Ape To Zip: Adventures in Alphabet Art, 13 May 2005 – 8 October 2006

In the exhibition Ape to Zip (13 May 2005 - 8 October 2006), this work was used for the letter N and was displayed with the following label:

NIKAU Nikau are the only palm trees native to New Zealand. They are loved by tui and kereru (wood pigeons) for their juicy red berries. Nikau can live for up to several hundred years. Nikau can grow taller than the ceiling of the gallery entrance!

2003 label

One of Trevor Lloyd's most popular subjects was the New Zealand native bush and nikau palms grow in abundance in the Waitakere Ranges, west of Auckland, where he had a family bach (holiday house). Although largely self-taught, Lloyd was an accomplished draughtsman and worked in an accurate, detailed style. A lot of the detail in the foreground of the print is missing, suggesting that it is in an early state of composition. Born at Wade, near Auckland, Lloyd's father was an amateur artist and Lloyd began sketching from an early age. He went on to exhibit with the Auckland Society of Arts and moved to Auckland in the early 1900s. Lloyd was a prolific illustrator. When the All Blacks were defeated at rugby by Wales in 1905, he is believed to have drawn the first cartoon using the kiwi as a symbol for New Zealand. Both Lloyd's daughters, Constance and Olive, studied at Elam School of Art and their use of printmaking encouraged Lloyd to take it up in 1918.