Bob Jahnke Explained

Bob Jahnke
Birth Name:Robert Hans George Jahnke
Alma Mater:Massey University
Thesis Url:https://hdl.handle.net/10179%2F984
Thesis Year:2006
Thesis Title:He tataitanga ahua toi: the house that Riwai built, a continuum of Māori art
Workplaces:Massey University
Doctoral Advisor:Mason Durie[1]
Doctoral Students:Donna Campbell[2]

Robert Hans George Jahnke (born 1951) is a New Zealand artist and educator, well-known for his graphic and sculptural artwork. He is a professor at Massey University, founding Toioho ki Āpiti in 1991, the Māori visual arts degree programme in New Zealand.

Biography and education

Jahnke was born in 1951 in the Gisborne region and grew up in Waipiro Bay.[3] His heritage is Māori, Samoan and Pākehā and he affiliates with the iwi Ngati Porou through three hapū: Ngāi Taharora, Te Whānau a Iritekura, and Te Whānau a Rakairoa. He has German and Irish ancestry on his Pākehā side.[4] He was educated at Hato Paora College.[5]

At Ardmore Teachers' College in Papakura in 1970, Jahnke was formally taught painting, ceramics and art history and realised he wanted a career in the arts. However, he did not complete his teachers' college study. After that he worked in a furniture factory and in the evenings went to AIT to study life-drawing and design.

Jahnke studied industrial design at Elam in Auckland starting in 1972, and went on to complete two master's degrees: a Master of Fine Arts in graphic design from Elam; and a Master of Fine Arts in experimental animation from the California Institute of the Arts. He has a Doctor of Philosophy (Māori Studies) from Massey University, supervised by Professor Mason Durie and awarded in 2006. The title of his doctoral thesis is He tataitanga ahua toi: the house that Riwai built, a continuum of Māori art.[6]

Career

In 1991 under Professor Mason Durie's direction, Jahnke started Toioho ki Āpiti, School of Māori Art at Massey University in Palmerston North. This arts programme offered the first bachelor of Māori visual arts in New Zealand.[7] [8] Jahnke was one of the initial tutors along Kura Te Waru Rewiri and Shane Cotton.[9] [10] In developing the programme Jahnke describes changing the canons of "Euro-centric art education" for one that privileged a mātauranga Māori conceptual foundation. Māori Arts is within the School of Māori Studies alongside Te Reo Māori (Mäori Language), Taonga Tuku Iho (Heritage Aotearoa) and Kaupapa Māori (Policy and Development); because of this programme design arts students get cultural experience in a marae context as part of the programme.[11]

On his role of an educator of Māori artists he says: "For me personally this commitment is a cultural obligation." Postgraduate qualifications started at Toioho ki Āpiti in 1999 and since then the over 80 postgraduate graduates have had a big influence on contemporary Māori art in New Zealand.[12] Jahnke is a Professor of Maori Visual Arts and PhD supervisor at Toioho ki Āpiti.[13] Jahnke's artwork is usually political commenting on past, present and future colonisation and the impact of Christianity on Māori culture. The form of his artwork is varied but often sculpture. Recent work uses neon, mirrors and steel. Public artwork created includes the window design at the contemporary marae Rongomaraeroa in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, wall reliefs at the Wellington High Court and Giant Spinning Top (2003) in Wellington, and Nga Takerenui a Tamaki / Twin Hulls (2006) at the University of Auckland Tamaki Campus.[14]

Jahnke's artwork is held in the collections of The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the Auckland City Art Gallery.[15] [16]

Jahnke is involved with Matakura Māori Art Education Trust, a collective of "Māori art educationalists, writers, critics, historians and curators".[17] [18]

Jahnke is a trustee of the Māori arts trademark charitable trust Toi Iho, and was part of launching the Toi Iho trademark in 2002, which aims to highlight authentic Māori art and artists.[19] [20]

Honours and awards

In the 2017 New Year Honours, Jahnke was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to Māori art and education.[21] In 2018 and 2019 Massey University awarded him a research medal.[22] He won the paramount award at the 2019 Wallace Art Awards.[23] In 2020 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi and he was awarded a Te Waka Toi Award for "outstanding contribution to ngā toi Māori".[24] [25] In 2023, Jahnke received an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate Award.[26]

Personal

Jahnke's wife is Professor Huia Tomlins-Jahnke.

Notes and References

  1. He tataitanga ahua toi : the house that Riwai built, a continuum of Māori art . Massey University . 2006 . en . Jahnke, Robert Hans . George.
  2. Ngā kura a Hineteiwaiwa: The embodiment of Mana Wahine in Māori fibre Arts . The University of Waikato . 2019 . Doctoral . en . Donna . Campbell.
  3. Web site: Robert Jahnke. 12 September 2021. Auckland Art Gallery. en. 12 September 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210912105844/https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/explore-art-and-ideas/artist/1218/robert-jahnke. live.
  4. Web site: Robert (Bob) Jahnke, New Zealand sculptor, contemporary Maori artist, Palmerston North. live. 12 September 2021. Creative Giants. 12 September 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210912113506/http://www.creativegiants.co.nz/view/artist-index/robert-bob-jahnke.php.
  5. Web site: Professor Robert (Bob) Jahnke. 12 September 2021. Māori Television. 12 September 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210912115403/https://www.maoritelevision.com/mi/professor-robert-bob-jahnke. live.
  6. Jahnke . Robert . 2006 . Doctoral thesis . He tataitanga ahua toi : the house that Riwai built, a continuum of Māori art . Massey Research Online, Massey University . 10179/984 .
  7. Web site: Researchers and scholars elected to Academy. 12 September 2021. Royal Society Te Apārangi. 11 March 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210311073925/https://www.royalsociety.org.nz/news/researchers-and-scholars-elected-to-academy. live.
  8. Web site: Māori Visual Arts Toi Rauwhārangi College of Creative Arts Massey University. live. 18 September 2021. Toi Rauwhārangi, College of Creative Arts, Massey University. en. 18 September 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210918222410/https://creative.massey.ac.nz/study/maori-visual-arts/.
  9. Web site: Zealand. Massey University, New. 20 Years of Māori Art Celebrated - Massey University. 19 September 2021. www.massey.ac.nz. en-NZ. 19 September 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210919030907/https://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/about-massey/news/article.cfm?mnarticle_uuid=C7F74985-97B4-4024-19E2-6B16770B400B. live.
  10. Web site: 30 December 2015. Changing The Story: How do we understand contemporary indigenous art today?. live. 19 September 2021. Auckland Art Gallery. en. 19 September 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210919030905/https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/article/changing-the-story-how-do-we-understand-contemporary-indigenous-art-today-.
  11. Jahnke. Robert. 2006. Māori Visual Culture on the Run. Critical Perspectives on Communication, Cultural & Policy Studies. 25.
  12. Web site: ATA. 12 September 2021. PAULNACHE. en-US. 12 September 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210912113506/https://www.paulnache.com/ata. live.
  13. Web site: The Sculptures. live. 18 September 2021. Wellington Sculpture Trust. 20 January 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220120135835/https://www.sculpture.org.nz/the-sculptures/spinning-top.
  14. Web site: History - March 2017. live. 18 September 2021. New Zealand Outdoor Art. 19 January 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220119171436/http://outdoorart.nz/History/2017-09.html.
  15. Web site: 65th Anniversary Art Auction. live. 18 September 2021. Fulbright. en. 18 September 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210918230250/https://www.fulbright.org.nz/events/artauction/.
  16. Web site: Collections Online. live. 19 September 2021. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. 20 September 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210920212433/https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/1257634.
  17. Web site: NEW YEAR HONOURS 2017 – CITATIONS FOR OFFICERS OF THE NEW ZEALAND ORDER OF MERIT. live. 12 September 2021. Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. en-NZ. 4 October 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20211004224150/https://dpmc.govt.nz/new-year-honours-2017-citations-officers-new-zealand-order-merit.
  18. Web site: Creative Staff. live. 12 September 2021. Massey University. 12 September 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210912115902/https://creativestaff.massey.ac.nz/school-of-art-faculty-and-staff/professor-robert-jahnke.
  19. Web site: People. live. 18 September 2021. Toi Iho. en-US. 18 September 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210918215721/http://www.toiiho.co.nz/people/.
  20. Web site: Giving authenticity and quality to Māori arts. live. 18 September 2021. Toi Iho. en-US. 18 September 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210918215722/http://www.toiiho.co.nz/.
  21. Web site: New Year honours list 2017 . 31 December 2016 . Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet . 13 September 2021 . 28 May 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210528081828/https://dpmc.govt.nz/publications/new-year-honours-list-2017 . live .
  22. Web site: Prof Bob Jahnke - Professor of Maori Visual Arts - Massey University. live. 18 September 2021. Massey University, New Zealand. en-NZ. 18 September 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210918220241/https://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/expertise/profile.cfm?stref=866130.
  23. Web site: Amery. Mark. 3 October 2019. Things I Learned at Art School: Bob Jahnke. 12 September 2021. The Spinoff. 12 September 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210912122014/https://thespinoff.co.nz/art/03-10-2019/things-i-learned-at-art-school-bob-jahnke/. live.
  24. Web site: View our current Fellows . Royal Society Te Apārangi . 13 September 2021 . 7 October 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211007100927/https://www.royalsociety.org.nz/who-we-are/our-people/our-fellows/view-our-fellows/ . live .
  25. Web site: Excellence celebrated in the 2020 Te Waka Toi Awards Creative New Zealand. live. 19 September 2021. Creative New Zealand. 19 September 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210919020426/https://www.creativenz.govt.nz/news/excellence-celebrated-in-the-2020-te-waka-toi-awards.
  26. News: Nine outstanding NZ artists honoured at Arts Foundation Laureate Awards . André . Chumko . 1 September 2023 . . 2 September 2023.

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