Writer and Film Maker
Westlaker 1970-1974

​Sculptures inspired by two Poems: ‘Raindrops’ and ‘I’ll Return’.  
These two haiku are from the limited-edition booklet, Invisible Sunrise, published by Puriri Press in 2010. 

Richard von Sturmer is a New Zealand writer and film maker.  He was born on Auckland’s North Shore in 1957. Seven collections of his writing have been published: We Xerox Your Zebras (Modern House, 1988), A Network of Dissolving Threads (Auckland University Press, 1991), Suchness: Zen Poetry and Prose (HeadworX, 2005), On the Eve of Never Departing (Titus Books, 2009), Book of Equanimity Verses (Puriri Press, 2013), This Explains Everything (Atuanui Press, 2016) and Postcard Stories (Titus Books, 2019).  

Richard is also well-known for writing the lyrics to There is No Depression in New Zealand, performed by Blam Blam Blam, which became the country’s alternate national anthem.  

In the 1980s he and his partner, Amala Wrightson, toured New Zealand and Australia as the performing duo, The Humanimals. In 2020 he was the University of Waikato’s writer-in-residence. In 2022 he worked with filmmaker and musician Gabriel White as the Floral Clocks. They recorded three albums: Desert Fire (2014), A Beautiful Shade of Blue (2017) and Gas Giant (2019). 

You can find more information about Richard von Sturmer by clicking here.

Information about the sculptor

Jeff Thomson was born and raised in Castor Bay, Auckland.  He attended Westlake Boys High School from 1971 – 1975 and went on to study at the Elam School of Art attached to the University of Auckland.  Although he studied painting and printmaking, he made his move to become a fulltime sculptor in 1986 with a particular focus in using corrugated iron.  

Jeff’s work often appears as large-scale sculptures of corrugated iron animals, birds, cars, and people, and include public works and commissions installed in towns and cities throughout New Zealand.  Ten of his sculptures form part of Allan Gibb’s Kaipara Sculpture Park, known as “The Farm”. To date, Jeff has participated in nine of the “Sculpture on the Gulf” biennial exhibitions held on Waiheke Island. 

Jeff has exhibited in New Zealand, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, and the US and has works held by the Heide Museum of Modern Art, Museum of New Zealand and a further two major public national galleries.  He is recognised as one of New Zealand’s leading and most original contemporary artists today.   

Jeff was instrumental in designing and constructing the archway (waharoa) that takes pride of place at the main school entrance.  In 2017, when it was installed, the school began the tradition of welcoming Year 9 students and farewelling graduating Year 13 students as they walked beneath the arch.

You can read more about Jeff and his career here: https://bit.ly/3oDCrlD 

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