James Patrick Hanly (2 August 1932 – 20 September 2004), generally known as Pat Hanly, was a prolific New Zealand painter. One of his works is a large mural Rainbow Pieces (1971) at Christchurch Town Hall.
Hanly returned to New Zealand in 1962, and accepted a part-time position teaching drawing at the University of Auckland School of Architecture.[1] Hanly is one of New Zealand's most prolific artists.[3] Hanly continued to paint until his retirement in 1994.[4]
Major public commissions
Hanly completed a number of large public murals at Auckland Airport, the University of Auckland School of Architecture, and the Aotea Centre. Hanly was also responsible for the Peace Mural on the corner of Karangahape and Ponsonby Roads in Auckland.
Hanly was also commissioned by Miles Warren to paint "Rainbow Pieces" for the Christchurch Town Hall in 1971.[4]
Critical recognition
During his time at the Canterbury College School of Art, Hanly received the Turner Prize for landscape, open to students, in 1953.[1] He won the Manawatu Prize for Contemporary Art four times (1963, 1964, 1966, and 1967).[2]
The Pat Hanly Creativity Awards are an annual award for senior secondary school artists established in 2002. In 2021 there were 67 students from 35 schools that took part.[3][9]
In 1998 Hanly and his family were interviewed for a television documentary about his life as an activist and painter called Pacific Ikon.[12][13]
A survey book about his art Pat Hanly was published in 2012 was published by Ron Sang Publications.[2]
Personal life
Hanly married Gillian (Gil) Taverner in 1958 and the couple had one son and one daughter. Hanly had another daughter in 1979, Amber, outside of his marriage.[14] Gil took up photography in the late 1970s and became a photographer of note.[15] Pat Hanly was an anti-nuclear activist who 'opposed French nuclear testing in the Pacific and visiting American warships' including painting anti-nuclear art.[16] The New Zealand Who's Who listed his recreations as kite flying, sailing and Greenpeace.[12]