Wellington's top art galleries for browsing & buying
Having a wander around the galleries is a lovely way to spend some in the city. Wellington's compact city centre has made for a strong concentration of art galleries within close proximity to each other. Each gallery has its own personality and flavour and you'll see a mix of emerging and established artists, both locally-based and from around New Zealand and the world.
Jhana Millers
Level 1/85 Victoria Street, Te Aro, Wellington
Gallery owner and curator Jhana Millers originally trained as a jeweller before completing a Masters of Fine Arts at Massey University Wellington. While studying, she took on extra projects and got a taste for curator and gallery management.
Jhana Millers opened in 2018 on the first floor of a heritage-listed building on Victoria Street. The modernist building is the perfect background for showing art and the gallery shows a range of mainly New Zealand artists working in a range of mediums including painting, jewellery, video and sculpture.
Kura Gallery
19 Allen Street, Te Aro, Wellington
Kura Gallery features traditional and contemporary Māori carving, original artworks, innovative design, unique jewellery, furniture and genuine pounamu (greenstone). The gallery is passionate about supporting the growth of Māori and New Zealand art and design and represents both established and emerging Māori and New Zealand artists. Located in the Courtenay Place precinct, Kura is great place to purchase a gift or a souvenir and they offer an international and national packaging and delivery service.
Bowen Galleries
39 Ghuznee Street, Te Aro, Wellington
You’ll find Bowen Galleries by their eye-catching exhibition window that faces out onto the fashionable Ghuznee Precinct. A new artwork is swapped out every couple of weeks and gives customers sitting outside the neighbouring cafés something to contemplate with their long black. Bowen Galleries is run by Penney Moir and Jenny Neligan and has a long history of regularly showing the work of New Zealand and Australian artists in Wellington. The gallery also has a fantastic stockroom with selected work by represented artists that is well worth checking out.
McLeavey Gallery
147 Cuba Street, Te Aro, Wellington
Long-established art dealer specialising in New Zealand contemporary art, McLeavey Gallery celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2018. Originally set up by Peter McLeavey in 1968, the gallery made its name representing leading artists like Colin McCahon, Gordon Walters and Toss Woollaston. The gallery is now run by Peter's daughter, Olivia, who has continued the gallery's reputation for showing the work of influential contemporary New Zealand artists. The intimate gallery space is filled with natural light from a large semi-circular window that looks out onto Cuba Street.
Page Galleries
42 Victoria Street, Te Aro, Wellington
One of Wellington’s largest commercial art spaces, Page Galleries presents a regularly changing exhibition programme of some of New Zealand’s leading contemporary artists. As well as exhibiting and selling works by represented and featured artists, the gallery specialises in historical art and valuations. The modern and thoughtfully laid-out gallery has polished concrete floors and multiple exhibition spaces. It’s a great place to go for a browse and the knowledgeable staff will be happy to talk art with you.
{Suite} Art Gallery
241 Cuba Street, Te Aro, Wellington
{Suite} Art Gallery on Cuba Street represents a suite of New Zealand and international contemporary artists, the gallery has a varied scheduled of exhibitions.
Upstairs is a dedicated living museum to acclaimed New Zealand photographer Ans Westra. Browse through articles dating back to 1960 and view over 200 books featuring Ans' images and view regularly changing exhibitions.
Solander Gallery
218c Willis Street, Te Aro, Wellington
Celebrating art on paper, Solander Gallery specialises in showcasing New Zealand and international prints and drawings. The gallery is keen to help raise public awareness of the work of printmaking artists and will be happy to you about the contemporary etchings, screen prints, woodcuts, papercuts or drawings on display. Just a few minutes’ walk from Cuba Street, Solander Gallery welcomes people to come and check out their feature exhibitions or to have a browse through their folios of original prints and drawings.
Avid Gallery
48 Victoria Street, Te Aro, Wellington
Fans of contemporary ceramics and jewellery will be in their element at Avid, an established gallery on Victoria Street. Representing some of New Zealand's foremost artists in glass, ceramics, bronze, stone, mixed media and other objects of applied art, Avid is a place to discover new artists and revisit some of your old favourites. The gallery has regular exhibitions of new work and carry a good range of work in stock. If anything catches your eye, they offer a pack and post service throughout New Zealand and internationally.
Be in the KNOW
Subscribe to get fortnightly updates on what’s fresh, new and happening in Wellington
You may unsubscribe in the footer of all emails from WellingtonNZ. For more info, read our enews terms