Claudia Jowitt and Harry Culy named 2026 artists in residence at Whanganui’s Tylee Cottage

Painter Claudia Jowitt will begin her four-month residency at Tylee Cottage in April. Photo / Jonathan Edgell

Painter Claudia Jowitt and photographer Harry Culy will be the 2026 Tylee Cottage artists in residence as the programme celebrates 40 years.

It is one of the longest-running residencies in New Zealand and has had more than 70 artists in residence. It is now funded by Creative New Zealand’s Toi Uru Kahikatea (Arts Development) Investment Programme and managed by the Sarjeant Gallery.

Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery senior curator and programmes manager Greg Donson said they received a large number of applications this year.

“It was a very difficult selection process.

“The calibre of applicants across the two residencies was extremely high and we were heartened to receive so many excellent applicants from artists all over Aotearoa.”

Each artist will complete a four-month residency at the renovated 1853 cottage between April and November.

Jowitt will start the Painter Over the Age of 35 residency in April.

She received the Lilian Ida Smith Award and will give a Tylee Cottage artist talk at the Sarjeant Gallery on May 20.

Jowitt is known for her innovative painting techniques inspired by her European and Fijian heritage.

She combines natural materials such as seashells, coral, seaweed and masi, the Fijian paper mulberry tree, the bark of which can be made into cloth. She inlays these into surfaces with thick paint and resin.

Jowitt is represented by the Melanie Roger Gallery in Auckland.

Her first solo public art gallery exhibition, Uana: Carried by the Waves, was at the Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt last year.

Photographer Harry Culy will be the second 2026 artist in residence at Tylee Cottage. Photo / Molly Tompkins

Culy will complete his residency in photography and new media.

Culy’s work focuses on modern life in New Zealand using a documentary style, photographing empty building interiors, portraits and urban and rural landscapes.

He said he hoped to develop his work to “more lyrical ends, blurring the line between fiction and non-fiction”.

Culy is represented by Jhana Millers Gallery in Wellington and was featured in the group exhibition The Brood at the Dowse Art Museum last year.

Donson said the Tylee Cottage artist residency was a “vital” part of the Sarjeant’s exhibition programme and allowed it “to show contemporary work by some of Aotearoa’s best practitioners”.

It was an important part of the Sarjeant Gallery’s mission to support artists, he said.

“The Sarjeant Gallery is excited to see the unique perspectives and ideas Claudia and Harry will bring to Whanganui during their time as residents.”