Fred Graham (sculptor)

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Fred Graham (Frederick John Graham, 1 September 1928 – 9 May 2025) was a New Zealand sculptor and educator who helped pioneer the modern Māori art movement. He was born in Arapuni, South Waikato, and identified with the Ngāti Korokī Kahukura and Tainui iwi. He trained as a teacher at Ardmore Teachers' Training College and focused on art in his third year. Graham taught art in schools and in the 1950s worked as an arts adviser to Māori primary schools in Rotorua and Te Tai Tokerau. One of his students was Nigel Brown, who became a well-known New Zealand artist. He also played rugby and briefly appeared for the Māori All Blacks in 1955, earning three caps.

From 1957 to 1962 he taught art at Palmerston North Teachers' College. He had a studio in Waiuku where he lived with his wife Norma. His son Brett Graham is a sculptor known for works such as Manu Tāwhiowhio: Bird Satellite (1996). Graham’s sculpture blended Māori traditions with contemporary themes, and he worked with Ralph Hotere, Cliff Whiting, and Paratene Matchitt to help found a modern Māori arts movement in the late 1950s. His public sculptures appear across New Zealand, including many in Auckland, often featuring bird forms that reflect people or environmental issues.

In 2017 he received Te Tohu mō Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu, the supreme Te Waka Toi award. In 2018 he was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Māori art and was named an Arts Foundation Icon. In December 2024 he was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to Māori art. Fred Graham died on 9 May 2025, aged 96.