Sculpting with Phi: Designing an Off-Axis Stellated Octahedron

Really excited about this modified 3D stellated octahedron I just built using rebar steel rod. I’ve always loved geometry, but seeing it transition from paper into a large-scale, three-dimensional sculpture is very satisfying!

The build required careful calculation. I started by constructing a standard stellated octahedron, then multiplied the distance to one vertex by phi (the Golden Ratio) and extended the point to match. I then applied the ratio again to that new length to elongate the lower section. The result is a uniquely off-axis, highly deliberate 3D stellated octahedron.

Interlocking Tetrahedrons Experiment

I just created this experimental geometric sculpture based on a stellated octahedron—a shape formed by intersecting two inverted three-sided pyramids (tetrahedrons) sharing the exact same center.

It was a really fun project to build, though it definitely had a bit of a trick to it! Next up, I'll paint it and hang it with a stainless steel fishing swivel so it can freely spin. The photo only captures one angle, but it's fascinating to watch how the composition and perspective shift entirely from different views.

Pterodactyl - My First Welded Sculpture (2023)

After many years of carving timber, I'd been thinking about giving welding a go. So I borrowed a friend's MIG welder and decided to experiment with a simple idea: an NZ Pterodactyl drawn in mid-air using nothing more than No. 8 wire and a wooden base.

The realisation that I wasn't carving material away, but instead building it up, hit me straight away! I found myself drawing in three dimensions, bending and welding each line into place. I could even undo sections to get the size and proportions just right. It was completely different from carving, and I loved it immediately (apart from the smell, haha!). I was also able to use my familiar angle grinders, which made the transition feel surprisingly natural.

This little sculpture isn't about perfection. It's about discovering a new medium, and I can't wait to see where it takes me!

Future Primitive NZ 'Spring Mix' Jungle and Drum & Bass style

My first mix in a good while, and great fun getting everything set up again! A Spring journey from jungly sounds through Drum & Bass and into darker Techstep, all about the drums and basslines. Featuring music from Hardleaders, Dread, Dope Dragon, Smokey Joe, No U-Turn, Metalheadz, 2nd Movement and more.

My Future Primitive vibe has always had a strong connection to underground Jungle and Drum & Bass, so it feels right to have a little of that world living here alongside the artwork. Enjoy!

First Place at the Ruapehu Art Awards: 'Space Cat'

Makayla and I are super proud to have taken first place in the 3D category at this year's Ruapehu Art Awards!

This year, I decided to create a concrete, three-dimensional version of one of her amazing drawings entitled 'Space Cat', definitely a tricky task to pull off!

It was a wonderful opening night with so many brilliant artworks on display. Be sure to drop by and check it out at the Twin River Gallery, Taumarunui!

LED Manu Aute Project, Matariki (2018 - ongoing)

Lift off! The LED Manu Aute are finally flying!

This project is all about pushing my whakairo to the next level. The light gives each Manu Aute that spiritual ignition to take off, bringing the designs to life once darkness falls.
Each Manu Aute (traditional Māori kite) was built with two layers, concealing two 5-metre lengths of independently controlled LED ribbon between them. Hidden from the front, the lighting illuminates the whakairo kōrero from behind.

What makes the installation even more magical is that every kite cycles through its own colours independently, creating an ever-changing display of light and movement. I could stand and watch them for ages!

A huge thank you to the people of Taumarunui, Te Waka Pū Whenua Trust for making this project possible, and the Ruapehu Community Arts Centre for allowing the installation on their beautiful building to become part of the Matariki celebrations.
Matariki is a time of reflection, renewal, and looking ahead. I'm proud to have played a small part in bringing a little more light to our community!

'Tiki Auaha'

This Tiki is a symbol of life and fertility, its name is ‘Tiki Auaha’ which signifies creation, the creator. The abstract paint design challenges the viewer's imagination with notions of terrestrial landscapes, auroral light, and nebula imagery passing all into one.

This piece later won 1st place in the 3D section of the 'Ruapehu Art Awards', October 2017.

Medium: Plywood, Steel plate, custom paint, feathers, computer hard-drives, LED ribbon

From Ply to Steel: Plasma Cut Tiki one is made!

After cutting out seven large Tikis out of thick ply by hand (a smelly job!), I decided to step things up and learn a CAD vector program to reproduce my Tiki design in sheet metal.

What a fantastic machine the plasma cutter is. It was amazing to watch it do all the hard work from the control room. It was truly inspirational—imagine all the possibilities! A massive thanks to Metal Technics Engineering in Taumarunui.

Matariki Tiki Project, Taumarunui 2017

     

  

In 2017, Te Waka Pū Whenua Trust approached me to create a series of large illuminated Tiki for their Matariki celebrations. Inspired by the light festivals beginning to appear around New Zealand at the time, I wanted to create something that would bring people together during the longest nights of the year around the Solstice.

Drawing on my background in whakairo, I designed and hand-cut seven large Tiki from plywood. Each sculpture featured a layered design, hiding five metres of colour changing RGB LED lighting that slowly flowed through a beautiful spectrum of colours once darkness fell.

Designing the project was a challenge in itself. Every plywood sheet was carefully planned to maximise the material and minimise waste, combining creativity, craftsmanship and plenty of problem-solving! My children even helped paint the Tiki, making the project even more special.

Installed on the lawn outside the Ruapehu Community Arts Centre in Taumarunui for two weeks, the illuminated trail quickly became a gathering place for families and visitors on cold winter evenings.

It was a real privilege to work alongside Te Waka Pū Whenua Trust on this project. Looking back, it reminded me that art isn't just about creating objects, it's about creating experiences that bring people together. This was a really cool project to do!

Māori Art Meets Street Art: Painting Rua-i-te-whaihanga

A local shop in town asked me to join a team of Hamilton-based graffiti artists. The plan was to bring life to the plain shop walls with something colourful, meaningful, and striking to lift the mood and atmosphere of the space.

Having never done graffiti before, I saw it as a great opportunity to give it a go! Rather than just scribbling all over the wall, I wanted to try inspiring the group with some different styles and techniques, so I decided to paint Rua-i-te-whaihanga. BOOM!

Rua-i-te-whaihanga personifies the power of building and creation. He represents the creative spark that turns an idea or concept into a physical structure, overseeing the initial design, planning, and craftsmanship.

Pencil-Lead Tekoteko — My 3B Pencil Gets a New Life

I recently saw some artwork where an artist had carved into pencil lead, it really caught my attention. Pencils are a fundamental tool in my work, especially my trusty Staedtler 3B pencils! 

This particular pencil was due for retirement after being used to mark out the lines and embellishments for several tekoteko, but after acquiring a set of jeweller’s magnifying glasses, I decided to give it a new life and carve a tiny tekoteko directly into the graphite.

The photograph makes him look mighty, even though he’s only about a centimetre tall! The hardest part was carving out his back between his arms to get his belly to protrude. My Dremel bit only just fitted in there, a fraction of a millimetre left or right would have ripped his arm off. I left that part til last almost shaking and starting to sweat, the heat was on! One tiny slip and all that work would have been gone. But I did it. Challenge accomplished! 

He now lives in my China cabinet in safety behind lots of glass.

Aoturoa Project Concept, 2015

This is a scale model for a larger project I hope to create in the future. At the centre stands Tāne, representing us within our physical reality, while the surrounding geometry describes our relationship with the Sun and the changing seasons. The two sweeping arcs represent the path of the Sun across the sky at the summer and winter solstices — the longest and shortest days of the year.

Their positions show the changing points of sunrise and sunset, as well as the differing height of the Sun through the seasons. When these two extremes are brought together, the geometry forms a hexagonal structure at the base, allowing the movement of the Sun through the year to be understood as a single sculptural form.

For me, the project was an investigation into scale, geometry, astronomy and our physical relationship with the cosmos. The model was an important step in working out how those ideas could eventually become a much larger sculpture.

Tribute to Tāne Painting

The central motivation of this piece is the hexagon and pentagon. The hexagon represents macrocosm, everything larger than ourselves, whilst the pentagon represents microcosm, the smaller scale down to the minute. Six is the number of structure whilst five represents life.

I carefully duplicated the dimensions of the areas in between the two shapes, and rotated them into position (shown in white) forming a crafty composition of the classic Māori ‘Wheku’ design in a most striking and simplified manner.

The ‘Wheku’ design not only displays a face, but expresses the foundation of our reality ‘Te Ao Mārama’ through mnemonics subtly presenting the great feats of Tāne-nui-ā-Rangi who brought light and knowledge into our realm.

I view Atua Māori as inter-dimensional energies macrocosmically beyond, yet microcosmically integrated within us through our spiritual and astral bodies. This system shows how consciousness is within oneself yet simultaneously throughout the universe all at the same moment.

Medium: Acrylic on canvas, with a carved native Tōtara frame

Dimensions: 1m x 1m

Tawhirimatea, Future Whakaaro (Wire Tekoteko 2013)

Inspired and amazingly grateful to my Kaiako, Te Kuiti Stewart, for teaching me so much and sharing his abundant knowledge and skills with me through my time with him on the Te Maunga Kura Toi Graduate Degree programme, I made him this as a koha.

Whano koe ki te rangi,
Ki a Tāwhirimātea,
Kia kaha ai koe, kia toa ai koe,
Kia whai mana ai koe!
Go to the heavens,
To Tāwhirimātea,
So that you will be strong,
So that you will be brave,
So that you will have mana!

(Unknown author on original, translated by Michael Shirres in his book Te Tangata, 1997).