John Bevan Ford

John Bevan Ford (18 April 1930 – 16 September 2005) was a New Zealand Māori artist and educator who started exhibiting in 1966. He is a leading figure in contemporary Māori art with art held in all large public collections of New Zealand. In 2005 Ford received the Creative New Zealand Te Waka Toi Kingi Ihaka Award.

Early life and education Ford was born in 1930 in Christchurch, New Zealand. He was Māori and affiliated to the Ngāti Raukawa tribe. He grew up in Christchurch although went to Wellington in his teenage years. After Wellington he was selected to go Dunedin Teachers' College to specialise in arts. Other Māori artists who were also district advisors included Cliff Whiting, Cath Brown, Kāterina Mataira, Sandy Adsett, Ralph Hotere, Paratene Matchitt, Fred Graham (sculptor), Muru Walters, and Marilyn Webb.

He moved to Palmerston North and taught at Massey University, first in the University Extension Department on the adult education art courses. In 1984 he took a lecturer position in Māori studies. He developed two Māori art papers, one on 'traditional' Māori art and the other on 'contemporary' Māori art. From these papers his successor Bob Jahnke established the Massey University's Māori visual arts programme Toioho ki Āpiti, the first indigenous four-year fine arts degree programme anywhere in the world.

In 1988 Ford retired from teaching and academia to focus on his art. Notable elements in his work are cloaks floating above significant landforms and pacific rim works where symbols from indigenous pacific rim countries are laid out against outlines of the land. His use and research of kōwhaiwhai puts him alongside other contemporary Māori artists who also explored kōwhaiwhai in their art including Paratene Matchitt, John Hovell and Sandy Adsett. Pine Taiapa was someone who taught Ford in this area. Cloaks are used by Ford in many of his artworks. This represents, 'ancestral lineage as well as sacred, collective and personal history...'.

Notable carvings by Ford are the Gateway at Ōwae Marae, Waitara and the Meeting House, Te Aroha o Aohanga in Wairarapa.

Ford designed a logo and artwork that was incorporated into the Palmerston North City Library.

In the Raglan exhibition catalogue of Māori Artists of the South Pacific (1984) Ford said: "Even when not used directly, the proven symbols of the past provide models by which new symbols may be judged." The Ethnological Museum of Berlin The Linden Museum The Fries Scheepvaart Museum The National Gallery of Australia The Auckland Art Gallery John Ford, solo exhibition, Te Manawatū Art Gallery, Palmerston North (1986) Whatu Aho Rua, Sergeant Gallery, Whanganui (1989)

Honours and awards John Bevan Ford was awarded the Creative New Zealand Te Waka Toi Kingi Ihaka Award (2005) in acknowledgement of his leadership and outstanding contributions to Māori art.