Jeff Thomson (artist)

Along the way he observed the varieties of signage, weathered fence posts, mail boxes and other rural paraphernalia.

On returning to art school in 1981 his tutor Don Binney encouraged him to make these walks part of his practice and to continue recording them.

In 1981 he walked from Bulls to New Plymouth along the way through the rural countryside he left messages in letter boxes offering to make a piece of art for the owner.

In 1985 he was commissioned by James Wallace to produce a herd of elephants' silhouettes in corrugated iron to act as a fence to replace trees that had been felled without consultation by a neighbour.

He had rescued the iron from a recycling yard following a fire that gutted the Criterion Hotel in Napier.

The resulting vehicle was roadworthy and toured the country before finally becoming part of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa permanent collection.

Thomson's early work were all constructed from flat sections arranged at angles to give a perception of depth.

[9] In 2008 he was the Artist in Residence at the International Arts Festival held at the Château de Padiès in the South of France.