Lyonel Grant

Name
Lyonel Grant
Iwi/Ethnicity
Ngāti Pikiao/Māori
Ngāti Rangiwewehi/Te Arawa/Māori
Te Arawa/Māori
Date of birth
1957
Place of birth
Rotorua/Bay of Plenty (region)/New Zealand
Gender
Male
Biography
A master carver and sculptor working in wood, stone, bronze, glass, ceramics and paint, Lyonel Grant reinterprets traditional Māori carving forms and motifs using Western sculptural materials and techniques.

Grant trained under the master carver Hōne Taiapa at the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute in Rotorua during the 1970s. He forged an independent practice in the 1980s, completing several whare whakairo (carved meeting houses): *Te Matapihi o te Rangi* at Te Papa o te Aroha Marae, 1984; *Ihenga* at Tangatarua Marae, 1993–96; *Ngākau Māhaki* at Te Noho Kotahitanga Marae, 2003–09. He has also produced waka for Te Arawa, the 150th anniversary of the signing of Te Tiriti of Waitangi, and for SkyCity Casino.

In 2009, Grant received an Arts Foundation Laureate Award and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy (Education) from Unitec Institute of Technology. He co-authored *Ihenga: Te Haerenga Hou, The Evolution of Māori Carving in the 20th Century* with Damian Skinner in 2007.