completed a total of over 75 exhibitions, both solo and collaborative, artist talks, and public and private commissions.[3][4] Hobson takes inspiration from her Cook Island heritage engaging with tivaevae patterns from her grandmother's weaving, and implementing themes of climate change, environmental awareness, migration and navigation.[3][4][10][1]
Her media include various native woods like tōtara, kauri, rimu, pōhutukawa, and mātai for their grain, story and finish, and macrocarpa for outdoor works.[11][8] However she also works with stone, cast glass and bronze for pieces of smaller and larger scales.[3][4] The forms and shapes she works with are influenced by modernists Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth; however, there is also a feminine influence to her forms seen in her carved female nude figure reliefs.[3][10]
Residencies
[edit]In 2008, Hobson did an artist residency at Kaoshiung Museum in Taiwan to contribute to Le Folauga (a showcase of contemporary Pacific art).[1]
In 2018, she completed a six-week residency for Rangimarie Gardens in Le Quesnoy, Northern France. This project is one of her most notable international commissions involving carved seats for the Le Quesnoy gardens, specifically the Rangimarie commemorative garden.[2][3][4] The garden is dedicated to New Zealand soldiers who fought in the First World War and her commission was on the centennial of the end of the war.[3][4][1]
In 2025, Hobson was the fourth recipient of the Pasifika Aniva Arts Residency.[3] The three-month paid residency was organised by Pātaka Art+Museum, Creative New Zealand, Govett-Brewster Gallery and the Len Lye Centre and contributed to Creative New Zealand's Pacific Arts Strategy for 2023–28.[3]
Her sculptural outcome of the project was a pou dedicated to wāhine toa titled Wairaka Pou.[3] Wairaka, an ancestral figure, is honoured in the piece as it tells the story of her travels from Ma'uke to the Cook Islands and New Zealand saving women and children stranded on a waka and embracing the opportunity to paddle it, an otherwise tapu activity.[3] The piece was housed in Pātaka where she gave an artist talk on the work.[3]
Exhibitions
[edit]| Date | Title | People | Medium | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2008 | Glass Forest | Tui Hobson and Evelyn Dunstan | Wood sculpture | Remuera Gallery, Auckland | [12] |
| 7–10 October 2016 | Tapa & Tiare | Tui Hobson and Sam Ford | Sculpture | 3 Grosvenor St, Grey Lynn | [7] |
| 17–28 July 2024 | Eclectic | Tui Hobson and Tina Frantzen | Wood carvings | 250 Gallery, Ponsonby | [13] |
| 13 December 2025 – 14 February 2026 | 8 [Contemporary] Cook Islands Artists | Ahsin Ahsin, Marcus Hipa, Tui Hobson, Chloe Marsters, Sylvia Marsters, David Murray, Carlos Vano, and Sefton Rani | – – – | Māngere Arts Centre (Gallery) | [14] |
| Date | Title | Medium | Location | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Pacific Memories | Mātai, concrete and steel pole (sculpture) | Leith Place Talking Pole Forest | [11] |
| 28 January – 13 February 2005 | – – – | – – – | Sculpture on the Gulf 2005, Church Bay Walkway, Matiatia | [15] |
| 2007 | Reclining Form | Sculpture | Akoranga Busway Station, Auckland | [16] |
| 7 November 2009 – 14 February 2010 | Ancestral Light | Macrocarpa and metal poles (sculpture) | Sculpture in the Gardens Exhibition 2009–10, Auckland Botanic Gardens | [17] |
| 9 October 2011 – 12 February 2012 | Bird Strategy | Macrocarpa (sculpture/carving) | Sculpture in the Gardens Exhibition 2011–12, Auckland Botanic Gardens | [18] |
| 2021 | Pacific Conversation | Recycled Totara with copper finish | Art + Object Auction House, previously collection of Adrian Burr and Peter Tatham | [19][20] |
| 1–20 August 2023 | Pop up exhibition | Vaka inspired swamp kauri bench seats, Pacific oars, abstract sculpture | The Poi Room, Ponsonby | [2] |
| 7–11 September 2023 | Pop up exhibition | Vaka inspired swamp kauri bench seats, Pacific oars, abstract sculpture | Home Show, ASB Showgrounds, Greenlane | [2] |
| February–April 2025 | Va'ine Warrior | Pacific oars and vaka-shaped benches (sculpture and carvings) | The Charlotte Museum Te Whare Takatāpui-Wahine o Aotearoa | [10][21] |
| September 2025 | Vairaka, (Wairaka) | Macrocarpa, pigment, and fibre (pou) | Te Marae o te Umu Kai o Hau, Pātaka Art + Museum – the first contemporary carving created by a woman for Pātaka | [5] |
| 2008 | Vaka to the Stars | – – – | Kaohsiung Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan | [2] |
| – – – | Carved poles | – – – | Mangere Bridge Primary School fale | [2][7] |
Reclining Form at Akoranga Bus Station
Awards
[edit]Projects
[edit]- In 2007, she carved Reclining Form at the National Wood Sculpture live event.[8]
- In 2009, Hobson was one of 30 in the biennale National Wood Sculpture live event where she participated and carved in the 10-day challenge.[8]
- In 2018, she crafted a pou for the Auckland rehabilitation centre gardens.[3][4]
- Artist Talk with Sylvia Marsters – Tui Hobson & Sylvia Marsters: Artists in Conversation – 22 February 2025, The Charlotte Museum, Auckland.[24]
Recognition
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Kohlhase, Marilyn (21 February 2025). "Tui Hobson: Va'ine Warrior – Retrospective. Feb–April 2025 by Marilyn Kohlhase". The Charlotte Museum. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Tui Hobson's pop-up exhibition". Issuu – Ponsonby News. August 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "Tui Hobson wins 2025 Pasifika Aniva Arts Residency". Pataka. 19 May 2025. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Te Ana o Hine – About the Artists". Te Tuhi. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
- 1 2 3 "Tui Hobson Vairaka pou unveiling". Pataka. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
- 1 2 Healy, Rachel (13 November 2025). "Carving honours Cook Islands stories and women's strength". The Post. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 Gifford, Adam (7 October 2016). "Tapa and Tiare brings together Pacific influenced sculpture and furniture". NZ Herald. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 Horrell, Rhiannon (5 May 2009). "Woodwork on a giant scale". Stuff. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
- 1 2 "National Contemporary Art Award 2025 finalists selected from record entry number". NZ Herald. 3 June 2025. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
- 1 2 3 "Tui Hobson 'Va'ine Warrior' Sculpture and Carvings Exhibition". The Charlotte Museum. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
- 1 2 "Pacific Memories". South Waikato District Council. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
- ↑ "Solo Exhibitions". Evelyn Dunstan. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
- ↑ "'Eclectic'". 250 Gallery Facebook. 23 July 2024. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
- ↑ "8 [Contemporary] Cook Islands Artists". Mangere Arts Centre Instagram. 24 November 2025. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
- ↑ Jefferies, Lyndal (20 January 2005). "Who's doing what in the arts". Gulf News (Waiheke Island, N.Z.). pp. 42–43. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
- ↑ russellstreet (11 October 2009), English: Reclining Form, a 2007 sculpture by Tui Hobson at Akoranga Busway Station in Auckland, NZ, retrieved 31 January 2026
- ↑ "Archive–2009–10". Sculpture in the Gardens. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
- ↑ "Archive–2011–12". Sculpture in the Gardens. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
- ↑ "Tui Hobson 'Pacific Conversation'". Art + Object. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
- ↑ "164.2: The Collection of Adrian Burr and Peter Tatham – Vol. 2". Art + Object. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
- ↑ "Business Card, Tui Hobson.; the Charlotte Museum Te Whare Takatāpui-Wāhine o Aot... on eHive". eHive. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
- ↑ T, E. (15 November 2007), Fono McCarthy & Tui Hobson, retrieved 31 January 2026
- ↑ "National Contemporary Art Award 2025". Te Whare Taonga o Waikato Museum & Gallery. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
- ↑ "Tui Hobson & Sylvia Marsters: Artists in Conversation – Auckland". Eventfinda. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
- ↑ Cracknell, Tryphena (2019). "Wahine mau whao: a woman's hand to the chisel". National Library of New Zealand. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
