Greer Twiss
b. 1937
Also known as:
- Greer Lascelles Twiss
3 Artworks
Greer Twiss was born in Auckland and studied at the University of Auckland, Elam School of Fine Ats, graduating with a Diploma of Fine Arts in 1960.
In 1965 he was awarded a QEII Arts Council Travel Grant that enabled him to travel to Britain and Europe where he studied the lost-wax process. Bronze casting had seldom been undertaken by artists in Aotearoa when Greer began, and that necessitated setting up his own foundry. He is best known for the tactile bronzes that resulted from this method.
He returned to the University of Auckland as a Lecturer in 1966, becoming the Head of Sculpture in 1974. He retired from this position in 1998
Twiss also uses other materials in his sculptures including lead, sheet galvanised iron, and fibreglass.
He was made an ONZM for Sculpture in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2002 and received an Arts Foundation Icon Award in 2011. His sculpture is included in numerous public and private collections, both locally and internationally, and features in publications on New Zealand art and sculpture. A major monograph was published on Twiss by Ron Sang in 2014.
See also:
Greer Twiss, ‘Karangahape Rocks’ (1967-69), Symonds Street Cemetery West, CBD, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
Images: Bronwyn Holloway-Smith, Public Art Heritage Aotearoa New Zealand, 2021
