Documenting an earthly journey

Sculptor Peter Nicholls is a well-known figure in the art world, from his days teaching at the DunedinSchool of Art to his oversize and sometimes controversial outdoor sculpture. Nicholls gives Rebeca Fox a tour of his final exhibition.

These days you will find Peter Nicholls in front of a piece of paper rather than behind the mask of a welding helmet or holding a chisel.

At 83 years old, the artist is taking it more slowly, or, as he calls it: "I've gone from incredibly hard physical work to gentle, more spiritual ..."

That is not to say he does not pick up a chisel now and again, but the scale of the work has gone from up to 90m long to more modest dimensions.

"I've developed osteoarthritis in my knees, so I can't do the lifting any more."

He completed his last sculpture, Tarapunga, a year ago. Featuring a bird in trouble, it represents New Zealand's threatened seagulls.

In the foyer of gallery Fe29, in St Clair, is Nicholls' Green Green I, which gave rise to the title of what he has said will be his last exhibition. This award-winning maquette, completed in 1974, is constructed using puriri wood and stainless steel cable, more commonly seen on sailing ships.

"All my life I have been a tree hugger, an environmentalist."

Inspiration for his work just happens sometimes and other times requires more of a step-by-step process.

In the hallway, he has juxtaposed Green Green II against a large photographic triptych of his 2005 on-site work Rhapsody, completed in South Korea as part of the International Nine Dragons Festival.

"We were each given two days to create an outside work in sympathy with the environment. The wrapping of the trees was inspired by the importance attributed to gift giving by the people of Korea. The red colour was chosen to reflect the bright colours of their kimonos."

Nicholls takes us outside to show us New Land XIII (1977) - more commonly known as Pump - a large maquette made of kauri. It was inspired by a memory of donkey pumps near his childhood home of New Plymouth.

"I made the same thing in Edmonton, only three times bigger."

This much larger version, Counterpoise, was commissioned by the Muttart Museum as New Zealand's contribution to the 1978 Edmonton Commonwealth Games celebrations.

After the exhibition, Nicholls headed to the University of Wisconsin, where he worked towards his master's degree.

"I was heavily influenced by the American minimalist school."

This led to a series of large stacked wooden sculptures completed in New Zealand on his return.

Body Arch (1983), 2.1m tall, has pride of place in the gallery's front room. Rather than the shiny, highly polished works of the minimalist school, Body Arch was made with a chainsaw from native matai resurrected from the columns of the old Otago Daily Times building below First Church when it was demolished in early 1980.

Each block, like all of his wood works, features branded numbers inspired by wool bale markings - reminiscent of his childhood days on a farm.

On the wall of the main gallery are detailed concept and technical pencil drawings of large works proposed for clients. Two of these and a small maquette are from Luff (1989), which was inspired by the America's Cup and sited to overlook the route of the race.

A three-month study of sculpture parks throughout Europe in late 1989 influenced his work and teaching.

Unlike his earlier vertical works, Nicholls' new works are horizontally orientated. An example is shown in a large image in the main gallery, Tomo (2005) - a red "ribbon" that winds its way through trees in the Connells Bay Sculpture Park on Waiheke Island. Representing the underground rivers on the property, it was made of tanalised pine, laminated and steam-bent to navigate 90m around young kanuka trees planted to stabilise a slip.

He returned to New Zealand in 1979 and took up a position as lecturer in sculpture at Otago Polytechnic's Dunedin School of Art - a job he held for 22 years.

"I was always working. Students loved that I was a maker."

It was for teaching purposes that he learned to weld and experiment with forging. The physical aspect of having to use his whole body to make the work appealed.

As a pacifist, he created Permutation (1980), comprising seven "bullet-like" sculptures from wood, leather and steel that stand in a circle to illustrate the circular dynamic of war to peace.

His growing concern about the use of fossil fuels led to the work Locked (1983-84), made out of stained totara and stainless steel, featuring a "locked" auger.

In the gallery's front yard, Musa (2002) dominates - a large-scale sculpture created from a "steel mantle of manganese", a rock-crushing device he discovered in a Dunedin scrap yard. Wear had opened up radial cracks and gaps similar to stress cracks in pottery. He used gold paint to reference its past use in gold extraction.

"Its sheer size and beauty demanded a response, eventually being transformed into a symbol of rebirth through the addition of a stainless steel sphere - like the pearl in an oyster."

A love of birds led to a series of forged steel "shields" incised with images of native birds. When lit, the shadow image of the bird emerges on the gallery wall behind.

A steel "canopy" series also allows light to filter through the steel as light does through leaves in a forest.

"It's dappled light, filtering shadows."

Birds also feature in his latest small-scale works. Tarapunga shows a seabird in trouble, while Old Blue (2013), made of Irish elm and brass, was inspired by conservationist Don Merton's fight to save the black robin.

"My work now shows a more spiritual awareness."

He says his work over the decades may have changed, but is all linked.

"It's been a journey."

To see

"Green Green", Peter Nicholls. Fe29, St Clair, Dunedin, until October 1.