Dr Lyonel Grant

Tohunga whakairo, designer and sculptor, Lyonel Grant is an innovator whose toi is communicated through many mediums including stone, wood, bronze, and glass with each creation having its own distinct character. Lyonel’s unique approaches have advanced traditional artistic practices as well as a general contribution to ngā toi Māori evolution in the 21st Century.  Born and raised in Rotorua, he received his formal wood carving training at the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute (also known as Te Puia) in the 1970’s under the tutelage of Hone Te Kauru Taiapa; after graduating with an Honours degree, he became the first Master Carver Assistant at the Institute.

In 1984 he embarked on a full-time career as a freelance carver. Between 1985 and 1987 he completed his first whare whakairo, Te Matapihi o te Rangi at Papa o te Aroha Marae in Tokoroa.  In 1989 he created the Te Arawa Waka Taua for the sesquicentennial 1990 Waitangi Celebrations which now resides in its newly opened whare waka (2024) on the shores of Lake Rotorua, which was designed in collaboration with Lyonel.

His second whare whakairo, Ihenga, was completed at Tangatarua Marae at the Waiariki Institute of Technology in Rotorua (now known as Toi Ohomai) between 1993 and 1996. He experimented with Ihenga as a model to explore the tensions between customary and contemporary Māori art practice. Later he co-authored Ihenga: Te Haerenga Hou, The Evolution of Māori Carving in the 20th Century in 2007 with Damian Skinner.  

He has subsequently created two further whare whakairo; Ngākau Māhaki at Te Noho Kotahitanga Marae at the Unitec Institute of Technology campus in Mt. Albert, Auckland which was made from 2002 to 2009, and more recently, Paimārire which serves as a whare raranga (Fiber arts studio) at Evergreen State College’s Indigenous Arts Campus in Washington State, USA. Pai Mārire as a project, was the result of a culmination of work done from 2014 to 2018 led by Lyonel, but the whare itself is a representation of the longstanding relationship between Toi Māori and the first nations tribes of America and Canada.  

Lyonel has exhibited both internationally and in Aotearoa and has work held in the collections of The British and Cambridge Museums, The Scottish Museum in Edinburgh, Te Papa National collection, numerous private collections as well as several public installations around the country. In 2004 he was one of the concept developers behind New Zealand’s gold winning submission for the Chelsea Garden show exhibit in London, awarded by the Royal Horticultural Society.

In 2009 Lyonel was awarded an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate Award, acknowledging his successes of the past and the excellence that follows. In the same year, he also received an ‘honoris causa’ Doctor of Philosophy (Education) from Unitec Institute of Technology in recognition of his contributions to the marae and design of Ngākau Māhaki. 

Following his work at Evergreen College, Washington State, in 2018 he was awarded the Te Waka Toi; ‘Te Tohu Toi Ke’ award from Creative New Zealand for his significant positive impact for the development and practice of Māori Arts. He has since been helping to develop a carving curriculum with a Native Hawaiian Kanaka Maoli collective in Hawaii, continuing his mahi of toi revitalization throughout the wider Pacific.