A drop-in wood carving demonstration

Join celebrated carver Stephen Myhre this Saturday as he works on finishing a waka huia (treasure box). This work is documented in his book Wood Carving – Tools, Techniques and Concepts which will be displayed in Pātaka’s Toi Store.

Stephen Myhre's ancestry is Norwegian and French on his father's side, and Danish, Scottish and English on his mother's side. He was born in Lower Hutt, New Zealand in 1950.

Myhre's father taught him the basic wood working tools and he was used to making things from a young age. He started woodcarving in 1974 and initially made furniture out of recycled native wood with the carving being something on the side. An early meeting with Owen Mapp in 1975 turned Myhre on to bone carving. The carving world of Māori has always fascinated him, and was his starting point, particularly the bone and stone.

As a carver Myhre has also been exposed to the world of hard stone carving, through people like Donn Salt, and John Edgar. He started to work hard stone realising that it was the logical step from the bone.

Many countries, places and cultures have influenced Myhre's work. In Papua New Guinea he spent months studying the carving culture; Los Angeles for the Olympic Games Arts festival.

Marrying Mary-Anne Crompton started Myhre's life as a following partner in the New Zealand diplomatic service. They lived in The Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and then Russia in 1994. Moscow was a very rewarding posting for tools, material, and techniques, as there was a lot of good quality diamond cutting gear available there as well as very high quality jade and other semi-precious stones. He also learned a lot about the techniques of cutting and polishing there. 2004 they moved to Geneva, Switzerland, returning to NZ in 2009. Myhre now lives at Paraparaumu Beach.