Forrester Gallery

Forrester Gallery The spectacular building which houses the Forrester Gallery could be considered the finest work in the collection.

The Forrester Gallery & Mahika Kai Mahika Toi presents varied and exciting exhibitions that regularly rotate, alongside a regional art collection that speaks to the history of te rohe o Waitaki ✨ Its history dates back to 1882 when the Bank of New South Wales purchased a plot of land next to the rival Bank of Otago, now the National Bank. The building served as a bank and manager's residence until 1979 when the Oamaru Borough Council acquired the site in exchange for a suitable location in the central business district. The local council had been searching for a suitable location for a gallery since 1965 when retired architect and former mayor, John M. Forrester left a substantial bequest for the founding of a local gallery. After significant restoration including earthquake strengthening, the Forrester Gallery was opened in 1983. Today the Forrester Gallery, which is funded and administered by the Waitaki District Council, offers the Waitaki and wider region a varied and exciting exhibition programme, houses a growing collection of artworks significant to the region, and stands as an icon of Oamaru's unique whitestone historic district. The gallery supports local and regional artists and offers national and international exhibitions in all media, which reflect and challenge community interest. The Forrester Gallery is registered as a Category 1 site by the Historic Places Trust. Forrester Gallery’s page must not be used for electioneering purposes. Any post - positive or negative - made by any individual specifically relating to their own - or someone else's - nomination, intention to run for Council or election campaign, will be removed immediately.

🖤🤍♥️Te Wiki o te Reo Māori - Rā Toru | Day Three🖤🤍♥️When we opened our lovely new extension in April this year, we worke...
16/09/2026

🖤🤍♥️Te Wiki o te Reo Māori - Rā Toru | Day Three🖤🤍♥️

When we opened our lovely new extension in April this year, we worked with Te Rūnanga o Moeraki to incorporate elements that uplift the mana of this special place, the whenua the gallery sits upon, and some of our histories.

As our exhibition spaces were mostly named after their orientation within the building, with the alterations to many of them, they no longer made sense. For example, our former side gallery is now in the middle and our old collection stores were converted into galleries again.

We worked with Kare Tipa to determine an appropriate kaupapa which would align our spaces, linking back to our extension’s name - Mahika Kai Mahika Toi - acknowledging our gallery’s site as an important food gathering site, and now as an important space where toi can also sustain us.

As you’ll see above, our exhibition spaces are now named after native endangered and extinct manu (birds). Each ikoa (name) is specific to each space. For example, in Tarāpuka (our education room) you can see towards Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa - which is where we’d hope to see a black-billed gull. And in Pouākai (our atrium) we have views outwards and upwards, towards where we might have seen a Haast Eagle soaring about our sky, Raki✨

✨ When you visit Forrester Gallery & Mahika Kai Mahika Toi on your next visit, you’d could use the pātai to ask a friend - ka haere tātou ki hea? (Where are we going?)

You could reply ka haere tātou ki …….. (We’re going to……) with a manu from above in the blank. For example you’re going to look at the Burns Memorial Art Exhibition upstairs, so you’d reply ‘ka haere tātou ki Mātātā’ (We’re going to Mātātā)

Below are our gallery spaces with both old and new ikoa:
✨Whēkau - Main Gallery
✨Tarapirohe - Side Gallery
✨Pouākai - Atrium
✨Kāki - Community Gallery
✨Mātātā - Upstairs Gallery
✨Tarāpuka - Education Room
✨Moa - Visible Collection Galleries

We’re in the process of making these manu more prominent within our whare toi, so watch this space e hoa mā

🖤🤍♥️ Kia Kaha te reo Māori - hei āpōpō - we’ll look at some of the emotions we might express during a gallery visit
Waitaki District Council

🖤🤍♥️Te Wiki o te Reo Māori - Rā Rua | Day Two🖤🤍♥️The theme of te wiki o te reo Māori 2026 is Tāone Reo Māori - Te Reo To...
15/09/2026

🖤🤍♥️Te Wiki o te Reo Māori - Rā Rua | Day Two🖤🤍♥️

The theme of te wiki o te reo Māori 2026 is Tāone Reo Māori - Te Reo Towns. It’s a celebration of communities who have kept te reo Māori alive. It’s also an invitation for all of Aotearoa to help the language thrive! ✨

For rā rua o te wiki - we thought we’d highlight some of the towns and places within our rohe, and think about what they mean within te ao Māori. Understanding their kupu can help us feel connected to them

You could use the pātai - ‘Nō hea koe?’ to ask someone where they are from. To respond you can use ‘Nō ……. ahau’ with your place name in the blank. If you’re from Ōamaru you’d reply Nō Ōamaru ahau ✨

Fun facts about these kupu:

✨Ōtepopo was an ancestor on the Ārai-te-uru waka which was capsized at Matakaea S**g Point. Ōtepopo Herbert is recognised as a kāika nohoaka - a traditional settlement or village

✨Ōamaru commonly means ‘place of Maru’

✨Te Awa Kākaunui is a kāika mahika kai - a food gathering place - where weka, tuna, tutu and kōaerare were gathered from

✨The name Kurow was an anglicised version of Te Kohurau, which was also named after an ancestor on the Ārai-te-uru waka

✨Moeraki can be translated to ‘a place to sleep’. Moeraki historically is the old Māori kāik near the foreshore by Tawhiroko Point. Following the fall of Kaiapoi pā by Ngāti Toa, Matiaha Tiramōrehu led a rōpū to settle at Moeraki. Onekakara is the ikoa of Port Moeraki

✨Maerewhenua is home to some of our most loved ana whakairo

✨Makotukutuku is the Māori name for Cape Wanbrow. Makotukutuku was also an an ancestor on the Ārai-te-uru waka

✨Did you know Waitaki means ‘tears of Aoraki’? Aoraki was the son of Rakinui, the sky father. Aoraki and his brothers make up Kā Tiritiri o te Moana, the Southern Alps (Aoraki is the tallest mauka)

✨ We often use the Kāi Tahu dialect in our whare toi - this means we swap out ‘ng’ sounds for ‘k’

✨To find out more about our place names and histories in Te Waipounamu - visit Kā Huru Manu - https://kahurumanu.co.nz

🖤🤍♥️ Kia Kaha te reo Māori - we will look at some of the spaces within our gallery āpōpō✨✨✨

Waitaki District Council

🖤🤍♥️Te Wiki o te Reo Māori - Rā Tahi | Day One🖤🤍♥️We thought we would kick of te wiki o te reo Māori with some common ku...
14/09/2026

🖤🤍♥️Te Wiki o te Reo Māori - Rā Tahi | Day One🖤🤍♥️

We thought we would kick of te wiki o te reo Māori with some common kupu you might expect to see within Forrester Gallery & Mahika Kai Mahika Toi 👀✨

You could use the phrase ‘Tirohia kā …………’ which means ‘Look at the…………’

The examples in this post could be used to fill in the blank, such as ‘Tirohia kā mahi toi’ - look at the artwork - or maybe you’ll be able to add some of your own kupu on your next visit e hoa mā!

Fun facts about these kupu:

✨ Tirohia kā tukutuku - these tukutuku panels were created by St Kevin’s College for the Burns Memorial Exhibition. They have been installed in our reception area to say haere mai as you visit our whare toi St Kevin's College, Oamaru

✨Ross Hemera’s ana whakairo installation in Pouākai (our atrium) is inspired by the amazing ana whakairo in te rohe o Waitaki - we will be following up later in te wiki with more information on his mahi toi

✨The raraka included above is one of our most recent acquisitions for our collection by Georgina May Young (Te Ūpokorehe, Te Whakatōhea, Irish) - it’s ikoa is ‘We Lean In’ and it’s made of handwoven linen and wool covered with walnut and cotton thread Georgina May Young

✨When we opened our new gallery extension in April, we were gifted the ikoa ‘Mahika Kai Mahika Toi’ by mana whenua o Moeraki - we will also talk to this later in te wiki

✨ A taniwha is often misunderstood in the western world - in te ao Māori they take on many meanings, and they are often regarded as kaitiaki or messengers

✨Pictured are some of our gallery kaitiaki - Fiona (educator), Fanua (front desk Kuīni) and Anna (curator). You might see them around our whare toi on your visits, or our lovely volunteers

✨ We often use the Kāi Tahu dialect in our whare toi - this means we swap out ‘ng’ sounds for ‘k’

🖤🤍♥️ Kia Kaha te reo Māori - we will have more throughout te wiki e te whānau ✨✨✨

Waitaki District Council

Aroha mai e te whānau! We are closed today (Sunday 13 Sept) due to staff shortages and no water - as works are underway ...
13/09/2026

Aroha mai e te whānau!

We are closed today (Sunday 13 Sept) due to staff shortages and no water - as works are underway today for the Thames Street water infrastructure upgrade

We apologise for any inconvenience and are sorry to miss our visitors today. We are open as normal from Tuesday onwards (10-4 weekdays and 1.30-4 weekends)

✨Upcoming exhibition pānui ✨wonderlab: Make It Slow Forrester Gallery & Mahika Kai Mahika Toi3 October - 13 December 202...
31/08/2026

✨Upcoming exhibition pānui ✨
wonderlab: Make It Slow
Forrester Gallery & Mahika Kai Mahika Toi
3 October - 13 December 2026

‘Make It Slow’ is an invitation to take some time to slow down and loiter a while. Be inspired to dawdle, to ponder, be tortoise like and enjoy the many benefits of activities intended to be slow.

Image: Visible mending by Fiona Frew 2026

✨Upcoming exhibition pānui ✨Curiosities & Conundrums Forrester Gallery & Mahika Kai Mahika Toi 3 October - 13 December 2...
31/08/2026

✨Upcoming exhibition pānui ✨
Curiosities & Conundrums
Forrester Gallery & Mahika Kai Mahika Toi
3 October - 13 December 2026

Sometimes an artwork is so peculiar you can’t quite figure it out. Sometimes you don’t need to - it entices you enough to assume your own narrative. ‘Curiosities & Conundrums’ presents a series of collected works weird and wonderful, prompting a viewer’s experience that is removed from expectation or judgement.

Image: Victoria Edin, Untitled (Nice T**s), 2024. Photo Justin Spiers

✨Upcoming exhibition pānui ✨Peter Cleverley: Dreams are Free Forrester Gallery & Mahika Kai Mahika Toi 3 October 2026 - ...
31/08/2026

✨Upcoming exhibition pānui ✨
Peter Cleverley: Dreams are Free
Forrester Gallery & Mahika Kai Mahika Toi
3 October 2026 - 24 January 2027

The works in ‘Peter Cleverley: Dreams are Free’ form a considered response to ‘the fifty wars that are happening at the moment’. Cleverley cites the female figure as a source of empowerment, betterment, and strength – as a way forward. The title is hopeful, providing optimism and comfort during times of destruction and conflict.

Image: Peter Cleverley, World Music, 2026. Photo courtesy of the artist

✨Pānui: The warmest thank you to all artists who submitted for our July callout for proposals ✨We feel immensely gratefu...
31/08/2026

✨Pānui: The warmest thank you to all artists who submitted for our July callout for proposals ✨

We feel immensely grateful for the submissions we have received from our amazing artists across our creative motu, especially our local artists! The standards were extremely high, and we do appreciate all of the effort and care that goes into putting together a submission. We can’t thank you enough!

We received just over 40 submissions - more than we typically would throughout the year

We heard from new voices in our arts community, including artists that may not have considered proposing exhibitions to us in the past

The engagement we have received throughout this process has been immense

✨✨✨

We won’t be reviewing proposals until our next callout in February 2027 - you’re more than welcome to submit proposals between now and then, but please be advised we won’t be able to provide an outcome until this upcoming callout period

We understand this approach may not suit everyone, but we encourage you to reach out if you feel like you’re in this boat. We also intend to facilitate more sessions leading up to the next callout, in case artists need some guidance through the proposal process

The twice a year callout, we’re hoping will allow artists to factor this scheduling in from an administrative side of their profession and allow for added transparency + efficiency on our end

This isn’t the only time we engage with our artists, so please do stay in touch ✨

Kā mihi ki a koutou, we appreciate you all!
Forrester Gallery & Mahika Kai Mahika Toi

✨EVENT: Kōrero Toi + exhibition preview - Mahi, Toi: Part One✨Friday 21 August, 7pm Join us for a floor talk led by cura...
18/08/2026

✨EVENT: Kōrero Toi + exhibition preview - Mahi, Toi: Part One✨
Friday 21 August, 7pm

Join us for a floor talk led by curator Anna McLean, alongside exhibiting artist John Vea (Tonga, Aotearoa New Zealand)

This session will be laid back, we’ll share insights into the ideas and artworks in Mahi, Toi, followed by Q+A. This is an exhibition which celebrates the working class, while considering the intersections between work and art, and how both sustain us.

See you there e te whānau! ✨

Our Whēkau | Main Gallery is fully accessible via a ramp at the front of the gallery exterior or via a lift (Humber Street access). Please email any pātai or accessibility concerns to [email protected]

Thanks for the visit Waitaki Multicultural ✨✨
18/08/2026

Thanks for the visit Waitaki Multicultural ✨✨

Address

9 Thames Street
Oamaru
9400

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 4pm
Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Thursday 10am - 4pm
Friday 10am - 4pm
Saturday 1:30pm - 4pm
Sunday 1:30pm - 4pm

Telephone

+6434330853

Website

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