'Opportunity Arts' advocates, empowers and provides practical support for artists of diverse backgrounds who face barriers to participation in the arts; to develop individual, sustainable arts practices.
We work with talented and dedicated, emerging artists, who for various reasons (for example, disability) require additional support to access opportunities that can increase their audience, profile, income, sense of pride and purpose.
We are passionate that with this mahi we can encourage social change and diversify the New Zealand contemporary art scene. Giving a voice and platform to those who are often unheard and unseen within this community and wider society.
This exhibition is an inclusive artshow from over 10 Wellington based artists that we're big fans of!
Public Events
Creation Station Be here when we’re here! Anytime the gallery is open, you can pull up a seat up in the ‘Creation Station’ and add to our collaborative canvas or play an art game with your friends. Daily 9.00am - 6.00pm.
Care to explain - Artsplaining Thursday 12 July from 6.00pm - 7.30pm, selected artists from the show speak of their art practices and processes. Grab a drink, pull up a seat and get all the goss on how these pieces came to be.
Closing Party - Saturday 14 July 4.00pm - 7.00pm. Featuring “Portrait on a Tee” - YOUR face drawn on YOUR new t-shirt! Live music from Jesse Walsh. Hang out, grab a drink and a snack, while you check out what’s hanging on the walls!
Contact details:
Website (coming soon!)
Image 2 - from l-r clock wise : Lenny Zook, David Boyle,Johanna Grant-Mackie, Nicol Chung.
Image 3 - from l-r clockwise : Martin Kerschbaumer, Franky Quinn, Daniel Phillips, Fergus Collinson.
This art exhibition is about drift, jellyfish, and transitory movement including video pieces, soundscapes, and a large range of unframed printed images on paper and builders plastic (from 50cm to 2.5m). This is largely new work that I have created since migrating from Scotland to New Zealand 18 months ago, and will be the first viewing of the pieces. The artworks will all be for sale to take away at the end of the exhibition, for what my wife considers a very reasonable price :D
In addition, I have just completed a collaborative music project with Alistair Fraser and Steve Burridge that is complementary to this art show; the CD from this project (Shearwater Drift) will be available to purchase at the venue. We will be having a live performance at the opening night on Monday 2nd July from 6pm.
Examples of my previous artwork exhibited in the UK and Europe are also on my website or my email.
Showing the work of fashion designers Dannielle Arnott, Jenny Ruan and Te Paea Hoori, this exhibit explores the changing role of fashion and the ever evolving parameters of ‘humanity'.
Exhibited will be the final garments and editorial images of each designer, as well as working drawings, samples and work-booking that explores the process and development behind each designer’s works.
Each capsule collection represents a different response to Posthumanist theory—a relatively new realm of philosophy that rejects both humanist and anti-humanist approaches.
Posthumanism questions what it means to be a human. It looks back at the history of our species and the fallacy that we have at all times, all been afforded equal status as ‘human’. Simultaneously it looks forward, to how technology and medical-advancement is increasingly removing our tethers to the laws of nature—and blurring the edges of the boxes created to isolate “human” from “non-human”.
Eight artists return to Thistle Hall – a year on – to show their latest work. Printmaking brought them together to form a collective several years ago and has led them down many paths since – into papermaking, handmade books, collage and encaustics. These will also be on show, along with jewellery, ceramics and other media. The artists are Jocelyn Hendry, Jeanie Randall, Anna Nelson, Ali Murray, Rachel Keel, Jo Constable, Kristeen Lockett and Maxine Edwards.
On Wednesday, 20 June, from 2pm, artists will demonstrate collagraph printmaking and this will include the opportunity to make your own print.
Our event listings:
Jo Constable's website
In between making music, poetry, waves, babies, dinner, life plans, Shayn and Sophie make art. Their In Between exhibition showcases characters from Cuba street and the surrounding CBD using Shayn's animator/cartoonist style and Sophie turns her whistle blowing flair into worded pottery. Their works skew perspective, question strange goings on, and some are just down right amusing. Using mediums of ink, pencil, acrylic, clay and glaze, pieces and prices range from tiny hand made poetry pottery bowls and functional domestic objects, to cartoon strips, paintings, and a large, rather prodigious portrait of Mr Max Harris.
This is the Facebook link to our exhibition.
and for more information on Sophie or Shayn email: flygirlcreations@hotmail.com
Images:
1. Face detail of 'Slayer', by Shayn Wills, 2018
2. 'Dog crossing Cuba', by Shayn Wills, 2016
3. 'The Oysters', by Sophie Perkins, 2018
Eclecticism is a show of sculptural works by Tiffany Te Moananui and Sharon Sanders - two emerging Wellington artists taking a multi faceted dive into materiality.
Sharon offers a thought provoking homage and celebration of farmed beings. Colourful wall mounted heads bring a friendly introduction to the subject of human dependence on animals and the use of animal by-products in everyday life.
Tiffany exhibits a diverse collection encompassing works in bronze, porcelain and aluminium - an exploration of light and translucency through depth and shadow.
VR films, AV projections, live contemporary dance... the feeling of walking in Forest / Ocean / River... immersive detour from the city
- a feeling to take away with you...
A week long mini festival of works in development.. come & watch rehearsals, devising process, and finished works throughout the week..
Free Kawakawa tea
by ED DAVIS (Indie VR Filmmaker) and ANITA HUTCHINS (Contemporary Dance Teacher and Choreographer)
with special guests spots...
Al Fraser playing Taonga puoro
Wellington Gamelan Orchestra
Mikel playing Waybahar
and more...
Natalia came to New Zealand a decade ago from Russia. She loves to be a New Zealander, enjoying all aspects of life here.
She developed a passion for travelling, photography and painting her impressions.
She found New Zealand nature is very inspiring for bringing all kind of scenes on canvases.
Natalia is self -taught artist, evolving her skills all the time.
She is a member of NZ Academy of Fine Arts and NZ Watercolor organisation.
She is excited to welcome you to her third solo exhibition.
Facebook page, Natalia Vidyakina Art
What do you do with the multiple drafts from your PhD thesis? Turn it into yarn and spin it! Creating something artful from this material was part of a process that helped sustain me during the 6 years it took to complete a PhD.
When I was writing my thesis and needed a break I would often go and create a piece of art. It was a shift from the mind to the body which I discovered fostered a reflective process as well as a creative one. The hands-on, physical aspect of creating a piece of art often gave me bit of space in my head to unpack my research ideas.
The exhibition highlights the struggles as well as some of the triumphs of my research journey. It also celebrates the end of this research project.
A frustrated eye, a contemplative smile, a disagreeing nose. I like to study faces, and how those around us share their moods. How their faces give them away. Expressive Features; The Nose Knows is a passionate and quirky multi-media enquiry into the capturing of facial features, and the contours, expressions, and moods behind them. I'll be exhibiting pen and ink portraiture, ceramic pot sculpture, and much more.
My work will be available for purchase throughout the exhibition, from small and wallet-friendly greeting cards to one-of-a-kind ceramic pots. I will also be doing on-the-spot portraits and am open to commissions.
All ages are welcome to the opening night of Expressive Features.
Place.meant, what is a place meant for? And how do we define that meaning?
Using the strongly evocative material of barrier mesh, with its meaning of demarcating zones of safety and non-safety, I have been exploring the “demolish and build”, cycle of the urban and suburban landscape in iconic sculptural forms. This is a constant: the demolishing and constructing affects the house-scape, the work-scape, the people-scape, and a question is how central are we humans to this, or has it taken over?
Opening night Monday 23rd 7.30pm - 9.30pm. Karanga starts at 7.30pm. All welcome.
Kia ora. My exhibition explores how Wellington would look if Te Reo was our only language. I imagine an alternate future where Te Reo is normalised, our signage is in Te Reo, and English/Reo Pākēhā although welcome is no longer our default.
My inspiration comes from visiting Quebec, where French is the default language for every day life, thanks to Bill 101 passed in 1977. Bill 101 was not without controversy, but today about 95% of Quebec residents speak French. Without trying, I picked up words and context in French, simply by being surrounded by it.
I wish to imagine Wellington in the same light, as if Te Reo was our default language. The colonial buildings still remain, the shops are the same, but Te Reo is now a first-class citizen and not simply a subtitle for government departments.
I hope you find this exhibition inspiring, challenging and an exciting view into an alternative present.
This shows theme is destruction and recreation, representing that through destruction comes loss, grief, pain and with recreation we can start from scratch creating a world built from our truth, reborn from a place of love.
Each artists will create a image; photo, painting, multimedia image with a beat/piece of music that accompanies the image.
People will be asked to enter the exhibition with their phones, connect to a soundcloud link to listen to the music through their own personal devices, to listen and connect within their own space.
I have included a mixture of feminine and masculine with equal balance of wahine and tane.
Te Kahureremoa Tiopira, Preehya Patel, Maxie Eve, Andria Pablo Sanchez, Luke Whitten, Djauni Mantey-Worrall, Kauri Hawkins, Will Moore.
CLAY IN DAILY LIFE - Elevating the domestic to ritual
Objects from the artist’s hands to yours.
Simple beauty for a world awash in waste.
Galit Maxwell has been sitting down at a potter’s wheel on and off for twenty years, but right now she can’t seem to stop.
Everyday we touch and use objects, when they are made by hand from natural resources its elevates our daily tasks to ritual. People even say that their coffee tastes much better when you drink it from handmade mug.
Our domestic objects should be beautiful, we should cherish them. We live in a world where everything is mass-produced or plastic and so many objects are disposable. Not only are we clogging our oceans with plastic we have lost touch with the simple pleasure of raising a beautiful vessel to our lips or holding something that has been crafted with care by someone else’s hands.
Instagram@galitmaxwell
FB Galit Maxwell Art
Big teeth! A ridiculous pompadour! Devious eyes and full lips! The Big Teeth x Petals exhibition showcases peculiar character designs presented in a myriad of decorative ways, that you can look at with your very own eyeballs!* The works celebrate the strangeness of the modern person by translating the broad personalities of the community into vibrant creatures to visually delight and tickle your humor thingy.
Works will range from oil paintings to digital prints and more. Purchasable art will be available from as low as $5, up to original oil painting prices.
You can keep up to date with the event via the Facebook page
For more information about Marc Johnston, and contact details:
*Individuals found looking with eyeballs not belonging to them will be severely tutted at.
A big thank you to the Good Buzz Kombucha team for their sponsorship and support.
As well as being a natural, physical phenomena, the circle is a universally transcendent symbol. With no beginning or end, its simplicity is often used to represent totality, wholeness, original perfection and the infinite.
With increasing consumption threatening our environment, and being passionate about sustainability, van Duijnhoven and van Hulle also go Full Circle by giving new life to objects and materials that have already had a use and a history. The re-use of objects is an important contribution to extending the life-cycle of materials. As individuals can we really make a difference? Is it still possible to free ourselves from the shackles of materialism and achieve a minimal life?
We are excited to announce Thread Redemption in the Thistle Hall Community Gallery. This week- long event will raise awareness and offer creative ideas around how we deal with clothing and textile waste in Aotearoa. There will be a range of family friendly drop-in activities to try, free & low-cost evening workshops (ticketed) and the opportunity to participate in a panel discussion.
Our event schedule will be released this week - 12 - 18 March 2018
Daily drop in activities include: Table Loom Weaving, Decorative Mending, Pompomtastic!, Sewing Repair Cafe 101, Ocean Plait Mat, Make Your Own Produce Bags.
Good Luck Works explores the interplay between good luck and hard work, which plays out as we all agitate for our little patch of Pantone Greenery. Good luck can work, but it also works – and it often works hard.
Fortune cookies, breakfast cereal, soy sauce and money bag dumplings - not to mention a wall of waving cats. Good Luck Works offers a lucky dip into the straight and narrow of hard work, and the tectonic shifts and orbital off-coursing of good luck. But it’s not strictly business. It is, in fact, also personal, telling the backstory of a baking business and the business of backing yourself.
You ‘have a lucky break’ and crack open the fortune cookie included with your takeout order, what does it say? Come in, write up your fortune cookie fortune and have it included in Fortune Favours, an audience driven artwork. And read what others have to say about good luck and hard work.
Exhibition Event
The Chocolate Bar presents Bold, Brave and Unique Craft Chocolate – A Guided Tasting Session
7pm, Thursday 15 March
For one night only Luke Owen Smith from The Chocolate Bar is taking over the gallery for a bespoke chocolate tasting session. Luke has curated a selection of delicious and adventurous craft chocolates specifically for this evening tasting.
Tickets for this event can be purchased at $25 each from thechocolatebar.nz.
Fortune favours those who book early.
Opening on Wednesday 7 March, Anneke Nahkies is exhibiting a collection of pointe ballet shoes. These are mostly used shoes that, having fulfilled their original function, Anneke has ‘recovered’ to wonderful works of art that have given the shoes an ongoing and enduring purpose. In completing the work for this exhibition Anneke has married her artistic flair with her growing love of ballet and her active engagement in dance.
Anneke began creating this unusual collection in April 2017 when she joined the 100 Day Art Project. The extent of the creative endeavour involved quickly established that creating 100 artworks from 100 pairs of ballet shoes would take far longer than one 100 days!
The quality of Anneke’s work as an artist and the candour of her accompanying commentary on her chronic mental health challenges have attracted generous donations of pointe shoes for her to work with and a worldwide following on social media (see Instagram).
Looking through a lens allows the viewer to see through the Photographer’s eye. This Exhibition brings together the work of six Wellington photographers. Each project showcases a way of looking at the world that moves beyond the ordinary snapshot.
Photographers: Elise Bal, Angharad George, Jo Jansen-Thomson, Cliff Magno, Catherine O'Hare & Rick Spencer