Supporters of the Sarjeant Gallery redevelopment project got a great big thank-you last week ... from one of the project's most generous supporters.
Wellington businesswoman Anne Pattillo is one of the biggest donors to the cause through the gallery's Thousand Stars programme and each year she hosts a function to thank supporters for their contributions.
The Thousand Stars programme enables people to make affordable contributions of as little as $5 a week over four years towards the $35 million redevelopment costs - however, Ms Pattillo pledges $10,000 annually.
And at last Friday's Stars function she announced she was doubling her annual pledge to $20,000 for 2017, urging others to step up and help get the project over the line.
The Stars programme has already yielded around $320,000, and the three-quarters of the $35 million needed is now in place, including $10 million of central government funding subject to a final $9 million being raised by the end of 2017.
"It takes money to raise money, and I love the Stars function of connecting with people who have a continuing commitment to the project," Ms Pattillo said this week.
"And it's also an excuse to go to the Sarjeant at least once a year.
"We are not quite there yet with the funding, and the challenge for supporters like me is to push a little harder on the wheel to get the job done."
The Wellingtonian is often asked what motivates her to support an ambitious multimillion-dollar project to re-develop an historic art gallery in Whanganui where she has no obvious links.
The answer is that she has been captivated with the Sarjeant and its extensive art collection since she first set eyes on the building around 30 years ago during an unscheduled stopover in the city.
"Here was this very beautiful, quite perfect building on the hill with an iconic nature that somehow draws you to it.
"It had me - it was love at first sight," she recalled.
Ms Pattillo, who loved art but had no money to spare, marked her first visit by purchasing a postcard of an original artwork that was on display at the gallery.
"It is now very old but it has been on every noticeboard at any office I have had.
"At the time it was all I could afford and, on one level, it marked my first purchase of art."
The former accountant returned to the gallery to visit exhibitions whenever she could.
Years later, during a re-branding exercise after setting up her Wellington-based management consultancy business, pattillo, she decided to capitalise on synergies she saw between the art world and her aspirations for the company.
"Artists, in whatever medium they work, are often grappling with challenges and the unexpected, where answers are not always obvious, which reflected what was important to how we did our work."
The company brand - Sculpting Chaos - led to a decision to support emerging artists at a New Zealand art school. Ms Pattillo fixed on Whanganui's UCOL art programme, the Quay School of the Arts, because of its good track record and the opportunity to exhibit work by students at the Sarjeant.
"There were clearly difficulties with the building, you could see the wear on the edges but it was still beautiful and having work on show there each year gave me a huge amount of joy."
A restructure of the UCOL art programme five years later saw Ms Pattillo pull back from the scholarship.
When plans to restore and redevelop the aging earthquake prone gallery were put back on the drawing board five years ago, she decided to re-focus her energy on helping with the fundraising.
"I saw it as an opportunity to sustain part of the heart of the city."
She says Whanganui has a proud arts heritage and is a more affordable base for artists than larger centres.
"A restored and redeveloped Sarjeant Gallery has the potential to become a hub for the arts community and the wider public.
"Having an art collection of international quality and being able to house it in a re-developed gallery with historic significance in a regional centre like Whanganui reflects the way New Zealand works."