Tui Hobson has worked as a sculptor and carver for the last 25 years. Her work reflects her Cook Island and European heritage.
Her carvings range from small intimate pieces to large outdoor sculptures made from recycled native timber, hard wood, stone, metal, cast glass and bronze.
Tui’s forms are responsive to the materials in which she works and infused with a contemporary twist and aesthetic. Timbers such as totara, kauri, rimu, pohutakawa and matai each have a unique grain, colour and history which is hugely inspirational.
Tui was inspired to start carving when she inherited chisels and a pile of wood from her father who had been a sculptor and cabinetmaker.
Her mother was Rarotongan and the inspiration from her Rarotongan heritage is clearly reflected in her work. Tui acknowledges these traditions saying, “A lot of my influence comes from my grandmother, who was a designer and sewer of tīvaevae, so when I started carving, I began with flowers and natural forms.”
In 2004 she won The Martin Hughes Contemporary Pacific Art Award and travelled to Rarotonga, Aitutaki and Atiu, Samoa. This allowed her to meet with local artists and connect with family. While there she was further inspired by traditional Pacific arts and tattoo designs.
In 2008 she went to Taiwan as Artist In Residence at Kaohsiung Fine Arts. Her work “Vaka ToThe Stars” remains in Kaohsiung.
Tui carves in both small scale and large, but it is her large-scale public works that tend to be best documented. Works such as:
Talking Pole, ‘Pacific Memories’, 2004 in Tokoroa
‘Kava Chair’ Kells Park Albany, 2005
‘Reclining Form’, 2007 which sits near the Akoranga bus station on Auckland’s North Shore, and
Carved poles for a fale at Mangere Bridge Primary school, 2008.
In 2013 she was commissioned to design the exterior panels for a large Herne Bay house. The repeat pacific motifs were laser cut into the panels extending around the house. This was an exciting project where she designed and oversaw the construction of the 66 panels.
In 2018 she travelled to Northern France where she designed and carved 4 seats for New Zealand’s Rangimarie commemorative garden at Le Quesnoy. The garden celebrates the heroism of New Zealand soldiers In World War One.