Johnny Penisula

{{Infobox writer | name = Johnny Penisula | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|MNZM|size=100%}} | image = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1941|04|08}} | birth_place = Samoa | language = | alma_mater = | genre = Painting, sculpture | spouse = | awards = Senior Pacific Arts (Arts Pasifika Awards) | website = | death_date = {{death date and age|2023|05|14|1941|04|08|df=y}} | death_place = Invercargill, New Zealand }}

'''John Reuelu Penisula''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|MNZM}} (1941 - 2023), born '''Ioane Reuelu Penisula''', was a contemporary Samoan stone sculptor and painter who lived in New Zealand.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Johnny Penisula |url=https://www.tautai.org/on-our-radar/johnny-penisula |access-date=2024-10-10 |website=Tautai Pacific Arts Trust |language=en-NZ}}</ref>

Penisula was born in Samoa and began painting when he was 13 years old. He moved to New Zealand in 1962 and set up home in Invercargill. He studied art at night classes and began exhibiting as a painter in 1972. As a sculptor, he experimented with a diverse range of sculptural materials including steel, aluminium, fibreglass, bone, argillite, greenstone and limestone before turning to his preferred medium of stone.<ref name="odt.co.nz">{{cite news |url=http://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/arts/38059/southern-honours-john-reuelu-penisula |title=Southern honours-John Reuelu Penisula |date=31 December 2008 |work=Otago Daily Times |accessdate=8 October 2011}}</ref> His sculptures incorporate both traditional Polynesian and contemporary patterns, symbols that are significant in Pacific Islands history and culture.

==Exhibitions== His work is held in public and private collections, both in New Zealand and internationally, including a civic work in Invercargill's central Wachner Place commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Treaty of Waitangi. Penisula's work was part of ''Le Folauga: the past coming forward – Contemporary Pacific Art from Aotearoa New Zealand'',<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.lefolauga.co.nz/ |title=Le Folauga Exhibition |access-date=24 July 2009 |archive-date=29 April 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070429141620/http://www.lefolauga.co.nz/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> the first exhibition of contemporary Pacific art from New Zealand to be shown in a major fine arts museum in Asia. ''Le Folauga'' opened at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts in Taiwan from 13 December 2008 to 5 April 2009. Penisula was also part of the official New Zealand delegation of artists participating in the 10th Festival of Pacific Arts, held in Pago Pago, American Samoa in 2008.

Penisula said his creative inspiration comes from his Samoan heritage.<ref name="odt.co.nz"/>

==Awards and art residences== In 2002, Penisula received the Creative New Zealand Senior Pacific Arts award at the Arts Pasifika Awards in recognition of artistic excellence and contribution to the arts.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.creativenz.govt.nz/results-of-our-work/award-winners/arts-pasifika-awards|title=Arts Pasifika Awards|website=Creative New Zealand|access-date=1 December 2017}}</ref> In 2005, he was awarded the Cook Islands Artist in Residence by Creative New Zealand. In 2007, he was the recipient of the Macmillan Brown Pacific Artist in Residence at the University of Canterbury.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pacs.canterbury.ac.nz/programmes/artists.shtml |title=Artists in residence |publisher=University of Canterbury |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723145526/http://www.pacs.canterbury.ac.nz/programmes/artists.shtml |archive-date=23 July 2011}}</ref>

In the 2009 New Year Honours, Penisula was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to art, in particular sculpture.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/publications/new-year-honours-list-2009 | title=New Year honours list 2009 |date=31 December 2008 | publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet | accessdate=25 April 2020}}</ref>

==Death== Peninsula died in May 2023, in Invercargill, New Zealand.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.tautai.org/news/johnny-penisula | title=Johnny Penisula (1941-2023) | accessdate=17 May 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ioane PENISULA Obituary (2023) - Invercargill, Southland - The Southland Times |url=https://deaths.southlandtimes.co.nz/nz/obituaries/southland-times-nz/name/ioane-penisula-obituary?id=51926808 |access-date=2024-10-10 |website=Southland Times }}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Penisula, Johnny}} Category:Living people Category:Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit Category:Samoan artists Category:Samoan emigrants to New Zealand Category:21st-century New Zealand painters Category:21st-century New Zealand sculptors Category:21st-century New Zealand male artists Category:1955 births