Ria Bancroft

Ria Bancroft (1907 – 8 March 1993) was a British-New Zealand artist born in England. She created the Tabernacle Screen Doors for Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Christchurch and her works are held in several New Zealand art galleries.

Background Born in England in 1907, as an adult she moved to Canada to work as a television designer and display artist. She moved Italy in the 1960s to study art, receiving a Diploma from the Academy of Florence. She moved to New Zealand in 1962, joining her daughter Peb Simmons in Christchurch. Bancroft died on 8 March 1993 in Christchurch, New Zealand. in 1963, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, and 1977. In 1964 she was invited to join the New Zealand Society of Sculptors.

After receiving recognition for her work, Bancroft became increasingly involved in art education and delivered a number of talks and lectures. In 1971 she accepted a position as art teacher at Xavier College, a boys' High School. In 1974 she resigned the position to focus on her art. A biography of her life, No Ordinary Woman: A Biography of Ria Bancroft, was written by her daughter Peb Simmons and published in 1997.

Her work is held in the collection of the Suter Te Aratoi O Whakatū gallery and Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu.

Public works Bancroft received many public commissions in New Zealand including: Horizon – her first major commission, for the Christchurch City Council in 1965, it incorporated in the design of the new 'Horizon' restaurant at Christchurch International Airport Thy Kingdom Come – commissioned for the Holy Cross Chapel in Christchurch in the 1970s

In the 1980s she assisted in the refurbishment of St Mary’s Catholic church in New Brighton (where she attended) with sculptor Bing Dawe. In addition to work on the altar, lectern, font, and sanctuary, Bancroft created and gifted a sculpture of the Virgin Mary to the church.