Artist Profile

Don Driver

Don Driver was born in 1930 in Hastings, New Zealand and moved with his family to New Plymouth in 1943. He worked for many years as a dental technician and took art classes in the evenings. He took an active interest in magic saying " I was always interested in magic and it followed into my art works through the mystery of the objects and things as icons." By 1951, he was modelling in clay and exhibiting wood carvings. In 1952 he received a commission to carve the pew ends for St Mary's Anglican Chruch in New Plymouth and won a watercolour and oil painting award.
He exhibited again in 1953 in Auckland and in 1954/5 exhibited in Chrischurch at the Young New Zealand Artists' Exhibition in Christchurch. He exhibits sculptures at the Bishop Suter Art Gallery, Nelson in 1961 which he described as "my own creations with a feeling of primitive art or mythological creatures."
His first solo exhibition toured galleries in the North Island of New Zealand in 1963-64 and in 1965, he visited North America and begins a collection of sculptures from Asia. He worked on some major reliefs as public commissions.
In 1967, he exhibited at the Mildura Sculpture Triennial in Victoria, Australia (he also took part in 1970 and 1978)  and visited Sydney. His work, Magician, attracted attention with its assembled composition of mannequin, hands,  frames and a head which is made from a plastic watering can. He continued to exhibit at Barry Lett Galleries in Auckland and in 1969 took part in a group exhibition at the International Biennial, Tokyo. He began work at the Govett-Brewster Gallery, New Plymouth. 
In 1972 he received the Benson and Hedges Art Award for Painted Relief, using aluminium panels and canvas. He traveled to South East Asia. A retrospective exhibition at the Govett Brewster Gallery followed in 1973 and in 1974 showed a collection of small collages  at New Vision Gallery, Auckland in marked contrast to his increasingly large sculptural works.
By 1975, he had begun to work with found objects and materials rather than the panel reliefs and sculptures of previous years. Suffering a major stroke in 1976, he continued to work after learning again many basic motor skills such as using his right hand, and walking. Through out the late 1970s and 1980s Driver was involved in many exhibitions and awards, and in 1985 he travels to India. In 1986 he had a solo exhibition at the National Art Gallery in Wellington and continues to install major commissioned sculptures in New Zealand and Australia.
He exhibited for the second time at Chartwell Trust's Centre for Contemporary Art in Hamilton in 1988 and in 1992 was included in Headlands: Thinking through New Zealand Art at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Australia.  In 1994 he received a Queen Elizabeth 11 Arts Council International Study Grant and took up residency at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, Australia. He traveled again in 1998 to USA and Europe and a major catalogue of his work was published in 1999 in association with the exhibition With Spirit, Don Driver, a retrospective.
With reference to the catalogue in association with
With spirit, Don Driver a retrospective, Govett Brewster Gallery 1999, an exhibition supported by the Chartwell Trust and Creative New Zealand Toi Aotearoa.