Gallery sights in New Zealand
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Hokianga Art Gallery
Sells interesting contemporary art with a local focus.
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Auckland Art Gallery
Reopened in 2011 after a $121-million refurbishment, Auckland's premier art repository now has a gorgeous glass-and-wood atrium grafted onto its already impressive 1887 French chateau frame. It's a worthy receptacle for important works by the likes of Pieter Bruegel the Younger, Guido Reni, Picasso, Cezanne, Gauguin and Matisse. It also showcases the best of NZ art: from the intimate 19th-century portraits of tattooed Maori subjects by Charles Goldie, to the text-scrawled canvasses of Colin McCahon, and beyond.
Free tours depart from the main entrance at 11.30am, 12.30pm and 1.30pm.
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Real Tart Gallery
To see what local artists have to offer, visit the 100-year-old reconstructed warehouse Real Tart Gallery. Exhibitions change regularly and most works are for sale. Don't miss the old graffiti preserved under perspex!
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Jagosi Jade
Carver Aden Hoglund produces traditional and modern Maori designs from jade sourced from around the South Island.
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Anderson Park Art Gallery
In a 1925 Georgian-style manor, this excellent gallery contains works from many NZ artists. The landscaped gardens are studded with trees and trails, and include a children’s playground and wharepuni (sleeping house). The gallery is 7km north of the city centre; follow North Rd then turn right into McIvor Rd.
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Grainstore Gallery
On Harbour St, the Grainstore Gallery features an ever-changing array of quirky artwork.
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Govett-Brewster Art Gallery
The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery is arguably the country’s best regional art gallery. Presenting contemporary – often experimental – local and international shows, it’s most famous for its connection with NZ sculptor, filmmaker and artist Len Lye (1901−80). His work is well represented here, with showings of his 1930s animation as well as sculpture and super-clever kinetic works. The glass-fronted Café Govett-Brewster is also here.
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Tauranga Art Gallery
The Tauranga Art Gallery presents historic and contemporary art, and houses a permanent collection along with frequently changing local and visiting exhibitions. The building itself is a former bank, although you’d hardly know it − it’s an altogether excellent space with no obvious compromise (cue: applause). Touring the ground and mezzanine galleries, with a stop to poke your nose into the video cube, will take an hour or so.
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Public Art Gallery
Explore NZ’s art scene at Dunedin’s expansive and airy Public Art Gallery. Works on permanent show are mainly contemporary, including a big NZ collection featuring local kids Ralph Hotere and Frances Hodgkins, Cantabrian Colin McCahon and some old CF Goldie oils. Climb the iron staircase for great city views.
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Christchurch Art Gallery
Set in an eye-catching metal-and-glass construction built in 2003, the city’s art gallery – closed at the time of writing, with a definite reopening being planned – has an engrossing permanent collection divided into historical, 20th-century and contemporary galleries, plus temporary exhibitions featuring NZ artists. Before the gallery closed following the the earthquakes, free guided tours were offered at 11am Monday to Sunday, plus 2pm Saturday and Sunday and 7.15pm Wednesday. Check the website for the latest information about gallery reopenings. The gallery's shop is currently open.
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Temple Gallery
Up the staircase, the Temple Gallery was Dunedin’s first synagogue (1864), and then for 30 years a Masonic temple. The building retains marks of both, and is a fabulous art space. Artists represented are predominantly Otago locals and exhibitions change regularly.
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Artspace
The plain white walls and concrete floors of this public gallery come to life with an open field of art practices, including sculpture, photography, the moving image and sound art. Artspace exhibits many of New Zealand's leading contemporary artists and promotes a cultural dialogue, both locally and internationally, through speaking programmes and publications.
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City Gallery
Housed in the monumental old library in Civic Sq, Wellington’s much-loved City Gallery does a cracking job of securing acclaimed contemporary international exhibitions, as well as unearthing and supporting those at the forefront of the NZ scene. A jam-packed events calendar and excellent Nikau Gallery Cafe enhance endearment.
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Jade Country Greymouth
Jade Country Greymouth has original jade jewellery costing from $30 to thousands of dollars. There’s a walk-through Jade Trail display on the precious pounamu, and the Jade Boulder Café serves organic coffee, whitebait and other ‘wild food’ that’s more difficult to catch.
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Shark Nett Gallery
Overlooking the tidal Pelorus estuary, Shark Nett showcases contemporary Maori carving relating to the local Rangitane iwi (tribes). Guided tours provide an educational and evocative insight into how carving is used to record tribal tikanga (customs) and whakapapa (ancestry).
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Aigantighe Art Gallery
One of the South Island’s largest public galleries, with a 900-piece collection of NZ and European art from the past four centuries set up in a 1908 mansion, and adorned externally by a sculpture garden (always open). The gallery’s Gaelic name means ‘at home’ and is pronounced ‘egg-and-tie’.
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John Leech Gallery
At over 150 years old, John Leech Gallery was among the city's first commercial galleries. Considering its own historical standing, it's little surprise that historic works comprise part of its collection, representing NZ's most influential, controversial and coveted artists (the likes of Charles Goldie and Theo Schoon).
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Forrester Gallery
Housed in a beautiful, columned 1880s bank building, the Forrester Gallery has an excellent collection of regional and NZ art. This gallery is a good place to see works by Colin McCahon, renowned for his darkly melancholic style. Check the website for regular special exhibitions.
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Artstation
The public gallery of this community arts centre provides a professional space for emerging artists to exhibit their work. Shows turn over every three weeks, and might include contemporary Polynesian themes or those of the modern Goth. If you find the gallery locked, ask the office downstairs for the key.
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ArtsPost
ArtsPost, near the Waikato Museum, is a contemporary gallery and gift shop housed in a grand, former post office. It focuses on the best of local art: paintings, glass, prints, textiles and photography. Check out the awesome floorboards.
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Sarjeant Gallery
The elegant neoclassical Sarjeant Gallery covers the bases from historic to contemporary with its extensive permanent art exhibition and frequent special exhibits (including glass from the annual Wanganui Festival of Glass). What a lovely place!
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Chronicle Glass Studio
The pick of Whanganui’s many glass studios is the Chronicle Glass Studio where you can watch glass-blowers working, check out the gallery, take a weekend glass-blowing course ($375) or a one-hour ‘Make a Paperweight’ lesson ($100), or just hang out and warm up on a chilly afternoon.
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Höglund Glass Art
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Southland Museum & Art Gallery
The art gallery hosts visiting exhibitions from contemporary Maori and local artists and occasional international shows. If you’re headed for Stewart Island, visit the museum’s ‘Beyond the Roaring Forties’ exhibition.
The museum’s rock stars are undoubtedly the tuatara, NZ’s unique lizardlike reptiles, unchanged for 220 million years. If the slow-moving 100-years-old-and-counting patriarch Henry is any example, they’re not planning to do much for the next 220 million years either.
You’ll find Henry and his reptilian mates in the tuatara enclosure. Feeding time is 4pm on Fridays, and outside opening hours, there are viewing windows at the rear of the…
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Nga Taonga a Maui Gallery
Nga Taonga a Maui Gallery has a wonderful collection of Maori art for sale including wooden carvings, contemporary glass sculptures and traditional feather cloaks (around $1900).
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