page_title: Paratene Matchitt
section_title: Artist
hierarchical_section_title: Paratene Matchitt / Artist
caption_attribution_description: English: City to Sea Bridge viewed from across the water with Michael Fowler Centre and Wellington Town Hall in background.
context_page_description: Paratene Matchitt is a New Zealand sculptor and painter. He is known for combining traditional Māori art forms with those of modernist art. His work also references events from New Zealand history, particularly the Māori prophetic movements of the nineteenth century and most specifically Te Kooti.
context_section_description: Matchitt's art formation began with helping his father and grandfather on his workshop at Edgecumbe. He went to the Auckland Teachers' Training College in 1955 and 1956. After graduating as a teacher, he took a Dunedin-based course in teaching arts and crafts in schools. In 1957, he began his career as arts and craft adviser for the South Auckland Education Board. He was one of the artists who pursued Māori Arts and Crafts courses at Ruatoria with Pine Taiapa. In  November 1964, Matchitt was exhibited with other major Māori artists (Clive Arlidge and Fred Graham) in Hamilton. At the time of the Te Pakanga commission (one of his greatest bodies of work) in 1974, Matchitt was an Arts Advisory Officer in South Auckland. Matchitt is best known for his large-scale public sculpture such as the City to Sea Bridge in Wellington(1993) and Auckland’s Aotea Centre (1989).
  Matchitt's 'Ringatu III' in Alison Park on Waiheke Island had to be restored at the cost of $8000 after being hit by taggers.
caption: City to Sea Bridge with Michael Fowler Centre (left) and Wellington Town Hall (right) in background
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