The Queen’s Birthday Honours list includes a renowned Central Otago artist who has been recognised for his services to art.

Queens Birthday honours recognise a lifetime of achievement. On the list are a wide range of people who serve their communities, recognising those who have achieved something special.  

Significantly in this year’s honours list, the nation-building qualities of the creative arts have been highly valued. 

Grahame Sydney received the honour of Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to painting in the New Year’s Honours, back in 2004. Now in 2021, he has been made a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his wider services to art.

Grahame has an art career spanning five decades, across art mediums including oil painting, watercolour, egg tempera, lithographs, etching and photography.

He graduated from the University of Otago with a degree in English and Geography, and had an early career as a secondary school teacher. After spending two years in London and Europe, in 1974 Grahame began his career as an artist.

Grahame is probably best known for his landscapes of Central Otago, which all carry that profound sense of the landscapes we know so well. 

His subject matter focuses largely on the sparse elements of human impact on Otago's empty landscapes and the loneliness of individuals in this remote setting.

His works are represented in all of Aotearoa New Zealand’s major galleries and in private collections both nationally and internationally. 

Grahame’s exhibitions regularly attract record numbers of people. In 1999, his ‘Regions of the Heart: 25-year retrospective’ toured New Zealand’s public galleries for two years, setting record public attendances. 

Tens of thousands of people saw his ‘Down South – Recent Paintings’ exhibit at Porirua’s Pataka Art and Museum Gallery in 2011. His photography has been published in two books, ‘White Silence’ and ‘Grahame Sydney’s Central Otago’. 

His works are the subjects of several other books including ‘Grahame Sydney Paintings 1974-2014’ and his own publications have included ‘Promised Land: From Dunedin to the Dunstan Goldfields’ (2009). 

Grahame was a driving force behind the creation of the Henderson House Artists in Residence Programme in Alexandra and he is chair of the Henderson Arts Trust. 

However, Grahame has not only helped to promote and expand the arts, he has also contributed to the people and environment of Central Otago through his environmental efforts.

Grahame has advocated on various environmental issues, including the successful ‘Save Central’ campaign, and he was a founding member of the Central Otago Wilding Conifer Control Group.

Image The Central App archives