STUDIO DIBBLE Pathways Tributes &
20 Sept - 13 Oct 2025
Dialogue
Referencing
of Two Huia
DIBBLE STUDIO TRIBUTES AND PATHWAYS
Conceived by Paul and Fran Dibble in 2012, the Dibble Studio was founded in 2013 with the release of a small suite of applied artworks.
This marked the begining of Dibble Studio, which now - nearly two years after Paul Dibble’s death - is having its inaugural exhibition. It should be noted that Dibble Studio is staffed by the same technicians and all foundry activity is still overseen by Fran Dibble. Dibble Studio remains as before - and Paul remains in spirit.
Referencing Dialogue of Two Huia is a major and outstanding work by any criteria. Based on a model released in 2022, it brings together two iconic symbols of Aotearoa New Zealand: a pair of huia birds and a kōwhai flower, its pendulous, skirt-like petals flowing from a sepal cap in a form that is both delicate and suggestive. Collectively
Aotearoa Column
Falcon on a Native Plinth
these elements form a poetic metaphor of absence, tenderness and beauty. Using exaggerated scale as an emphatic device, an acutely New Zealand vernacular emerges imbued with powerful symbolism.
In direct contrast, the narratives of A Move into the City and Healing a Busy World acknowledge the return of native birds into the built environments of our cities. In both works we see Dibble’s trademark
use of flattened (false) volume, the parable of building outlines and modern architecture appearing as if a stairway, interspersed by rectangular windows filled with light and hope.
In the latter work, we see for the first time a new rich green patina and the emblematic, symbolic, sticks of healing kawakawa likewise reclaiming the city. Plural metaphors abound; narrative messages and images of optimism emerge.
A Move into the City
Healing a Busy World
Tribute: Tree Study
Aotearoa Column (featuring a Kererū) and Falcon on a Native Plinth sprouting ferns, extend the conversations about native birds back into the trees and our forest environments.
The haunting Tribute: Tree Study speaks directly to Paul Dibble’s acclaimed career and symbolism while uniting again a pair of huia with kōwhai branches.
The exhibition is further animated by groupings of models. Variously, these exist as direct tributes to Paul Dibble’s career and extended iconography, while explicitly referencing the natural world. We witness the new presence of kingfishers with their distinctive hunched silhouette contrasted sharply by the architecture of an upturned dinghy. Godwits and owls return. Kawakawa
– used in traditional rongoā Māori for centuries – with its heart-shaped holed leaves, knobbly joints and branching stems is revealed to be Hiding in Plain Sight.
Hiding in Plain Sight
Tribute: Lone Godwit
Across all these works a broad conversation about time and the human spirit develops and that the spirit world coexists with the natural world. The birds become metaphoric symbols of who we once were and who we could be now. What do we value? How should we behave? What do we see?
This narrative continuum begun by Paul Dibble is openly continued in this significant Dibble Studio exhibition and the journey continues as new pathways emerge.
- Stephen Higginson, 2025.
Bird in the City
Requiem from a Swampland
TRIBUTES
Referencing Dialogue of Two Huia , 2025 cast bronze, 24 carat gold gilding edition of 2 + 1 AP 2520 x 1250 x 850 mm
Tribute: Tree Study , 2025 cast bronze, 24 carat gold gilding unique 1960 x 560 x 440 mm
Tribute: Above Golden Blossoms , 2025
cast bronze, 24 carat gold gilding
edition of 5 + 1 AP
400 x 220 x 180 mm
Tribute: Birds in the Crowded Bush , 2025 cast bronze edition of 5 + 1 AP
580 x 290 x 270 mm
Tribute: Old Ghosts in New Towns , 2025 cast bronze, 24 carat gold gilding edition of 5 + 1 AP 420 x 320 x 140 mm
Tribute: The Lost Bird , 2025 cast bronze, 24 carat gold gilding edition of 5 + 1 AP 500 x 200 x 160 mm
Tribute: Flock , 2025 cast bronze edition of 5 + 1 AP
510 x 240 x 170 mm
Tribute: Lone Godwit , 2025 cast bronze edition of 5 + 1 AP
250 x 225 x 160 mm
CITY BIRDS
A Move into the City , 2025 cast bronze, 24 carat gold gilding edition of 2 + 1 AP 2100 x 1700 x 570 mm
Healing a Busy World , 2025 cast bronze edition of 2 + 1 AP
2230 x 1400 x 800 mm
A Move into the City (Model) , 2025
cast bronze, 24 carat gold gilding
edition of 5 + 1 AP
475 x 300 x 100 mm
Healing a Busy World (Model) , 2025
cast bronze
edition of 5 + 1 AP
420 x 190 x 180 mm
Hiding in Plain Sight , 2025
cast bronze edition of 5 + 1 AP
760 x 340 x 300 mm
Bird in the City , 2025
cast bronze, 24 carat gold gilding edition of 5 + 1 AP
420 x 330 x 190 mm
Journeys into Magical Lands , 2025
cast bronze
edition of 5 + 1 AP
475 x 410 x 220 mm
A Fearless Diver Waits , 2025
cast bronze
edition of 5 + 1 AP
360 x 300 x 180 mm
In Isolated, Forgotten Places , 2025
cast bronze
edition of 5 + 1 AP
300 x 160 x 150 mm
Travelling to New Places , 2025
cast bronze edition of 5 + 1 AP
410 x 300 x 220 mm
COLUMNS
Column , 2025
19 20
cast bronze edition of 5 + 1 AP
1470 x 530 x 400 mm
Falcon on a Native Plinth , 2025 cast bronze edition of 2 + 1 AP
1960 x 600 x 550 mm
Aotearoa
Quiet Perch , 2025 cast bronze edition of 5 + 1 AP
440 x 120 x 150 mm
Requiem from a Swampland , 2025 cast bronze edition of 5 + 1 AP
600 x 170 x 180 mm
ENQUIRIES
Dibble Studio
Tributes and Pathways
20 September - 13 October 2025
Exhibited at Milford Galleries, Queenstown
All artworks are for sale. Please contact us:
Milford Galleries, Queenstown
9A Earl Street, Queenstown 9300
Phone +64 3 442 6896
qtown@milfordgalleries.co.nz
Milford Galleries, Dunedin
18 Dowling Street, Dunedin 9016
Phone +64 3 477 7727
info@milfordgalleries.co.nz
Artworks copyright © Dibble Studio
Catalogue copyright © Milford Galleries Ltd 2025
Photography: Graeme Brown, Hayden Doughty
Design: Glenn Frei
