Chris Wilkie is known for his bold murals of local faces, nature and history.
Renowned Northland artist Chris Wilkie clearly remembers the moment he realised he was destined to become an artist.
It was his first day of primary school, at the tender age of five, when he filled his blank workbook with drawings, doodles, and lettering.
“An old teacher took exception and strapped my hands,” he said.
“That stuck in my mind that I did art early on, because I was caned for it.
“I’ve always been a gun at art. Kids would come up to me and ooh and ahh over my drawings – that was my thing.
“It’s born in me, and it’s right through my whakapapa. My dad, as a fitter and turner, could draw like a god.”
By the late 70s, Wilkie had completed an art degree at the University of Auckland and later a master’s degree at Whitecliff College of Art and Design.
Now in his 60s, Wilkie has had a diverse career as an award-winning artist and teacher.
After exhibiting his work across New Zealand, including many times in Auckland, Wellington, Whangārei, and Fiordland, he recently opened a new art gallery in the Hokianga.
Named Wilkie Fine Arts, the Rāwene gallery will showcase his art along with others.
He wants to get people thinking about the issues running through his paintings and murals: land loss, the environment, and history.
“I wanted to take control of it [exhibitions] myself and add to the culture of the Hokianga,” he said.
“I’ve lived and worked here in Northland for about 50 years so it was about giving back.”
Wilkie has gone to all corners of New Zealand to capture his subjects.
He spent a summer in the Murchison Mountains in Fiordland National Park, camping in a DoC hut, to paint the rare takahē.
In his “dreamy realism” style, he has depicted maunga and pā sites of the Mid North and has become increasingly concerned with battles between Māori and early European settlers.
For one exhibition he bought a boat to visit places the Endeavour did during Captain Cook’s voyage of discovery.
Ultimately, Wilkie wants to capture what he calls “New Zealand-ness”.
“I’m interested in being here whether that’s ecology or history.
“I like to think my work has a narrative in it and thinks about the issues in our communities.
“I want people to think of the bigger issues ... how our species are endangered, and how our people have had fights then have come together.”
Wilkie is also known for creating murals and public works, leaving his mark on walls and buildings from the Far North to Gore.
They began with the Hukerenui War Memorial Hall mural, a large work featuring settler families commissioned by Jack Morgan, when he was 26.
Many more followed, including his iconic A & P buildings mural in Whangārei and a dozen local Kaikohe identities painted larger than life at Marino Place.
Word of Wilkie’s talents spread, and he was invited to paint murals on the Totara North museum, inspired by family photos, stories, and historical artefacts.
To Wilkie, art has always mattered more than money.
“There’s not much money in the arts, sometimes I get paid sometimes I don’t.
“I thought bugger it; I’ll leave a heritage.
“I’ll leave things sprinkled around to make communities better and leave memories of me.”
Even creatives have bills to pay, so alongside his paintings, Wilkie has taught art and art history in Northland schools.
His teaching career has spanned more than 30 years, mainly at Northland College in Kaikohe, with stints at Bay of Islands College, Whangārei Boys’ High School and Kerikeri High School.
Wilkie’s students were inspired to collaborate on his Kaikohe mural project known as the Kaikohe Wall of Fame.
Thirty-five great Northlanders and Ngāpuhi, including Māori Battalion commander Sir James Henare, All Black Buck Shelford and poet Hone Tuwhare, were immortalised in the paintings to instil pride in the Mid North town.
Wilkie gave up his weekends and school holidays for the project which was backed by the Kaikohe Business Association.
Several years earlier, Wilkie’s students at Fiordland College created the Lighthouse Mural in Te Anau which won the Resenes Community Mural award.
Wilkie is currently exhibiting 14 of his paintings at the Hihiaua Cultural Centre in Whangārei.
Called Hikoi – Walk with Me, the exhibition is a series about the Ruapekapeka battle site and runs until mid-May.
Jenny Ling is a senior journalist at the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering human interest stories, along with finance, roading, and social issues.