PLANTED
15 November 2025 – 29 March 2026

This engaging exhibition invites students to discover the fascinating ways plants shape our everyday lives. They’ll explore artworks which show how plants provide food, clothing, medicine, and materials for building and art—and how they’ve travelled across the world with people and stories. Featuring artworks from The Suter’s Collection, Planted celebrates the beauty and resilience of plant life.

Students will enjoy engaging with a wide range of artworks before creating their own plant-inspired piece.

Curriculum Connections: Visual Arts, Science, Social Studies

ROBYN KAHUKIWA: TOHUNGA MAHI TOI
31 January – 3 May 2026

Robyn Kahukiwa’s powerful artworks celebrate Māori identity, strength, and storytelling. Her paintings open pathways into mātauranga and intergenerational narratives that shape Aotearoa’s cultural landscape. Through the lens of a Māori woman, Kahukiwa presents a rich visual history of people, place, and whakapapa.

Students will explore these stories and then create their own artwork reflecting their personal heritage and the diverse fabric of Aotearoa.

Curriculum Connections: Visual Arts, Aotearoa New Zealand Histories

CHRISTOPHER ULUTUPU: NEW KID IN TOWN
20 March – 19 July 2026

In this vibrant 14-part video series filmed around Whakatū Nelson, artist Christopher Ulutupu (Samoan/Niuean/German) reimagines the familiar through playful storytelling. Using his own family as performers, he explores who gets to belong and be seen in familiar places. With bright Pacific energy, New Kid in Town celebrates identity, family, and community.

Students will connect these ideas to their own lives and create responses exploring family, place, and cultural rituals in our region.

Curriculum Connections: Visual Arts, Local Curriculum, Social Studies, English

A CELEBRATION OF CERAMICS
9 May – 10 October 2026

This exhibition showcases a diverse range of ceramics by different makers in honour of Nelson’s much-loved Clay Week (3-9 October 2026).

Students will have fun exploring clay, thinking about form, colour, texture, and design as they discover how ceramic artists design and create their art. After viewing the exhibition, students will create their own clay masterpiece inspired by what they’ve seen.

Curriculum Connections: Visual Arts, Technology

WE WERE YOUNG
16 May – 30 August 2026

In this captivating exhibition, students will step into the world of childhood in Aotearoa through photographs taken over the last hundred years. They’ll reflect on what’s changed, and what’s stayed the same, as they compare their own experiences with those of children in the past.

Along the way, students will explore photography techniques and build skills in observation, composition, and visual storytelling. This exhibition reveals moments of play, family, and growing up, offering a unique window into childhood across generations.

Curriculum Connections: Visual Arts, Social Studies, English

NEPHI TUPAEA AND CO.
1 August – 22 November 2026

Nephi Tupaea (Ngāti Koata) transforms kōwhaiwhai patterns into visual stories of identity, care, and community. Her work draws on the symbolism of the marae kitchen—a place of manaakitanga, nourishment, and connection. Through her art, kōwhaiwhai becomes more than pattern: it is a living expression of belonging and cultural strength.

Students will explore pūrākau (stories) and create their own artworks inspired by kōwhaiwhai, interwoven with their own life experiences.

Curriculum Connections: Visual Arts, Aotearoa New Zealand Histories, Māori, Social Studies, Mathematics

IAN SCOTT: PAINTING NEW ZEALAND
12 September – 6 December 2026

Step into a vibrant world where New Zealand art history meets pop culture. Ian Scott’s colourful paintings blend portraits, landscapes, words, and abstract forms to create lively conversations about who we are and what shapes our visual identity. Drawing on the work of other well-known 20th-century artists, Scott reimagines how we see ourselves and our land.

Students will explore how he mixes old and new influences before creating their own mixed-media artwork inspired by his bold, playful approach.

Curriculum Connections: Visual Arts, Aotearoa New Zealand Histories, Social Studies, English