Wood sculptor Geoff Irving lost his battle with cancer last year but his wairua lives on in the stunning creations he brought to life.
A posthumous exhibition during the Raglan Arts Weekend is a chance for Geoff’s whānau to celebrate and share his imaginative artistry, and hopefully find new homes for the work he lovingly made.
In his Facebook bio, Geoff says – ‘Wood is my canvas. The lathe, bandsaw, router, drills, sanders, blow torch, spray cans and a host of other tools are my brushes.’
Working in forestry and cabinetmaking factories in New Zealand, and building sites in Sydney as a young man, Geoff grew to love working with wood.
Son Raj Irving – who lives in the house his father built on Marine Parade and is himself a gifted carver – says his dad’s work reflected community, and bringing people together through art was an important part of his philosophy.
“It felt like his art had a purpose and he’d like to see it go to people. And if I could sum it up, I think his work is about people at the end of the day.”
The pair had long considered collaborating in an exhibition for the arts weekend, and while that opportunity has passed now, Raj says it will be a fitting tribute to his father to let his work see the light in the town he loved.
“My mum keeps on saying, Dad didn’t want his art to sit around and collect dust.”
Geoff had a deep-seated affinity with Raglan. He was the Raglan Area School woodwork teacher from 1985 to 1998, but before that he had holidayed in Raglan as a kid like many Hamiltonians.
Raj, Esther and Thibah spent an idyllic childhood in Raglan before the family moved to Australia to be closer to their mum Leela’s family.
They spent 10 years in Australia, where Geoff worked as a design and technology teacher and, Raj says, they got a taste of city life.
They returned to live in Hamilton in 2010 and Geoff got a job teaching woodturning, wood and bone carving at Ngāruawāhia Primary School.
Raj says he was a gifted teacher who cared about his students, and he wasn’t too keen in just teaching ‘industry’ wood-working skills.
In turn, his students appreciated the sense of freedom and openness they got from attending his classes.
“A lot of his students always say they were grateful for my dad allowing them to have their own freedom and expression. He really valued that type of expression in his work. He was so against the grain in terms of prepping them for industry, he was always more about their own creative expression.”
His journey as an artist really started taking root when they returned to New Zealand.
“He was always on the lathe but he started to really take a path as an artist, whereas before it was always combined with his teaching,” Raj says.
It was while teaching at Ngāruawāhia that his love of Māori arts was reignited and it became a prominent feature in his work.
He took his role as a Kiwi artist seriously, saying in his bio – ‘Aotearoa/New Zealand is discovering its own rich cultural heritage. Artists play an important provocative/reflective role in the Māori renaissance and the redefining of Kiwi identity.’
Much of his storytelling through artwork and exhibitions blended his Bahá’í Faith and his love for te ao Māori; Geoff felt the two shared the same wairua.
“A lot of his art was about trying to find truth,” Raj says.
Geoff had always lived an adventurous life and had grown up with a father who was a tough man, which led to him seeking another way of life.
“My dad ran away from home at 16 or 17 and went on his own path. He wanted to travel and get away.”
This was the ‘70s and his wanderlust took him to Southeast Asia and Europe, and during that time he was introduced to the Baháʼí Faith.
He also met his wife Leela in Singapore; an Indian Hindu by birth, she had also become a Baháʼí, which is what brought them together.
They spent four years apart, Geoff working in Australia and Leela in Singapore. Raj thinks it may have been a ploy by her family to dissuade the couple from marrying.
He was sending her letters every week with fresh carnations, trying to keep the fire burning. They must have been truly in love,” he says.
Along with his love for Leela and his whānau, Geoff also had a deep love for Whāingaroa, and described himself as – ‘an artist/sculptor who lives in Hamilton, works in Ngāruawāhia and relaxes in Raglan, New Zealand.’
It’s fitting that his art will be exhibited in the granny-flat he built on Marine Parade.
Exhibition open from Saturday, October 21 and Sunday, October 22 at 8A Marine Parade.
by Janine Jackson
