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 of Māori visual arts at

Massey University Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...

Biography and education

Jahnke was born in 1951 in the

Gisborne region Gisborne District or the Gisborne Region (Māori: ''Te Tairāwhiti'' or ''Te Tai Rāwhiti'') is a local government area of northeastern New Zealand. It is governed by Gisborne District Council, a unitary authority (with the combined powers of ...

and grew up in

Waipiro Bay Waipiro Bay is a small coastal settlement in the Gisborne District on the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The name also refers to the bay that the settlement is built on. It was named Waipiro by Chief Paoa, which translates literal ...

. His heritage is Māori, Samoan and

Pākehā Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non-Māori New Ze ...

and he affiliates with the

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

Ngati Porou ''Ngati'' is a 1987 New Zealand feature film directed by Barry Barclay, written by Tama Poata and produced by John O'Shea. Production ''Ngati'' is of historical and cultural significance in New Zealand as it is the first feature film written an ...

through three

hapū In Māori and New Zealand English, a ' ("subtribe", or "clan") functions as "the basic political unit within Māori society". A Māori person can belong to or have links to many hapū. Historically, each hapū had its own chief and normally opera ...

: Ngāi Taharora, Te Whānau a Iritekura, and Te Whānau a Rakairoa. He has German ancestry on his Pākehā side. He was educated at

Hato Paora College Hato Paora College is a Catholic, Māori Boys' Boarding school located near Cheltenham, Feilding, New Zealand. It was founded in 1947 under the leadership of Marist Priest, Isaac J Gupwell. It is the largest Boys' Maori Boarding Secondary School ...

. At Ardmore Teachers' College in

Papakura Papakura is a southern suburb of Auckland, in northern New Zealand. It is located on the shores of the Pahurehure Inlet, approximately 32 kilometres south of the Auckland CBD. It is under the authority of the Auckland Council. Papakura is a M� ...

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 An ait (, like ''eight'') or eyot () is a small island. It is especially used to refer to river islands found on the River Thames and its tributaries in England. Aits are typically formed by the deposit of sediment in the water, which accumu ...

to study life-drawing and design. Jahnke studied industrial design at

Elam Elam (; Linear Elamite: ''hatamti''; Cuneiform Elamite: ; Sumerian: ; Akkadian: ; he, עֵילָם ''ʿēlām''; peo, 𐎢𐎺𐎩 ''hūja'') was an ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stretc ...

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 The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

. 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''.

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. Jahnke was one of the initial tutors along

Kura Te Waru Rewiri Kura Te Waru Rewiri (born 1950) is a New Zealand artist, academic and educator. Art historian Deidre Brown described her as "one of Aotearoa, New Zealand's most celebrated Māori women artists." Background and education Te Waru Rewiri is the ...

and

Shane Cotton Shane William Cotton (born 3 October 1964) is a New Zealand painter whose work explores biculturalism, colonialism, cultural identity, Māori spirituality, and life and death. Life Cotton was born in Upper Hutt with Ngāpuhi iwi affiliations ...

. 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 A ' (in New Zealand Māori, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian), ' (in Tongan), ' (in Marquesan) or ' (in Samoan) is a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian societies. In all these languages, the term a ...

context as part of the programme. 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. Jahnke is a Professor of Maori Visual Arts and PhD supervisor at Toioho ki Āpiti. Giant Spinning Top (26400687200)

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 The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

, wall reliefs at the Wellington High Court and ''Giant Spinning Top'' (2003) in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, and ''Nga Takerenui a Tamaki / Twin Hulls'' (2006) at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

Tamaki Campus. Jahnke's artwork is held in the collections of The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the

Auckland City Art Gallery Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is the principal public gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It has the most extensive collection of national and international art in New Zealand and frequently hosts travelling international exhibitions. Set be ...

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

Honours and awards

In the

2017 New Year Honours The 2017 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours were awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

, Jahnke was appointed an

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...

, for services to Māori art and education. In 2018 and 2019 Massey University awarded him a research medal. He won the paramount award at the 2019

Wallace Art Awards The annual Wallace Art Awards are the largest and longest-running art awards of their type in New Zealand. They were established by James Wallace in 1992. Awards are made for contemporary painting, sculpture and photography and are run by the J ...

. In 2020 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society Te Apārangi The Royal Society Te Apārangi (in full, Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi) is an independent, statutory not-for-profit body in New Zealand providing funding and policy advice in the fields of sciences and the humanities. History The R ...

and he was awarded a Te Waka Toi Award for "outstanding contribution to ngā toi Māori".

Personal

Jahnke's wife is Professor Huia Tomlins-Jahnke.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jahnke, Robert 1951 births Living people California Institute of the Arts alumni Massey University alumni Academic staff of Massey University New Zealand Māori artists Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit Ngāti Porou people Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand New Zealand people of Samoan descent People educated at Hato Paora College Elam Art School alumni New Zealand people of German descent 20th-century New Zealand artists 20th-century New Zealand male artists 21st-century New Zealand artists 21st-century New Zealand male artists