Former Prime Minister Helen Clark has given her stamp of approval to the city's public art gallery, and says it is now time Tauranga got its own museum.
Ms Clark, her father George Clark and her husband Dr Peter Davis, took a tour of the gallery yesterday, and the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend was invited to join them.
A relaxed Ms Clark spent a lot of the tour taking photographs of the exhibits on her iPhone, and sharing her thoughts about the sculptures and paintings.
Ms Clark, who officially opened the gallery in October 2007, said she was particularly impressed with the current exhibition Corrugations: The Art of Jeff Thomson, and ranks Mr Thomson as one of her favourite artists.
"It's amazing. Jeff Thomson is one of this country's most creative artists, he's internationally famous. A lot of people won't know but about seven or eight years ago on behalf of New Zealand I gifted one of his corrugated kiwis to the Berlin Zoo where they breed kiwis. He is very popular in Germany."
Ms Clark has long been known as passionate about arts and culture - one of her portfolios while in government was arts, culture and heritage minister
It was during her time as prime minister that a timely government grant of $650,000 assisted in helping to meet the shortfall for the Tauranga building.
Ms Clark said she was very "impressed" with how the gallery had become regionally important in hosting travelling exhibitions, and become a popular visitor destination.
"I'd now love to see Tauranga have its own museum as I'm sure there is a huge collection of taonga, which also needs a home," she said. "Tauranga is a popular tourist destination but people have to be given more reasons to visit than just the Mount, the beach, and this gallery. It makes economic sense to have one."
Ms Clark, who is set to fly to New York next week, with a speaking engagement in China beforehand, declined to comment about Labour leader David Shearer's sudden resignation. "But I was aware of it because I've had lots of tweets and Facebook messages," she said.