08/10/2026
Christine Hellyar (1947 – 2026)
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki was saddened to learn that artist Christine Hellyar has passed away. Born in New Plymouth in 1947, Hellyar studied at the Elam School of Fine Arts, graduating in 1969, and went on to lecture there, influencing the direction of conceptually based sculptural practice and new materialities. Hellyar introduced latex, fur and recycled furniture into the lexicon of sculpture in New Zealand. A feminist artist, she remained fascinated by the objects of home and everyday life and was among the first to use domestic imagery in her sculpture, reflected in titles like 'Preserves', 'Stone Homes', 'Shelter', 'Thought Cupboards', 'Aprons' and 'Cloaks'.
Hellyar was also fascinated by the display techniques of natural history museums and filled countless notebooks with drawings from her travels, documenting objects from ancient to modern times. Works in the Gallery's collection, including 'Tool Trays', 1982, and 'Change/Exchange', 2008-2016, present objects in the style of museum artefacts and invite viewers to consider the systems of classification that order knowledge of history, nature and the social world. Later in her career, Hellyar made landmark work based on her research into Mrs Cook, Captain James Cook's wife, presenting 'Mrs Cook's Kete' with Maureen Lander at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford.
Hellyar was the first woman sculptor chosen to represent New Zealand at the Biennale of Sydney in 1982, and in 1988 she was invited to create a permanent work at the International Sculpture Symposium in Seoul. Her public works, including the bronze 'Armlet', 1993, at the University of Auckland, and 'Spring', 2004, in Auckland Domain, can be experienced close to home.
Our thoughts are with Christine’s whānau and friends.
