Te Manawa Art Gallery in Palmerston North has plenty to see over summer

Toioho ki Apiti students at the opening of Matatau 22 at Te Manawa Art Gallery. Photo / Supplied

Te Manawa Art Gallery’s summer schedule is a treat for lovers of contemporary and 20th-century New Zealand art.

Multiple exhibitions celebrate some of our most highly regarded artists and bring us new work from the cutting edge of creativity.

Every year Te Manawa hosts the Matatau exhibition. The title means “mastery”, “fluency” or “to be learned”, and the show is the chance for graduating students of Toioho ki Āpiti at Massey University to demonstrate their craft. Each artist explores issues of mana whakapapa, mana whenua and mana tangata through their chosen medium.

The jewellery works of Aroha Millar juxtapose Māori narratives of equality and consent with the colonial practices that have impinged upon them. Raukurawaihoea Naani Waitai’s paintings ask us to consider, in our rush for progress and a “better” world, the cost to the land and its people. Every artwork on the walls is a statement. Come and hear what they have to say.

Artmosphere is the second of our annual shows, this time featuring the third-year projects of students of UCOL Te Pūkenga’s bachelor of creative media, the work of the next generation of designers, videographers, and illustrators as they head out into the world.

Douglas MacDiarmid would have turned 100 in November. He was considered to be one of the most technically accomplished, imaginative, and intellectually sophisticated artists to emerge from this country. His work in the Te Manawa art collection is on display as part of a nationwide arts trail marking his centenary year.

With Marti Friedlander: Portraits of the Artists, beginning on January 23, the gallery takes a look into the lives of some of the biggest figures in the New Zealand art scene last century. Friedlander’s photographic portraits of such artists as Rita Angus, Ralph Hotere, and Toss Woollaston are accompanied by a selection of their own works.

The art gallery is open daily 10am to 5pm (closed Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Year’s Day). Entry to all these exhibitions is free.