Bridges: Seen and Unseen

Opening on 6th March, Bridges: Seen and Unseen will be the gallery's first major exhibition of the year.

Bridges: Seen and Unseen brings together a group of established artists exploring connection in its many forms — across land, memory and experience. From recognisable crossings within the landscape to quieter, more personal connections, the exhibition reflects on the ways we move toward one another and the spaces we inhabit.

Bridges are familiar markers — carrying us over rivers and valleys — yet connection reaches far beyond architecture. It can be found in light meeting water, in the pull of place, in shared histories, in moments of transition. Some connections are visible and grounded; others are subtle, emotional or environmental — felt rather than seen.

In this exhibition, artists respond to both the tangible and the intangible. Whether through landscape, abstraction or material exploration, the works invite viewers to pause, consider and experience the beauty of connection in its many forms.

We look forward to welcoming you to the exhibition and helping you find a work that connects with your space and story.

*About This is Not My Home by Jana Branca

"‘This Is Not My Home’ depicts two stems of red orchids arranged in a glass vase, resting on a wooden table. Light passes through the water and reflective surface of the vessel, holding the flowers in clarity and stillness.

One stem reaches beyond the picture plane, forming a subtle bridge outward; a gesture that resists containment and suggests a movement toward something unseen. This reaching becomes a quiet marker of liminality: a space between arrival and departure, presence and longing.

The work reflects on seasons of waiting and transition and on what it means to live purposefully within displacement. Cut flowers, sustained for a time by water, carry an awareness of mortality. It is beauty held in suspension, already passing.
The title gestures toward a deeper tension: an acknowledgement that the present, while meaningful, is not ultimate. Rather than resolving that tension, the painting dwells within it, asking how one might wait well, attentively and faithfully, in the in-between."

** About Reverie by Julie Whyman and Bruce McLachlan

"Bruce and I decided to experiment combining our art. With Reverie, Bruce started the original painting, the girl was his idea. Then we passed the canvas between us, just working on it when we felt like it. Adding bits and taking bits away until we had something we both liked. It was a challenge because both of our processes were interrupted, and we had to work with what the other artist had done to the canvas. We had to let go and relinquish control. However, we both love the result, and enjoyed the process."

Guest Artist Bruce McLachlan is an established artist from Hamilton, in the Waikato region of New Zealand. He is of Ngati Apa descent. Well known for his stunning portrait and realism works, he is responsible for many of the murals around Hamilton city. Working as a sign writer, Bruce took the leap into a career as a full-time artist 20 years ago. His training is evident in the attention to detail in his work. Growing up with dyslexia in the 1960’s, Bruce found a passion for drawing. He has held a long fascination with the human face. He credits this to the time spent observing people as a child, growing up in a large family with 12 siblings, and not enjoying schoolwork. This has given Bruce an intuitive ability to capture people and personalities. Working with charcoal, pencil or acrylic, Bruce recreates images he is drawn to, challenging himself to capture something that speaks to him. While Bruce has the ability to translate many images, he is especially interested in famous faces. Bruce loves to paint people as homage to the influence they have had on our culture, arts and changing our world as we know it, immortalising other artists and their achievements.

*** About Spot Junior: Something special for you ... by Merle Bishop

"Spot Junior snatches together an informal bunch of flowers as a special impromptu gift for a treasured friend! (A perfect way to build bridges!)."

**** About Kirsty White's Works

"My work and the concept of Bridges… From the outset I have been using my artwork to explore connections, relationships and links between people and place, cultures and habitation, landscape and memory here in Aotearoa.

Connection to whenua, the land and how we inhabit it and experience it can shape our thoughts and memories, often in a very intimate, joyful and nostalgic way. These bonds between people and place are shared experiences across cultures and something special we share here in New Zealand.

As a printmaker, I can use various techniques to enforce these concepts. Touching on historic narratives within a contemporary view of that landscape.  Woodcut is used to create pattern work influenced by toi whakairo (Maori carving) and Pacific Island tapa. While etching, an age old European technique is used to illustrate landscape as we see and experience it today. Both techniques integrating and reflecting on our mixed cultural heritage and the connections we share to our whenua."