Nick Dryden
Nick Dryden was born in Dunedin to a Greek war bride and an Irish/Scots father. Nick initially pursued a fishing career that took him to the Chatham Islands and around the Pacific, including fisheries aid work in Niue.
Seduced by the emerging New Zealand film industry in the early 1980s, Nick went on to work in a number of film, television, theatre, opera and ballet productions as a set builder, model maker and production designer. This period rekindled his passion for working in three dimensions and he studied sculpture privately. For the last 13 years he has been creating sculpture in a wide variety of media including stone, wood, copper, marble, bronze, lead, acrylic, water and fire.
In 1998-1999 he spent nine months carving marble at Dellatolas Marble Sculpture Studio in Tinos, Greece, fulfilling a childhood dream inspired by his great grandfather who had been a marble carver on Samos.
Since returning to New Zealand he has concentrated on copper, bronze, marble and steel. In 2001 he participated in three sculpture symposia in Wellington, Sicily, and the first International Sculpture Symposium in Brazil.
Working from his Island Bay studio he has exhibited extensively and produced many commissioned works which are held in public and private collections in New Zealand and overseas.
A SELECTION SCULPTURE EXHIBITIONS AND COMMISSIONS
2008 Summer Sculpture Show. South Coast Gallery. Wellington
2007 Shags. Co-exhibitor with Michael Smither. Williams Gallery, Petone
2006-2007 Summer Sculpture Show. South Coast Gallery. Wellington
2006 Kelp Cows. Michael McCormack Studio Gallery. Wellington
2006 China Plas 2006. Shanghai, China (3 multi-media sculptures)
2006 Letting Go. Birds Nest Studio. Kuaotunu, Coromandel (Group Show)
2005 Fifty Stones. Old St. Pauls. Wellington
2005 Olympiakos. Birds Nest Studio. Kuaotunu, Coromandel (Group Show)
2004 Ecotrap Kelp Sculpture Installation. Michael McCormack Studio Gallery
2004 Windeaters I – V. Birds Nest Studio. Kuaotunu, Coromandel (Group Show)
2003 Windeaters I – V. Te Raekaihau point. Wellington
2003 When Seven Worlds Collide. Bashford Gallery. Auckland (Group Show)
2003 Classical Coral Rhythms. Birds Nest Studio. Kuaotunu, Coromandel
2002 Urban Madonnas. Birds Nest Studio. Kuaotunu, Coromandel (Group Show)
2001-2002 Copper Shags. Kura Ethnic Art Gallery. Taupo and Wellington
2001 The Big Apple–Once Bitten. Dellatolas Sculpture Studio. Tinos, Greece (commission)
2001 Albatross. United States. (commission)
2001 Karearea. Kura Ethnic Art Gallery. Wellington
2000 Pukekos on the Road. Sculptor’s Home Studio. Wellington
2000 Urban Madonna. Kura Ethnic Art Gallery. Taupo and Wellington
2000 Pacific Madonna, Precious Vessels. Nathan Homestead. Manukau City (participant)
2000 - Bronze Spiral (ongoing). Annual Award for the Marine Sciences Society
1999 Mikinui. Nathan Homestead Vessels and Sculpture. Manukau City (participant)
1999 Zen Water Feature. Private Commission. Wellington
1999 Marble. Dellatolas Sculpture Studio. Tinos, Greece (Solo)
1998 Bronze Figures. Settlement Gallery. Wellington
1998 Flaming Bird. International Festival of the Arts (Dance Production)
AWARDS
2001 Suburban Madonna. Catholic Art Award (Highly Commended). Auckland
1999 Petros and Petra. Wallace Art Awards (Finalist)
1999 Pukeko. Style Pasifika, Wearable Art Awards (Winner with Suzanne Tamaki)
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