Aigantighe Art Gallery

01/06/2026

It was wonderful to host this incredible duo here in Timaru earlier this year!

29/05/2026

Aigantighe Art Gallery will be open this long weekend! We are open Saturday, Sunday, and Monday 12pm - 4pm.

Come and experience Rosemary Campbell's vibrant artworks through this retrospective exhibition covering her stylistic practice over the years. On display until July 19th.

26/05/2026

We are saddened to acknowledge the passing of artist Zita Waldron, a valued member of the Aigantighe Art Gallery community and a wonderful contributor to the arts in South Canterbury.

Born in Dannevirke in 1933, Zita came from a farming background and brought a deep sensitivity and vitality to her work as both a painter and sculptor. She studied at Wellington Dental School in 1951–52, before later pursuing her artistic practice with dedication and enthusiasm.

A visit to the Aigantighe Art Gallery and seeing the work of Rosemary Campbell inspired Zita to further pursue painting. She later went on to study under Campbell in 1978 alongside Paul van den Bergh, continuing to develop a distinctive and energetic artistic practice of her own.

Zita exhibited prolifically throughout her life and worked across bronze, clay, watercolour, acrylic, and oil painting. Her work reflected a strong interest in spontaneity, composition, and the visual strength of an image. She enjoyed still life and landscape equally and often referred to Matisse and Van Gogh when she “needed a hand”.

She also brought a remarkable vitality and spice for life to everything she did. Motivated, determined and endlessly creative, Zita continued exhibiting into her nineties, with her most recent exhibition held just last year at the age of 93.

Aigantighe Art Gallery is fortunate to hold several of Zita’s works in the collection, alongside works held in collections including Timaru Hospital and Dunedin Public Hospital. The still life depicted here is just one example of her work held by the Gallery.

The painting features a First World War shell case — a treasured family object that served as a vase. Zita once recalled the challenge of painting the richly coloured cloth within the composition and how pleased she was when the Gallery acquired the work.

Zita will be remembered warmly for her generosity, creativity, and lifelong commitment to making art. Our thoughts are with her family, friends, and all who knew and admired her work.

26/05/2026

Relive the wonderful opening of 𝘙𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘊𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘭: 𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘺 with this exquisite video by Rickwood Creative.

Experience Rosemary’s dynamic use of colour and movement in a retrospective exhibition exploring memory throughout her work.

On display at Aigantighe Art Gallery until 19 July 2026.

Kā mihi to everyone that joined us in celebrating the launch, of Rosemary Campbell Undulations of Memory, here are some highlights from the evening. (April 2...

23/05/2026

Malcolm Warr, Landscape, 1966 (Aigantighe Art Gallery Acc. No. 2025.17.1) on display in the New Vision Gallery at the Aigantighe Art Gallery.

Exhibited in the recently reopened Aigantighe House, the New Vision Gallery exhibition shows artworks that are in the Gallery’s permanent collection and celebrates the support given to New Zealand artists by the early dealer gallery in Auckland, the New Vision Gallery. One of the artists who was represented by New Vision Gallery was the New Zealand printmaker and painter Malcolm Warr (1939-) – his early monoprint, Landscape, 1966, is on display in this exhibition.

Malcolm Warr was raised in Wellington and then trained at Elam School of Fine Arts in Auckland during a period of experimentation and expansion in New Zealand art education. While he works across a variety of mediums – including, acrylic, oil, and watercolour – it was in printmaking that he found his most distinctive voice.
From the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s, Warr produced a prolific body of prints exploring Aotearoa’s landscapes, balancing abstraction and representation with careful attention to line, colour, and composition.

Landscape, 1966, sits outside of the artworks Warr is predominantly known for. This monoprint of simplified flora within the landscape showcases his early focus on form and rhythm. Warr’s practice reveals how observation, memory, and imagination combine in quiet, deliberate exploration.

New Vision Gallery is on display at the Aigantighe Art Gallery until 9 August 2026.

15/05/2026

Rosemary Campbell, Adagio, 2018, on display in the Rosemary Campbell retrospective exhibition at the Aigantighe Art Gallery, Undulations of Memory.
Currently on display at the Aigantighe Art Gallery is a retrospective exhibition by the South Canterbury artist, Rosemary Campbell, called Undulations of Memory.
In 2013, after living in Christchurch, Woodbury, and travelling abroad, Rosemary Campbell returned to live at Lake Tekapo, where she now resides. In this move she returned to the place where she had spent much of her childhood – to her beloved Mackenzie Basin.
With a studio in her home, Campbell continued to paint, and these later series are also included in the retrospective exhibition at the Aigantighe. The Alpine Series stands as a late career refinement: paintings of quiet force, composed with clarity and held in deep tonal balance. Additionally, the Moving Mackenzie artworks capture land, sky, and weather as dynamic forces in continual exchange.
One of Campbell’s recent paintings is Adagio, 2018, pictured above. The word adagio is an Italian musical term that means ‘at ease’ or ‘slowly’. In this painting Campbell presents us with the dramatic and majestic ranges of the MacKenzie Basin, and as described in the painting’s title, our eye gently moves in an undulating motion over the peaks Campbell has depicted – taking in their shapes, details and colours – in a slow, rhythmic and graceful movement.
Undulations of Memory is on display at the Aigantighe Art Gallery until 19 July 2026.

13/05/2026

We were stoked to host some Year 12–13 painting students from Craighead Diocesan School, at the Aigantighe yesterday to explore the Rosemary Campbell exhibition.

Students engaged with ideas around abstract art and artistic practice, making connections to Rosemary’s own Craighead link and unpacking how meaning is built through colour, gesture, layering, and atmosphere.

This was a great session of examining and discussing Rosemary's artworks and we look forward to seeing how they take this back into their own painting work.

If you are interested in booking a tailored gallery visit we are always open for school and homeschool classes.

📞Contact us via email at [email protected] or phone at +64 3 688 4424.

12/05/2026

Toi Kōrero - Fiona Pardington & Andrew Paul Wood

Toi Kōrero - Fiona Pardington & Andrew Paul WoodIn this episode of Toi Kōrero, renowned artist Fiona Pardington sits down with art historian and writer Andre...

12/05/2026

The Aigantighe Art Gallery is proud to celebrate the extraordinary achievements of Fiona Pardington — one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most significant contemporary artists, whose contributions to photography and culture have been recognised both nationally and internationally, including honours from New Zealand and France.

Currently exhibiting at the prestigious Venice Biennale, Fiona continues to represent Aotearoa New Zealand on the world stage through a photographic practice that is deeply thoughtful, moving, and profoundly connected to memory, whakapapa, and the natural world.

In 2024, the Aigantighe Art Gallery was privileged to present Te Taha o te Rangi (The Edge of the Heavens), an exhibition that left a lasting impression on our community. Through hauntingly beautiful portraits of native manu, Fiona invited audiences to reflect on ecology, ancestry, and the enduring spiritual connections between people and place.

Following the exhibition, Fiona generously gifted three significant works to the Aigantighe Art Gallery permanent collection — an extraordinary contribution that will enrich South Canterbury’s cultural heritage for generations to come.

As Fiona’s work continues to be celebrated internationally, we acknowledge with gratitude her connection to South Canterbury and the profound impact her practice continues to have both here and across Aotearoa.

Ngā mihi nui, Fiona. We are proud and honoured to have shared your work with our community and look forward to following this remarkable chapter.

Check out the Toi Kōrero with Fiona Pardington and Dr Andrew Paul Wood discussing her practice, inspirations, and works in the Aigantighe collection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17OCr5fOMMY

South Canterbury Museum | Stark White

09/05/2026

Rudolf Gopas, Galactic Series, 1965 (Aigantighe Art Gallery Acc. No. 2020.24.1) on display in the New Vision Gallery at the Aigantighe Art Gallery.

An exhibition called New Vision Gallery is currently on display at the Aigantighe – this is an exhibition of the Gallery’s permanent collection that celebrates the support given to New Zealand artists by the early dealer gallery in Auckland, the New Vision Gallery.

One of the artists featured in the New Vision Gallery exhibition is Rudolf Gopas (1913-1983), who is best known for his bold expressionist paintings, and his strong legacy as a lecturer at the University of Canterbury’s School of Fine Arts.
Gopas emigrated from Lithuania, and bringing with him his knowledge and experience of European abstraction and expressionism, he arrived in New Zealand in 1949 and settled in Dunedin. In 1953 he moved to Christchurch and exhibited with the innovative and contemporary art group, The Group, until it dispersed in 1977.
Gopas became a lecturer at the University of Canterbury’s School of Fine Arts in 1959, and he remained in that position for 18 years until 1977. During this time he influenced many New Zealand artists with his teaching and mentorship – including artists such as Philippa Blair, Kura Te Waru Rewiri, Philip Clairmont, Ross Gray and Philip Trusttum.
Gopas was also a passionate and knowledgeable amateur astronomer. This was expressed through his painting practice from 1964 when he produced a series of artworks know as his galactic series. The Aigantighe Art Gallery holds one of these paintings in its permanent collection, and this artwork is currently exhibited in the New Vision Gallery exhibition. Simply titled, Galactic Series, 1965, this painting features Gopas’ exploration of metallic and textured surfaces to create what looks like a planetary surface – bringing to mind a vast universe of orbiting celestial bodies.
The New Vision Gallery exhibition is on display at the Aigantighe Art Gallery until 9 August 2026.