Ian Milne Key short biography

My journey as an artist started when I decided to use photography to create my school certificate art submission. A few years after leaving school, I had my photos in a couple of joint exhibitions in Auckland before having my first solo show at Warwick Henderson gallery in Parnell in 1990. I didn't even come close to covering the costs which gave me a good reason to pause and re-assess.

During 1991 while recovering from a work-related injury, I made my first coffee table. Warwick Henderson aside from owning an art gallery was also a promoter of Artex, a large expo held annually at Princess Wharf Auckland in the early 90s. He suggested I take a stall, I did and within six weeks I had rushed through enough work to fill the space. It was a success and from that point on I was a fulltime artist. By 1993 I had sixteen galleries, design stores and upmarket furniture stores selling my work around the North Island.

That was also the year that I was offered a lucrative opportunity to pursue a career in the timber industry and that was me for the next 26 years. I did however manage to get some work together (furniture only) for a joint exhibition at Kina gallery in New Plymouth in 2009 which went well. Since then my life has been turbulent to say the least. Two financial meltdowns and other personal inconveniences to put it lightly left little time for my art.     

Fast forward to 2020 I had given up logging and sawmilling and had the time along with a collection of some pretty unique timbers to start creating again. I am re emerging as an artist and producing work on a level exceeding anything to date, with more ideas than time. All timbers used have been logged and milled by myself or others in my employ.