William (Bill) Sutton

William Alexander (Bill) Sutton, CBE (1917-2000) is an iconic Canterbury artist, for instance it was Bill Sutton's paintings that were chosen as the major retrospective to mark the opening of the Christchurch Art Gallery in 2003. Trained at the Canterbury University College School of Art in the 1930s, Bill Sutton travelled overseas and served during the Second World War before returning to the University where he taught for more than 30 years. Sutton was also a skilled calligrapher, printmaker, designer and bookbinder, and a teacher whose work influenced many contemporary New Zealand painters. His ashes were scattered from the bridge in Dry September on to the rocks of the landscape he made his own.