Dave Smith has spent many years collecting "bits and pieces" and in his first exhibition at the Hastings Community Arts Centre shows how to breathe life into objects that many people would likely throw away.
Smith is showing more than 60 items, including reliefs and free-standing sculptures, created out of what he has collected, including treasures found at op shops and auctions, that he could "visualise the potential" of.
"It's fun to create something and have the finished project turn out as I imagined."
Sharing the gallery space is Warren Clode and his exhibition, Infinite Complexities, which continues to explore his interest in quantum physics.
Clode originally went on his OE to the UK to study wool classing and while working in London discovered the National Art Gallery which he visited every weekend.
He went to night school to study drawing, then art school, and upon his return to New Zealand continued his art studies. He also became a teacher and taught art at St John's College for many years.
Now retired, Clode says he appreciates having more time to dedicate to his own work, which also pays its respects to Chinese painting, he says.
"Nothing exists by itself. Everything's inter-connected. I'm looking right into particles and these particles are so small, they're all in a state of flux. It's looking at things in a different way."
Both exhibitions finish on Saturday.