Sculptor turns energies to painting

Clayton Gibson with his painting Names in the Sand which represents the changes of name that Tūranganui-a-Kiwa has experienced over the years and how the changes are like the names we write in the sand on the beach — susceptible to the tide and the different waves of generations that pass through. As the new NZ curriculum kicks in, there is now a move to return place names to the names given by tangata whenua.Picture supplied

What They Didn’t Teach Us At School” is the thought-provoking title of artist Clayton Gibson’s latest exhibition at Tairāwhiti Museum.

The show is intended to generate conversations about the interpretation of New Zealand history, especially what was taught or not taught when Clayton was at school in Gisborne.

“I have selected and painted pivotal and recognisable events in our history which were not taught to us in school during the 1960s and 70s,” he says.

“. . . Events that by not being taught, influenced our thinking at the time and our concept of our nation’s history.”

Born in Gisborne, Clayton moved to Hawke’s Bay in 2000 where he taught art and history at Taikura Steiner School in Hastings. He now teaches at Hukarere Girls College in Eskdale.

He attended Lytton High School where Norman Maclean taught him art and was a mentor and guide into the art world.

Early influences also included art tutors Cliff Whiting and Paul Dibble at Palmerston North Teachers College which Clayton attended when he first left high school.

He has been involved in education for more than 30 years while also working as a sculptor. For this exhibition he has put aside his chisels and directed his energies into painting.

“The events and images that I have painted all reflect my understanding of pūrākau read or told to me, my observations, of local landscape and my thoughts about historical events. I have woven the paintings into a complex web of stories that stretch over a wide period of history from the arrival of Captain Cook in 1769 to today.”

In his exhibition Clayton revisits pivotal moments in history such as Guy Fawkes in the painting Remember, Remember, the 5th of November. He poses the question that instead of celebrating Guy Fawkes on this date, maybe we should commemorate the November 5, 1881  invasion of Parihaka — one that is more relevant and consequential in our history.

“My paintings combine a tension and personal narrative centred on social issues in Aotearoa history and the socio-political world of the distinctly Aotearoa social and political landscape. In my work I emphasise my vision of an Aotearoa identity.”