Artist Profile
From a young age, Rueben loved drawing. One day, a Māori carver noticed his drawings and told him, “If you can draw, you can carve”. From that point on, he would carve anything he could get his hands on, from native wood to shells from the sea. Rueben has carved and painted murals, sculptures, weapons and ornaments, always with a strong design connection to his Māori heritage. Rueben now works from his home studio in Rangiora under the name Kewai Carvings. He has whakapapa (ancestral) connections to Ngāpuhi and Ngāi Tahu.
