Gala Opening Night: ILT Murihiku Art Awards
Join us for an evening of art and celebration as we open the 2026 ILT Murihiku Art Awards.
Be the first to explore this year's exhibition, celebrate the artists, and enjoy the excitement of the awards presentation as winners are announced from the $20,000 prize pool.
Proudly presented in partnership with the Southland Art Society and supported by the ILT and Beattie McDowell Architects, the awards bring together an incredible range of contemporary art from emerging and established artists from across Murihiku and beyond.
Dust off your formal wear, grab a drink and meet the artists. If something catches your eye, you're in luck, every artwork in the exhibition will be available for purchase.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Creation Station | School Holidays at HWT
Our Creation Station is back!
Feeling creative? Come and explore the ILT Murihiku Art Awards exhibition, get inspired by the incredible artworks, and then have a go at creating something of your own!
There are three creative activities to try:
Make a hanging jellyfish
Create your own colourful jellyfish decoration to brighten up your room.Add to our growing art wall
Use oil pastels and sticky notes to create a mini artwork, then add it to the blackboard in the foyer. Watch our collection grow throughout the week as more people add their creations!Make your own fuzzywire headpiece
Get creative with fuzzywire and design a headpiece that’s uniquely yours. This popular activity is making a comeback from our PLAY 5 exhibition!
Mon 5 - Fri 9 October | 10am-4.30pm
Sat 10 - Sun 11 October | 11am-2pm
Free entry. Adult supervision required for tamariki.
See you at the gallery!
Creation Station | School Holidays at HWT
Our Creation Station is back!
Feeling creative? Come and explore the ILT Murihiku Art Awards exhibition, get inspired by the incredible artworks, and then have a go at creating something of your own!
There are three creative activities to try:
Make a hanging jellyfish
Create your own colourful jellyfish decoration to brighten up your room.Add to our growing art wall
Use oil pastels and sticky notes to create a mini artwork, then add it to the blackboard in the foyer. Watch our collection grow throughout the week as more people add their creations!Make your own fuzzywire headpiece
Get creative with fuzzywire and design a headpiece that’s uniquely yours. This popular activity is making a comeback from our PLAY 5 exhibition!
Mon 5 - Fri 9 October | 10am-4.30pm
Sat 10 - Sun 11 October | 11am-2pm
Free entry. Adult supervision required for tamariki.
See you at the gallery!
Creation Station | School Holidays at HWT
Our Creation Station is back!
Feeling creative? Come and explore the ILT Murihiku Art Awards exhibition, get inspired by the incredible artworks, and then have a go at creating something of your own!
There are three creative activities to try:
Make a hanging jellyfish
Create your own colourful jellyfish decoration to brighten up your room.Add to our growing art wall
Use oil pastels and sticky notes to create a mini artwork, then add it to the blackboard in the foyer. Watch our collection grow throughout the week as more people add their creations!Make your own fuzzywire headpiece
Get creative with fuzzywire and design a headpiece that’s uniquely yours. This popular activity is making a comeback from our PLAY 5 exhibition!
Mon 5 - Fri 9 October | 10am-4.30pm
Sat 10 - Sun 11 October | 11am-2pm
Free entry. Adult supervision required for tamariki.
See you at the gallery!
Creation Station | School Holidays at HWT
Our Creation Station is back!
Feeling creative? Come and explore the ILT Murihiku Art Awards exhibition, get inspired by the incredible artworks, and then have a go at creating something of your own!
There are three creative activities to try:
Make a hanging jellyfish
Create your own colourful jellyfish decoration to brighten up your room.Add to our growing art wall
Use oil pastels and sticky notes to create a mini artwork, then add it to the blackboard in the foyer. Watch our collection grow throughout the week as more people add their creations!Make your own fuzzywire headpiece
Get creative with fuzzywire and design a headpiece that’s uniquely yours. This popular activity is making a comeback from our PLAY 5 exhibition!
Mon 5 - Fri 9 October | 10am-4.30pm
Sat 10 - Sun 11 October | 11am-2pm
Free entry. Adult supervision required for tamariki.
See you at the gallery!
Creation Station | School Holidays at HWT
Our Creation Station is back!
Feeling creative? Come and explore the ILT Murihiku Art Awards exhibition, get inspired by the incredible artworks, and then have a go at creating something of your own!
There are three creative activities to try:
Make a hanging jellyfish
Create your own colourful jellyfish decoration to brighten up your room.Add to our growing art wall
Use oil pastels and sticky notes to create a mini artwork, then add it to the blackboard in the foyer. Watch our collection grow throughout the week as more people add their creations!Make your own fuzzywire headpiece
Get creative with fuzzywire and design a headpiece that’s uniquely yours. This popular activity is making a comeback from our PLAY 5 exhibition!
Mon 5 - Fri 9 October | 10am-4.30pm
Sat 10 - Sun 11 October | 11am-2pm
Free entry. Adult supervision required for tamariki.
See you at the gallery!
Creation Station | School Holidays at HWT
Our Creation Station is back!
Feeling creative? Come and explore the ILT Murihiku Art Awards exhibition, get inspired by the incredible artworks, and then have a go at creating something of your own!
There are three creative activities to try:
Make a hanging jellyfish
Create your own colourful jellyfish decoration to brighten up your room.Add to our growing art wall
Use oil pastels and sticky notes to create a mini artwork, then add it to the blackboard in the foyer. Watch our collection grow throughout the week as more people add their creations!Make your own fuzzywire headpiece
Get creative with fuzzywire and design a headpiece that’s uniquely yours. This popular activity is making a comeback from our PLAY 5 exhibition!
Mon 5 - Fri 9 October | 10am-4.30pm
Sat 10 - Sun 11 October | 11am-2pm
Free entry. Adult supervision required for tamariki.
See you at the gallery!
Creation Station | School Holidays at HWT
Our Creation Station is back!
Feeling creative? Come and explore the ILT Murihiku Art Awards exhibition, get inspired by the incredible artworks, and then have a go at creating something of your own!
There are three creative activities to try:
Make a hanging jellyfish
Create your own colourful jellyfish decoration to brighten up your room.Add to our growing art wall
Use oil pastels and sticky notes to create a mini artwork, then add it to the blackboard in the foyer. Watch our collection grow throughout the week as more people add their creations!Make your own fuzzywire headpiece
Get creative with fuzzywire and design a headpiece that’s uniquely yours. This popular activity is making a comeback from our PLAY 5 exhibition!
Mon 5 - Fri 9 October | 10am-4.30pm
Sat 10 - Sun 11 October | 11am-2pm
Free entry. Adult supervision required for tamariki.
See you at the gallery!
Kids Create | Spring: What I See
What does your perfect spring view look like? 🌻
Before the school holidays begin, bring the kids along for our final Kids Create workshop! This week, we are taking inspiration from Central Otago artist Neil Driver’s stunning painting Central Hills, currently featured in our Spring: What We Kept exhibition.
In this creative hands-on session, children will:
Build a frame: Construct and decorate a custom window frame using popsicle sticks.
Paint the landscape: Capture their ultimate spring view - whether it is the real scenery outside their bedroom window or a colorful dream destination.
Assemble the masterpiece: Layer their custom frame directly over their painting to create an awesome, 3D window effect, and add little curtains using fabrics!
Two chances to join us!
We’ll be running the same activity on Thursday and Sunday, so choose whichever session suits you best. No need to attend both (unless you want to!)
Thursday Session: 10 September, 3PM - 4.30PM
Sunday Session: 13 September, 11.30AM-2PM
Free entry, no bookings needed. Adult supervision required.
Kids Create | Spring: What I See
What does your perfect spring view look like? 🌻
Before the school holidays begin, bring the kids along for our final Kids Create workshop! This week, we are taking inspiration from Central Otago artist Neil Driver’s stunning painting Central Hills, currently featured in our Spring: What We Kept exhibition.
In this creative hands-on session, children will:
Build a frame: Construct and decorate a custom window frame using popsicle sticks.
Paint the landscape: Capture their ultimate spring view - whether it is the real scenery outside their bedroom window or a colorful dream destination.
Assemble the masterpiece: Layer their custom frame directly over their painting to create an awesome, 3D window effect, and add little curtains using fabrics!
Two chances to join us!
We’ll be running the same activity on Thursday and Sunday, so choose whichever session suits you best. No need to attend both (unless you want to!)
Thursday Session: 10 September, 3PM - 4.30PM
Sunday Session: 13 September, 11.30AM-2PM
Free entry, no bookings needed. Adult supervision required.
Kids Create | A Bowl of Creativity
Our current exhibition, 'Spring: What We Kept', is filled with a hundred works created by artists from all over New Zealand. From paintings and ceramics to glass and wooden sculptures, the exhibition is brimming with stories and a variety of techniques and skills - evidence of the creativity of artists.
For this Kids Create activity, we are taking inspiration from the entire exhibition. Come and visit 'Spring: What We Kept', get inspired, and create a one-of-a-kind artwork that you can take home and proudly show others.
Our 'canvas' for this activity is a simple paper bowl, and our 'medium' will be soft air-dry clay and your creativity.
What will you turn the bowl into? A raspberry pie? A pond sculpture with a hidden frog? We want to see what you can turn a paper bowl into!
📌 Two chances to join us!
We’ll be running the same activity on Thursday and Sunday, so choose whichever session suits you best. No need to attend both (unless you want to!)
Thursday Session: 17 September, 3PM - 4.30PM
Sunday Session: 20 September, 11.30AM-2PM
Free entry, no bookings needed.
Adult supervision required for tamariki. Rangatahi are welcome!
PLAY 2.0: Family Fun Day!
He Waka Tuia invites you to the official opening of our upcoming exhibition PLAY 2.0 from 11am-2:30pm on Saturday 24 June. This is the sequel to PLAY – one of our most popular exhibitions of all time which you may remember from 2022.
Have you ever sat on furniture made entirely of soft toys? Or seen your shadow in multiple colours? Have you ever made a Jackson Pollock out of lego dots? If not, then this exhibition is for you!
Come along to our family fun day, where both kids and adults can enjoy fun through play. We have a number of zones throughout the exhibition where visitors can engage in various activities as well as face painting by Flourish Face Painting and balloon animals by magician Jimmy Marvel.
If you cannot make the opening but would still love to come and see PLAY 2.0, this exhibition will continue to run from 24 June - 30 July.
Entry is free for all.
See you there!
Beers & Bastard Pies
Join us for an exciting beer-tasting event at He Waka Tuia!
We have a specialty beer, 'The Bullmore', brewed by the amazing Gadoochi brewer at the The Tuatara Lodge. Catering will be provided by the iconic Fat Bastard Pies. The $30 ticket price covers both the pie and beer tasting.
Please book your spot by emailing hello@hewakatuia.nz before May 17.
Let us know if you have dietary restrictions so we can arrange alternative food and drink options.
Fractured Figures
He Waka Tuia is hosting a life drawing session where participants can create a surrealist work of art by using collage materials for the background and drawings for the foreground. Join in to explore your creativity!
$10 per person
Email us at hello@hewakatuia.nz to book
From Farm to Fulham Road
Join us at He Waka Tuia for an enlightening talk and presentation on our 'Edward Bullmore: A boy from Balfour' exhibition by art historian and guest curator Penny Jackson.
Learn more about our local unsung hero Edward Bullmore from an expert in the field!
High Tea at He Waka Tuia
What goes better with Wedgwood than High Tea?
To celebrate our upcoming exhibition, we have joined forces with Country Manor Catering to bring you a series of High Teas:
Tuesday Nov 15, 12pm
Wednesday Nov 16, 12pm
Thursday Nov 17, 12pm
Saturday Nov 19, 1:30pm
Tuesday Nov 22, 12pm
Wednesday Nov 23, 12pm
Thursday Nov 24, 12pm
Saturday Nov 26, 1:30pm
Book in today and secure your spot to spend a glorious hour enjoying eight dainty treats and cups of tea, while taking in the exhibition. Get a group together for your lunch break and have that ever important relaxing catch up before the silly season starts!
To book, please contact hello@hewakatuia.nz.
Tickets are $25 per person, limited to 30 people per session.