Christchurch sculptor wins Japanese competition

Christchurch sculptor Doug Neil has won the sixth Kurashiki Open Sculpture Competition and Exhibition.

Calling from Japan last Friday, he told Christchurch City Council International Relations Co-ordinator Barbara August that he was absolutely delighted with the win, which includes about NZ $100,000 in prize money. Doug returned to Christchurch yesterday.

Doug’s sculpture, which included 16 tonnes of granite and columns more than five metres high will be on permanent display in our Japanese sister city, Kurashiki.

This was the first time Christchurch sculptors had been invited to participate in the event.

To enter the competition, artists were asked to make a model of their proposed sculpture. From the models, five finalists were chosen and given about NZ $40,000 to produce their full sized sculptures and transport them to Japan.

Doug united three of Christchurch’s six sister cities ( Seattle, Adelaide and Kurashiki) in this project. Doug was born in Seattle, sourced the stone for the sculpture from Adelaide, brought it to Christchurch to be carved, then shipped it to Kurashiki for the competition.

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