Neil Dawson

Neil Dawson, part of Reed's MANZ - Medal Art New Zealand series, is a mokuhanga tribute to the New Zealand sculptor known internationally for large-scale suspended works such as the Ferns sculpture above Wellington's Civic Square. The print likely distills Dawson's signature vocabulary — perforated metal planes, illusionistic floating forms, botanical and celestial motifs — into the flat economy of the carved block. Working within the 2021 IMC [sumi](/glossary/sumi) theme, Reed would have leaned on black ink and the textural grain of cherry or shina blocks pulled onto [washi](/glossary/washi) with the [baren](/glossary/baren), using [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) to suggest the atmospheric weightlessness Dawson's sculptures achieve in physical space. [Kento](/glossary/kento) registration permits the precise alignment necessary to render Dawson's lattice-like forms without optical drift. As one of the most internationally recognized figures in the MANZ portrait set, the Dawson print situates the series within New Zealand's broader sculptural lineage and demonstrates Reed's strategy of letting the sitter's own visual language guide the carving and printing decisions.