Masterton has been described as the shearing capital of New Zealand, thanks to the annual Golden Shears competition which sees hordes of sheep and farmers descend on the town each year. But there’s more to Masterton than wool and Swanndris. The town has a lively arts scene, including the biennial Yarns in Barns festival of reading, an active theatre company, and a regional choir.
When it comes to the visual arts, a quartet of arts and culture organisations are making sure that within one town block, those who want to enjoy – or create – works of art are well catered for.
Known as the Arts Quarter, the area comprises Aratoi, the Wairarapa Museum of Art and History; ConArt Gallery and Studios, housed in five shipping containers; King Street Artworks, an open-door workshop supporting mental health; and Hau Kainga, a community space dedicated to Māori arts, culture and heritage.
If there’s a lynchpin in the Quarter, it’s undoubtedly Aratoi, which houses the Wairarapa’s only public art collection, and hosts up to 30 exhibitions a year. Aratoi holds nearly 3,000 items, from taonga Māori and social history objects to colonial and contemporary artworks. The collection includes works by Colin McCahon, Toss Woollaston, Robin White and Bill Sutton. Many are catalogued online for those further afield.
Aratoi’s modern façade cuts a dashing figure, and once visitors are through the automatic doors there’s four different exhibition spaces, each with a specific audience in mind.
Perhaps the most beautiful is the converted Wesley Wing – an ex-church. “We’ve had people come in who were married here,” says Public Programmes and Communications Manager Becky Bateman. The church is now Aratoi’s community space, hosting events like the annual Breadcraft Wairarapa Schools Art Exhibition and a biennial exhibition from King Street Artworks – a community favourite. “Our greatest source of pride is our community connections,” Becky says. “We aim to create a friendly, accessible museum where everyone is welcome. Anyone can approach us with an idea for an exhibition.”
One of Aratoi’s most recent acquisitions is probably its most impressive – a replica of Te Waka Wairua o Kurahaupō, one of the original migration canoes from Hawaiki in East Polynesia to Aotearoa. The waka’s display was a prelude to the opening of an exhibition on the history and taonga of Rangitāne, one of two dominant iwi in the Wairarapa, in early May. Somewhat unusually, the exhibition will have a revolving cast of items.
“Having the iwi take ownership of their exhibition and do things a different way has been really refreshing for us,” says Becky. “We’ve learned a huge amount from them and they’ve learned from us.”
Aratoi hosts about 100,000 visitors a year, many of whom are local. Those who come from further afield are often pleasantly surprised by what they find.“Many people expect a small provincial museum with dusty objects; a mannequin in the corner with a shawl on,” says Becky.“But in our local arts community, there’s a feeling that if you get your work in to Aratoi, you really are at the pinnacle of your craft.”
A touch smaller than Aratoi, but no less distinctive, is ConArt Gallery and Studios. ConArt is home to a collective of Wairarapa artists who create and sell their work from its brightly painted shipping containers. If it sounds familiar, you’re right. ConArt was inspired by Christchurch’s Re:START, a temporary mall built from shipping containers after the 2011 earthquake.
In 2016, the land holding ConArt was vacant and its owner, Masterton Trust Lands Trust, had the idea of using it to create something like Re:START. Enter Wairarapa landscape painter, Jane Sinclair.
“I’m the kind of person who puts my hand up if I see something that needs to be done,” says Jane, who was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to art and education in 2024. “There are a lot of artists in the Wairarapa, and I thought it would be great if there was a central space where we could all exhibit together.”
The five containers house a long main gallery, several studio spaces and a shop. An outdoor sculpture garden completes the picture. Artists can book wall space in the main gallery for six weeks at a time, and can also rent a studio space to create, exhibit and promote their art.
“Being an artist can be a lonely business,” Jane explains. “One of the benefits of ConArt is the opportunity for artists to make connections within the community and with a broader audience base.” ConArt’s 65 to 70 participating artists include painters, wood turners, photographers and sculptors. “We aim for a certain standard of work so visitors will keep returning,” Jane says.
Just around the corner from ConArt is Hau Kainga, a community space dedicated to Māori arts, culture and heritage. Hau Kainga is run by He Kāhui Wairarapa (HKW), a local group which took over the space after a previous project folded.
“A whare is nothing without people,” explains Makuini Kerehi, voluntary manager of Hau Kainga. “So the first thing we did was run a series of exhibitions focused on local marae. “We called the series Hau Kainga, meaning ‘home crowd’. And when we surveyed visitors on what they liked about the space and what we should call it, there was overwhelming support for the name. So we kept it.”
After one marae incorporated a local weaver into their exhibition, a new idea took shape – using the space to promote and sell local artwork. As I interview Makuini, the table we sit at is surrounded by stands of art for sale, including glasswork, jewellery, pounamu and clothing.
“We are always increasing the number of artists we have on display,” Makuini says. “They just come out of the woodwork.”
Hau Kainga is also used as a community learning space. Classes on te reo, weaving, pounamu carving, hapūtanga (pregnancy), massage, and even STEM (science, technology, education and mathematics) for college students are all on offer. “The space has got a lovely feel and there really isn’t anything else like it in the Wairarapa,” Makuini says.
If you walk back to ConArt and cross the street, you’ll find King Street Artworks (KSA), a free, open-door creative space supporting mental health.
Funded by Health New Zealand (Te Whatu Ora), the studio is open six days a week for users to create their own art, be that a piece of pottery, painting, sculpture or textile. Computer facilities are also available for those interested in digital art. All materials and equipment, like use of the pottery kiln, are free. On-site tutors provide help as needed.
It’s not just creating art that brings people to the studio, but the chance to be part of a community. “Before Covid, we were focused purely on the creative side of things to support mental health,” explains General Manager Ian Chapman, who first joined KSA as a tutor 29 years ago. “But afterwards we realised that being part of a community, being with like-minded people, the whānau environment we provide here – they’re all just as important.”
Open access to the studio is key. “Anyone can walk in our door and begin creating art,” Ian says. “But a busy environment like this can be intimidating for some people, and art itself can be intimidating. It might take months for someone to get through the door.”
Once inside, users are given a tour of the space and asked what they would like to make. “We try to accommodate as many different art forms and interests as possible. If someone wants to make a pool table, that’s not going to happen, but for most people we can find something here that suits them.”
The studio has more than 400 artists on their books, who are invited to exhibit their work at the on-site gallery. Users range in age from young children to those in their 80s. “Mental illness doesn’t discriminate,” Ian says.
Comedian Raybon Kan, who was born in Masterton, once described the town as “a fate worse than death”. He can be forgiven for the slight, but only because the Masterton Arts Quarter didn’t exist in his day. I like to think he’d be pleasantly surprised by the sight of families, couples, out-of-towners, and artists mingling at the quarter on a sunny Saturday morning. In a part of town that is otherwise focused on the serious business of shopping and consumerism, it provides something of a haven for me – a place to step away from day-to-day concerns, and just be with good people and good art. In these complicated times, there are few things more enjoyable than that.
