Born February 1, 1946 Oak Harbour, Washington, United States Graduated B.A.  1964 University of Washington 1978: Began work in sculpture, replicating cultural artefacts and totems, adhering to traditional “formline design” and techniques of the Northwest Coast Indian Art of North America. 1990: Immigrated to New Zealand with wife and son (New Zealand citizenship in 1996). 1992: Began large works in Oamaru stone. Participated in Hagley Park Stone Symposium. Several sculptures sited in well known Canterbury gardens, including - The Ohoka Homestead - Ohinetahi: Sir Miles Warren’s, Governors Bay - Seattle Sister City Garden, Halswell Quarry 1997: Return to Seattle for 1 year. Carved large limestone sculptures. 1998: Return to Christchurch. All sculptures since then carved in marble, granite and volcanic basalt. Displayed regularly in Christchurch art galleries, as well as galleries in Seattle and Palm Desert, California. 2001-2003: “Druid Explorer”: Greek marble & Swedish Red Granite, 2 metres in height, displayed in North Quad, Arts Centre, Christchurch. 2003: “Pillars of Wisdom”: Grand Prize winner in the Sixth Tri-annual Kurashiki Cultural Promotional Foundation sculpture competition. Commissioned from a competitive selection from 315 original model submissions. This sculpture was completed to a tight deadline of approximately 6 months from notification of commission for the competition to shipment via international freight to Japan. The completed sculpture was of Imperial Black Granite, in 2 columns each 3.75metres high and weighing approximately 6 tonnes each.

Themes of Artistic Practice Doug Neil works exclusively in stone. Natural landscape features on New Zealand’s South Island primarily inspire him. These include such outcroppings as the Moeraki Boulders, Tunnel Beach near Dunedin, Castle Rock and the Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki. For several years, his sculptures have been increasingly “trademarked” by their sharply cut and broken surfaces, the design of which was derived from the stratification of the Pancake Rocks. His work is also inspired by natural “found objects,” such as bone fragments, fossils and deeply eroded boulders. Some reflect the textured patterns seen in the quilted clouds of a Nor’wester sky. This is a traditional, thematic approach associated with the idea of “truth to materials.” The continuing pattern of my work is a refashioning of the South Island landscape into large, sometimes megalithic, tactile stone sculptures. These are now mostly being carved from volcanic basalt (Timaru Bluestone) and are accessible to the public for touching as well as observing. It is my way of bringing the natural features of the region into the urban public domain. New Zealand is my family’s home.