Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū

Introducing our new foyer partner... Bayleys Knight Frank

Here at the Gallery we’re committed to working with like-minded businesses to support creative Christchurch. That’s why we’ve teamed up with Bayleys Canterbury—they get it.

We love what they do xx

Yesterday evening we celebrated International Volunteer Day with our Gallery Guides.

Introducing... Limited edition art-wine and art-beer

Don't you love it when your two favourite things come together?

This week we've been installing a new collection exhibition, Your Hotel Brain. It replaces curator Ken Hall's elegant meditation on architecture and memory, Above Ground, in the contemporary collection galleries.

Want to join our team of Volunteer Guides?

The Gallery has an incredible team of forty Volunteer Guides – and we want more! We’re currently seeking expressions of interest for ten enthusiastic individuals to join us.

Food for thought?

This year’s weekly ArtBite programme is about to start! From Friday 10 February, we will again offer a weekly presentation of a work on display here at Te Puna o Waiwhetū. The aim of these 30-minute talks is to give you an art break in the middle of your day. We know you’re busy, so this isn’t a long lecture meant to take up too much of your time. And they’re free. With a new work presented each Friday at 12.30pm, the information will be fresh so you can impress your friends during your weekend socialising.

In Memory of Avis Higgs (1918 - 2016)

With the news that ground-breaking textile designer and painter Avis Higgs (1918 – 2016) died recently, we’d like to share this watercolour of hers from our collection.

The Eyes Have It

Commentaries on Doris Lusk’s work often talk about her ‘eye’; for telling details, for spatial complexities, for colour, for line. Many of those who met the painter personally remember her eyes too, but for a different reason, recalling how she would peer out inscrutably from behind thickly rimmed spectacles, with a gaze that was simultaneously intimidating and engaging. It seems appropriate then, that when Kevin Capon photographed Lusk in 1985 the result was this extreme close-up. After setting up his camera and lighting, Capon invited his subjects to approach the camera however they preferred, catching them in the act of looking back. Lusk’s face fills the frame, the black lens of her glasses creating a portal-like opening, connecting us with her in that moment and suggesting both her curiosity and her reticence.