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llew Summers Street
We are delighted that Llew now has a street named after him. In the new subdivision of Spring Grove near Belfast, there’s now a Llew Summers Street, which connects at both ends with Bill Hammond Drive – so he’s in fine company. In fact Llew did live in Belfast for a few years in the early 1970s, so this is a great location for his name street, and a fitting recognition of Llew’s place, as a sculptor who lived and worked in Christchurch all his life.
Llew summers: body and soul
Published in 2020, Llew Summers: Body and Soul depicts the work and life of one of New Zealand’s most recognisable sculptors, a man of great warmth and astonishing vitality, whose works are daring, sensual and provocative. Between April and June 2019, Llew recorded 95 interviews with John Newton and these, as well as a very extensive photographic and documentary archive, form the basis of this wonderful book, celebrating his life and achievements. John takes us from Llew’s beginnings as a self-taught artist, through his relationships and family life, to his success as a highly visible sculptor with works found in public spaces throughout New Zealand and held in collections here and internationally.
Illustrated with more than 200 photographs, including newly commissioned images, Llew Summers: Body and Soul is a joyful record of a life in sculpture and a testimony to the value of public art. Reviews can be found here and here.
Winner of the 2020 NZSA Heritage Book Award for Canterbury/West Coast Non-fiction. You can also read an extract and interview about the book, along with a couple of personal recollections here, and here.
catalogue of works and visual identification guide
Available for download are two documents:
1. A Visual Identification Guide: thumbnail images, arranged numerically, with number and name of each work, and medium. This guide can be used in assocation with item 2.
2. Full Catalogue, arranged numerically, by year, with the title of the work, dimensions (where known) and medium, along with some notes, which may assist with identification. Where the work is known to be held in a gallery or is in a public space, that is also noted.
These two documents are as complete as possible at this time and are complementary, but if you have additional information or corrections, please use the Contact form to be in touch.
flight
Flight was unveiled on 12 August 2023 in its permanent home near the Estuary Causeway, near where Llew lived, as a memorial to this much-loved & valued community member and nationally-recognised sculptor. It was a fitting and wonderful tribute. However the work was stolen from its plinth in early June 2025, destroyed and sold as scrap metal. Plans for a replacement are underway.
