These include Redefining Space in the main gallery with nine exciting new kā mahi works following a bequest to the Forrester from the late Margery Uttley.
They expose "shared experiences" that will relate to the diverse Waitaki community, gallery curator Anna McLean said.
Elsewhere in the gallery, Floral Ecologies celebrates the therapeutic nature of flowers and the way people interact through time in garden settings.
The exhibition includes paintings from the Forrester Gallery Collection, local archival imagery and even a vase all the way from Czechoslovakia.
Tia Barrett’s He Pounamu Ko Āu presents stunning visual imagery from our ātaahua Waitaki awa and also introduces Tia to local audiences as we await her upcoming mahi toi for the gallery’s extension in 2026.
Ms McLean said in the community gallery, Ngā Momo Wai — Types of Water, developed by kā kaiako educators Elizabeth King and Lisa Potaka-Ross, explores the cultural properties of wai.
Lastly Hononga Rohe — Regional Ties is on in the Forrester’s upstairs gallery, featuring some contemporary favourites collected over the past 60 years, including those of Ann Shelton, Robin White, Ralph Hotere, Marilynn Webb and Colin McCahon.
The exhibitions will be showing until 25 May before making way for the annual Burns Memorial exhibition.
— APL
