Long, hot summer days offer the perfect opportunity to find new ways to explore your own backyard. So if you find yourself with a free afternoon, why don't you explore these gems scattered throughout the wider Auckland region?
1. Point Resolution Bridge Taurarua (2013)
- Artist: Henriata Nicholas
- Location: Tāmaki Drive, Parnell (best viewed from the Parnell Baths)
- Background: The sweeping combination of curved steel, concrete and glass is patterned with motifs significant to local iwi. The pungarungaru depict the ebb and flow of water together with the traffic movement through and over the bridge.
2. Opened Stone (1971)
- Artist: Hiroaki Ueda
- Location: Manukau Domain, Lynfield
- Background: One of five artworks created as part of the 1971 International Sculpture Symposium that also celebrated Auckland’s centenary. Inspired by traditional Shinto shrines, the late Japanese artist created this stylised gateway that stood outside the Auckland Art Gallery for 35 years. It was reinstalled in the Manukau Domain earlier this year.
3. Atarangi II (2005)
- Artist: Michael Parekowhai
- Location: Pakuranga, Manukau
- Background: Atarangi II is situated at the entrance to Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts. The colourful artwork is a giant enlargement of a stack of Cuisenaire rods, an educational tool used to teach te reo Māori – a method known as Te Atarangi. Although the artwork is referencing these educational usages, it is also exploring indigenous versus imported culture in New Zealand's bicultural landscape.
4. Night: Aroha atu, Aroha mai / I love you, Day: Me Rongo / Walk in Rainbows (2015)
- Artist: Lonnie Hutchinson / Reuben Paterson
- Location: Ronwood Avenue Carpark, Manukau
- Background: This installation comprises two works by Hutchinson and Paterson respectively. The first features neon text in English and te reo Māori and is a reminder to people in the community that they're welcomed and loved. The second artwork is a curtain of prisms created by Reuben Paterson and Walter Foott that casts rainbows on the concrete, using art to add a bit of wonder to the urban landscape.
5. Raukura O Te Koroto (2016)
- Artist: Nic Moon
- Location: Wenderholm Regional Park
- Background: Unveiled as part of the 50th anniversary of regional parks, Moon created a kererū breast feather to double as a shelter. She was inspired by her month spent as an artist in residence at Wenderholm Regional Park in 2008.
