Tea with the TUKU Artists

Drop in for a lunchtime catch up with the Tuku artists. Enjoy a cup of tea and a biccie while hearing from the people behind the artworks. A relaxed opportunity to ask questions, learn more about the creative process, and connect over art.

Bios

WharehokaSmith (Te Āti Awa, Taranaki, Ngāruahine, Pākehā) is a senior Taranaki artist whose large-scale works draw on customary forms and imagery to express perspectives grounded in te ao Māori.

Jodie Tipa (Kāi Tahu ki Moeraki) brings new focus to enduring patterns laden with ancestral significance in her large installation artworks. She explores whakapapa (genealogy) and identity through abstract designs which have been treasured for generations, expressed in woven forms such as raranga and tukutuku panels.

Dwayne Duthie’s (Taranaki, Te Āti Awa, Pākehā) figures gaze directly at the viewer, provoking existential reflection on what it means to be human – alone, and as a collective. The human condition, innocence, identity, power and control are some of the major themes in Dwayne’s work as an interdisciplinary artist, working in painting, sculpture and video.