The Dowse Art Museum

Call Directions Website Contact the museum

The Dowse Art Museum Leading contemporary art museum with a changing programme of exhibitions and events.
(487)

Located in central Lower Hutt, a short drive from both Porirua and Wellington city, The Dowse is a lively contemporary art gallery presenting the work of local, national and international artists. The Dowse is operated as part of the art & culture unit of Hutt City Council.

This big weird fish chomping on the head of a baby is one of my favorite details in Kushana Bush's Pobblebonk paintings....
19/10/2026

This big weird fish chomping on the head of a baby is one of my favorite details in Kushana Bush's Pobblebonk paintings. I keep suggesting to everyone they should get it tattooed as a tramp stamp, but so far only Karl Chitham has taken me up on it.

//Kushana Bush, Living Being (detail), 2024-26. Gouache and watercolour on paper.

Making all The Dowse ads of my dreams before they take my Instagram access away next week. Mark Rayner ceramics now avai...
19/10/2026

Making all The Dowse ads of my dreams before they take my Instagram access away next week.

Mark Rayner ceramics now available in the Dowse shop, a great gift for all the unhinged lunatics or orthodontists in your life. šŸøšŸ„¦šŸ¦·

14/10/2026

A little shapeshifting magic from Laura Emel Yilmaz's interactive installation Metra Morpher, on now at The Dowse šŸ’œ

Artist and absolute legend Wayne Youle has been chatting with the Aotearoa Art Fair about two decades of art-making, the...
13/10/2026

Artist and absolute legend Wayne Youle has been chatting with the Aotearoa Art Fair about two decades of art-making, the ideas that keep him going, and his exhibition Back in Five. It's a cracking read ā€” link below.

And speaking of Back In Five, you've only got about five minutes left to check out his fantastic exhibition for yourself. The exhibition closes this Sunday, October 18. Clock is ticking.

https://artfair.co.nz/2026/10/07/wayne-youle-on-twenty-years-of-making/

Become a piece of the puzzle!šŸ§©šŸ¤”The Dowse needs your help to acquire Kushana Bushā€™s remarkable painting 'Clown Madonna an...
02/10/2026

Become a piece of the puzzle!šŸ§©šŸ¤”

The Dowse needs your help to acquire Kushana Bushā€™s remarkable painting 'Clown Madonna and Child'ā€”a richly layered vision of motherhood that is at once tender, surreal and faintly unhinged.

With the support of the artist, weā€™ve teamed up with New Zealand puzzle brand Lettuce to create a beautiful limited-edition 1000-piece puzzle. Theyā€™re $100 each, with 100% of the proceeds going towards the purchase of the painting for The Dowse collection.

Bushā€™s paintings are rare and highly sought after, but this limited-edition puzzle is one way to get your (yellow rubber-gloved) hands on one and to support the artistā€”while helping ensure 'Clown Madonna and Child' can be enjoyed by the public for decades to come.

The puzzle is exclusively available through the Dowse shop, both in person and online. And while you're at it, make sure to check out the real thing in Kushana Bush: Pobblebonk, on now at The Dowse until March. šŸø

It's school holidays at The Dowse, so bring the whole family! Well, ideally not your favorite child. šŸŠšŸŠšŸŠ (bitey bitey)Me...
30/09/2026

It's school holidays at The Dowse, so bring the whole family! Well, ideally not your favorite child. šŸŠšŸŠšŸŠ (bitey bitey)

Meet one of the stars of Scene Stealers, our upcoming exhibition celebrating some of the movie and TV props, costumes and adornment made by extraordinary Aotearoa creatives. You may recognize this beautiful aristocrat from Ti West's 'Pearl' (2022).

Scene Stealers opens November 7, and we'll make sure she is well fed before then.

TWO WORKSHOPS WITH WAYNE YOULEBack in Five artist Wayne Youle is coming to town to share his creative awesomeness with u...
25/09/2026

TWO WORKSHOPS WITH WAYNE YOULE

Back in Five artist Wayne Youle is coming to town to share his creative awesomeness with us.

Art for Educators: A Professional Development Workshop with Wayne Youle
Saturday 3 October, 9am-3pm
Free

Educators have the opportunity to join a workshop led by Youle. Consisting of multiple shorter activities, the workshop will focus on ways to engage studentsā€™ creative sparks, working together on a project rather than focusing on individual ownership, emphasising the process rather than the finished piece, and breaking down any preciousness when it comes to sharing.

Wayneā€™s Dojo: A Whanau Creative Workshop with Wayne Youle
Sunday 4 October, 10am-12pm
Free

In this workshop Wayne Youle will be focusing on harnessing and embracing your creative spark to make badges using collage, text and more.

Both workshops have limited spaces available, so head to Eventbrite to secure your spot.

Wayne Youle's epic sculpture Iā€™LL BE THE ONE WEARING THE PINK CARNATION, STANDING IN THE CORNER (SWEATING) features a pa...
24/09/2026

Wayne Youle's epic sculpture Iā€™LL BE THE ONE WEARING THE PINK CARNATION, STANDING IN THE CORNER (SWEATING) features a pair of the artist's own sneakers and trackpants poking out beneath a shower curtain.

This sly self-portrait nods to Daniel LaRussoā€™s last-minute shower curtain Halloween costume in the 1984 movie The Karate Kid. Growing up in Porirua, Youle saw a lot of himself in Daniel: cheeky, driven, and just trying to survive the social karate match of growing up.

For Youle, the shower curtain is a way of hiding in plain sight. It captures that familiar adolescent tension between desperately wanting to stand out and desperately wanting to blend in ā€” the ache of being overlooked and the discomfort of actually being looked at. Both disguise and hiding place, the work also speaks to the artistā€™s own negotiation of visibility: how much of yourself do you reveal, and how much do you keep hidden?

Come see what else is hiding in the exhibition Wayne Youle: Back in Five, on now at The Dowse. Courtesy of and .co.nz

Opening Floor Talks: Kushana Bush and Laura Emel YilmazSaturday 19 September, 11amTwo intriguing and otherworldly new sh...
18/09/2026

Opening Floor Talks: Kushana Bush and Laura Emel Yilmaz
Saturday 19 September, 11am

Two intriguing and otherworldly new shows are opening at The Dowse, full of strange creatures and untameable bodies. The intricate paintings of Kushana Bushā€™s Pobblebonk present small but teeming worldsā€”like a fever dream that has sprouted leaves. Her meticulously constructed paintings collapse centuries of art history into delirious worlds entirely her own, where the Madonna wears a face of clown paint and an octopus might make a perfectly acceptable hat. Laura Emel Yilmazā€™s Metra Morpher immerses the audience in an interactive installation of shifting forms and sounds, as human, animal and cosmic bodies continually morph and changeā€”sometimes maternal, other times reptilian, always strangely beautiful.

Both Bush and Yilmaz draw on their experiences of motherhood as a creative condition that asks them to see the world anew. Led by Senior Curator Chelsea Nichols, Kushana Bush and Laura Yilmaz will be in the gallery to speak about their worksā€¦. and to reveal, once and for all, what a pobblebonk actually is.

"Placing the works together in a line, Insignia...suggests that is it communicating in the manner of language. Together,...
11/09/2026

"Placing the works together in a line, Insignia...suggests that is it communicating in the manner of language. Together, the works look like glyphs. For Freeman, the sentence has endured as a worthy device for expanding the potential of the emblem's reading." Kim Paton.

Taking up this challenge to draw potential readings from Warwick Freeman's jewellery 'sentences' are four poets, who will be translating these emblems into words this Sunday in the gallery. Join us at 1pm to hear what Therese Lloyd, Essa May Ranapiri, Matthew Whiteman and Tony DiCarlo find in Freeman's works.

Warwick Freeman, Insignia, 1997.

Address

45 Laings Road
Lower Hutt
5010

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 10am - 5pm

Telephone

+6445706500

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Dowse Art Museum posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Museum

Send a message to The Dowse Art Museum:

Shortcuts

Share

Category