Christchurch sculptor Neil Dawson will discuss the images and dialogue surrounding his large-scale public works around the world, including the 12m-high conical statue in the centre of his home town.
The sculptor launched his civic space career with Echo, a suspended wire outline of a doorway and steps, in the Christchurch Arts Centre in 1981.
The 62-year-old was commissioned to sculpt Feathers and Skies in 2000 for Stadium Australia and unveiled his Bomber Command war memorial in Canberra, in 2005.
He is represented in Queenstown by the exhibition "Five Years".
A dozen of his trademark powder-coated or painted steel sculptures feature in the retrospective, his first exhibition in the resort since 2008.
His works range in price from $4000 to $21,000.
Dawson will be joined by Auckland cast glass artist Christine Cathie at the preview night.
A graphic artist turned sculptor, Cathie has been a four-time finalist in the Australasian Ranamok Glass Prize since 2002.
The 55-year-old artist was selected for the Southern Exposure exhibition, in Denmark in 2004, and the touring 2005 Glass Invitational NZ exhibition.
The Wellington-born sculptor reveals her exhibition "Amorphisms", a collection of three-dimensional curving, folding and wavering forms of cast glass consisting of five new pieces in a series of the same name as the show and two from the "Tendril" series.
Her works range in price from $3500 to $7500.
The preview of "Five Years" and "Amorphisms" begins at the Church Lane gallery on Friday at 5.30pm.
Dawson is expected to give his presentation at about 6pm and Cathie will talk about 6.45pm.
