Wellington's top art galleries for browsing and 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.
Bartley and Company Art
56A Ghuznee Street, Te Aro, Wellington
What was once a stable for keeping horses, is now a gallery for keeping art. Behind a contemporary take on a wooden picket fence and with a hard-to-miss red façade, Bartley + Company Art is modern, white-walled gallery space. This Ghuznee Street gallery represents some of New Zealand’s most exciting emerging and established artists and regularly stages exhibitions of their work. From painting, photography, video and sculpture, the gallery aims to show work that inspire and provoke conversations. There’s a small stock room at the back of the gallery which is a wonderful treasure trove of art by their featured artists.
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.
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.
Precinct 35
35 Ghuznee Street, Te Aro, Wellington
‘The goods you buy should resonate, not disintegrate’ is the mantra of Precinct 35, a homeware, art and furniture store on Ghuznee Street. Owner Prak Sritharan carefully curates the regularly changing offerings and has an excellent eye for good design and handmade ceramics both made locally and sourced from around the world. There’s also an art gallery at the back of the store which shows a regularly changing line-up of contemporary art including painting, photography and sculpture. Every object and artwork at Precinct 35 has a story to tell and are built to last – and they look pretty good, too.
Millers O'Brien Gallery
Level 1/85 Victoria Street, Te Aro, Wellington
In a building that’s also home to local luxury leather goods label Yu Mei and a store devoted to handmade ceramics, Millers O’Brien is a gallery in good company. The building itself is a modernist dream with a wave-form canopy and curved glass windows and the gallery is reached by walking through a very photogenic chequered tiled foyer and up a flight of stairs. The gallery represents 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.
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 is a large gallery on upper Cuba Street with an accessible stockroom and sculpture garden. Representing a suite of New Zealand and international contemporary artists, the gallery has a varied scheduled of exhibitions. Their stockroom is a great opportunity to check out works from the gallery’s represented artists or spend some time quiet time in the sculpture garden which has works by Wellington sculptor Anton Parsons. Upstairs is a dedicated ‘living museum’ to acclaimed New Zealand photographer Ans Westra – {Suite} is agent for the artist and prints of the photographer’s work are available for sale.
Mossman
Level 2/22 Garrett Street, Te Aro, Wellington
Tucked away down a laneway off Cuba Street, Mossman is most definitely one of those galleries that you are unlikely to stumble across but should most definitely seek out. Run by Sarah Hopkinson and Danae Mossman, the gallery originally started in Auckland before relocating to the creative capital. The gallery represents some of New Zealand’s biggest names in contemporary art including artists who have represented New Zealand at the Venice Biennale including Bill Culbert (2013) and Dane Mitchell (2019). The gallery has a regularly changing line-up of shows that don’t shy away from showing gritty work that will challenge viewers.
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.
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.