Christine Hellyar: key obituary facts
Is Christine Hellyar dead? Yes. Christine Hellyar died on October 5, 2026, at age 79.
Cause of death: Christine Hellyar's cause of death has not been publicly confirmed.
What was Christine Hellyar known for?
She was a New Zealand artist (1947–2026).
More about Christine Hellyar
Born: 1 January 1947.
Place of birth: New Plymouth.
Place of death: Auckland.
Gender: female.
Occupation: sculptor, photographer.
Nationality: New Zealand.
Education: Elam School of Fine Arts.
Notable work: Ōwairaka, Statue of a Cloaked Woman.
Known for: Sculpture, teaching.
Christine Hellyar, a New Zealand sculptor and installation artist whose work also included teaching, died October 5, 2026, aged 79.
Born in New Plymouth in 1947, she studied at the Elam School of Art, completing a Diploma in Fine Arts with honours in 1970. Sculpture was her principal focus there, particularly work engaging with landscapes and landforms.
At Elam, she was taught by sculptor Greer Twiss and became friends with fellow sculptor Molly Macalister. Hellyar worked in both sculpture and installation, drawing on a notably varied range of materials. Her practice included found natural objects such as grass and stones, alongside clay, fabric and plaster. For casting, she also used latex, lead and bronze. The breadth of those materials placed natural finds and materials prepared for casting within the same account of her work, while sculpture and installation remained its central forms. Her education and work linked her artistic practice with teaching, the other field identified alongside sculpture in accounts of her career. Hellyar’s biography records a career grounded in sculpture and installation, with an early focus on the forms of the landscape and a practice spanning materials from gathered stones and grass to bronze. She died in Auckland.