Bob Jahnke

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. His heritage is Māori, Samoan and Pākehā and he affiliates with the iwi Ngāti 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. He was educated at Hato Pāora College.

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.

Career Stained glass doors of Rongomaraeroa marae at Te Papa by Bob JahnkeIn 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 and Shane Cotton. 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.

On his role of an educator of Māori artists he says: "For me personally this commitment is a cultural obligation." Jahnke is a Professor of Maori Visual Arts and PhD supervisor at Toioho ki Āpiti. File:Giant Spinning Top (26400687200).jpg

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

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, Jahnke was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, 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. 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". In 2023, Jahnke received an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate Award.

Personal Jahnke's wife is Professor Huia Tomlins-Jahnke.