# Johnny Penisula > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Johnny_Penisula > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Johnny_Penisula.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Penisula > Source revision: 1353431100 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|New Zealand artist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}} {{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](/source/Samoa) | language = | alma_mater = | genre = Painting, sculpture | spouse = | awards = Senior Pacific Arts ([Arts Pasifika Awards](/source/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](/source/Samoans) stone sculptor and painter who lived in New Zealand.{{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}} Penisula was born in [Samoa](/source/Samoa) and began painting when he was 13 years old. He moved to New Zealand in 1962 and set up home in [Invercargill](/source/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.{{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](/source/Otago_Daily_Times) |accessdate=8 October 2011}} His sculptures incorporate both traditional [Polynesian](/source/Polynesian_culture) and contemporary patterns, symbols that are significant in [Pacific Islands](/source/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](/source/Treaty_of_Waitangi). Penisula's work was part of ''Le Folauga: the past coming forward – Contemporary Pacific Art from Aotearoa New Zealand'',{{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 }} 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](/source/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](/source/Festival_of_Pacific_Arts), held in [Pago Pago](/source/Pago_Pago), [American Samoa](/source/American_Samoa) in 2008. Penisula said his creative inspiration comes from his Samoan heritage. ==Awards and art residences== In 2002, Penisula received the [Creative New Zealand](/source/Creative_New_Zealand) Senior Pacific Arts award at the [Arts Pasifika Awards](/source/Arts_Pasifika_Awards) in recognition of artistic excellence and contribution to the arts.{{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}} In 2005, he was awarded the [Cook Islands](/source/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](/source/University_of_Canterbury).{{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}} In the [2009 New Year Honours](/source/2009_New_Year_Honours_(New_Zealand)), Penisula was appointed a [Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit](/source/Member_of_the_New_Zealand_Order_of_Merit), for services to art, in particular sculpture.{{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}} ==Death== Peninsula died in May 2023, in Invercargill, New Zealand.{{cite web | url=https://www.tautai.org/news/johnny-penisula | title=Johnny Penisula (1941-2023) | accessdate=17 May 2023}}{{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](/source/Southland_Times) }} ==References== {{Reflist}} {{authority control}} {{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 --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Johnny Penisula](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Penisula) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Penisula?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.