Discover your artistic side and check out the exhibitions running this month by talented artists at arts centres and galleries operated and supported by Auckland Council.
Take your friends and whānau on an art trail of exhibitions in your area, or venture to see exhibitions around Auckland for the day. To get you started, here’s some highlights from exhibitions running this month by region:
Northern exhibitions
A must-see shore-side is Northart Gallery’s popular annual Summer Members’ Show. Lose yourself in the huge array of art and creativity by the numerous talented artists that are associated with Northart.
Duck into Devonport’s Depot Artspace to catch Escape by Susanne Khouri. Khouri’s experimentation in motion uses an unusual technique called polychromatic screen printing and introduces sculptural, metal leaf works to reflect the colours.
Southern exhibitions
Visit Nathan Homestead’s beautiful gardens for Awhi Tower Embracing, Transmitting, Amplifying, a sensory experience where sound and history collide. Stand under the Awhi Tower and close your eyes to soak up the natural music of the historic water tower, amplifying the sounds around the Homestead.
Stop by Sorry, Not Sorry at Franklin Arts Centre to see captivating photographic works from Conor Clarke and Tia Huia Ranginui. Clarke’s work focuses on the way nature is categorised and perceived and its reflective qualities, while Ranginui’s home town of Whanganui provides a rich visual backdrop to the themes she explores and critiques through local stories.
Western exhibitions
Visit West Auckland’s charming Lopdell Precinct in Titirangi Village to wander through scenes of kiwi life with Graham Young in Under Southern Skies showing at Upstairs Art Gallery. Showcasing work from Young’s upcoming book, the exhibition captures snapshots of our everyday world, from the coastal beach to suburban scenes and the rural routine.
Head to Henderson’s Corban Estate Arts Centre, where Alma Venus and Visual Language of Toi will take you through Ayesha Green’s innovative mixture of roman statues and Aotearoa landscape imagery to ponder the Western gaze before it reached the shores of the South Pacific.
Central exhibitions
Cruise up to Studio One Toi Tū on Ponsonby Road and stretch your mind with Grace Bader’s second body of work, No.2 by Grace Bader, exploring the presence of everyday objects in contemporary art.
Peek next door to see Double Tap That in Studio One Toi Tū’s Gallery One for a new kind of selfie, as Emma Mudgway explores the language of selfie culture, the role of self-portraiture and concepts of identity in life today.
Eastern exhibitions
And if you’re keen to try your hand at becoming the next Banksy, join visual artist Gary Silipa’s course Raumati: Here Spray, at Te Oro. Learn expert tips and techniques in aerosol-based street art, plus drawing and typography, and work together with a bunch of supportive people to create murals that will be on show in the Bradley Lane Illuminated event on 7 April.
Check out more of Auckland Council’s art centres and galleries here.
- Summer Members’ Show: Northart Gallery, 26 February – 14 March
- Escape: Depot Artspace, March 10 - March 28
- Awhi Tower Embracing, Transmitting, Amplifying: Nathan Homestead, 24 February –24 March
- Sorry, Not Sorry: Franklin Arts Centre, 3 March – 7 April 2018
- Under Southern Skies: Lopdell Precinct, until 11 March;
- Alma Venus and Visual Language of Toi: Corban Estate Arts Centre, 16 February – 8 April
- 2 by Grace Bader: Studio One Toi Tū, 14 February – 15 March
- Double Tap That: Studio One Toi Tū, 14 February –15 March
- Raumati: Here Spray: Te Oro, register to reserve your place
