Ian George

Ian David George (1952–2016) was a New Zealand-born Cook Islands senior painter, carver, educator, and curator of Atiu and Rarotonga descent.

George was a founding member of the Cook Island Arts Association and a former chairperson of the Tautai Pacific Arts Trust, In 1988, George relocated to Rarotonga to explore his family's heritage in the Cook Islands and to re-establish the art department at Tereora College, a national college. George later returned to New Zealand in 1995 to oversee the art department at Hillary College.

In 1998, he curated Paringa Ou, the first major exhibition of contemporary art by Cook Island artists residing in New Zealand, featuring artists such as Ani O'Neill, Sylvia Marsters, Mahiriki Tangaroa, Michel Tuffery, Jim Vivieaere, Ian George, and Kay George. The exhibition travelled to the National Museum in Fiji, and Cook Islands National Museum, as well as Fisher Gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. The exhibition was sponsored by the New Zealand High Commission.

In 2002, George graduated with Master of Fine Arts from Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, and in the same year, George returned permanently to Rarotonga to be a Visual Arts Adviser for the Cook Islands Ministry of Education and a lecturer at the Cook Islands Teachers College.

George and his wife Kay George, also a notable artist herself, ran an art gallery named The Art Studio, (now Beluga Cafe), in Arorangi. their daughter Mīria George, is a New Zealand writer, producer and director.

Director Robert George dedicated a full-length feature documentary 'Aka'ōu: Tātatau in the Cook Islands to his father Ian George, about a heavily tattooed Englishman living in Rarotonga named Croc Coulter.

George died peacefully surrounded by his family in Rotorua, New Zealand, where he was also born. Auckland Council, University of the South Pacific, Arts House Trust, Pacific Business Trust, and Te Vakaroa Villas.

Selected exhibitions 1995: Pacific Graffiti, Uxbridge Community Centre, Auckland New Zealand 2023: Ta Mataora, Bergman Gallery, Rarotonga, Cook Islands