The Dowse Art Museum

The Dowse Art Museum Leading contemporary art museum with a changing programme of exhibitions and events.
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Located in central Lower Hutt, a short drive from both Porirua and Wellington city, The Dowse is a lively contemporary art gallery presenting the work of local, national and international artists. The Dowse is operated as part of the art & culture unit of Hutt City Council.

Have a go at Siapo! Have you wondered how Siapo is made? Ever wanted to scrape the soaked U’a and beat it to split and s...
28/08/2026

Have a go at Siapo! Have you wondered how Siapo is made? Ever wanted to scrape the soaked U’a and beat it to split and spread the fibres? Here's your chance.

Where U From artist Doron Riki-Semu will be in the gallery this Saturday from 11am-2pm guiding visitors to create a piece of Siapo to take home. Put on your comfortable clothes that you don’t mind getting a little wet in, pull up your sleeves and get stuck in to Siapo making.

Kassie Hartendorp (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) is no stranger to talking about the hard stuff, tackling important t...
20/08/2026

Kassie Hartendorp (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) is no stranger to talking about the hard stuff, tackling important topics in her advocacy and work since her youth. Kassie has spent time as a youth worker, been a part of takatāpui groups, was a member of Māori and Pasifika arts collective Kava Club, worked for an Equal Pay campaign and is currently Director of ActionStation, a community campaigning organisation.

Kassie and fellow panelists, Maria Bargh and Jack McDonald will have plenty to say at this Sunday's panel discussion, Let’s Talk About It: How Conversation Can Impact Social Change for Māori Communities. Chaired by Metiria Turei and inspired by topics brought up in current exhibition Things We Don't Talk About, the panel promises to be enlightening, inspiring, educational and thought-provoking.

To attend, register via https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/lets-talk-about-it-how-conversation-can-impact-social-change-for-maori-tickets-1993800127854?aff=oddtdtcreator

The Dowse is looking for our next Curator! Do you get so unreasonably excited about art that it disturbs flocks of birds...
14/08/2026

The Dowse is looking for our next Curator!

Do you get so unreasonably excited about art that it disturbs flocks of birds? Do you have such an uncontrollable urge to talk about craft that people sometimes avoid sitting next to you on the bus? Do you possess the casual arrogance of a powerful wizard who can look at an impossible idea and a terrifying spreadsheet and think, “Oh yes. I can make an exhibition out of this”?

Excellent. We've been waiting for you.

Find the full job description at https://careers.huttcity.govt.nz
APPLICATIONS CLOSE 6 SEPTEMBER 2026.

Image: Louise Lewis, The Visitor, 1969. Acrylic on canvas on board. Collection of The Dowse Art Museum, purchased 1971.

Yesterday the Dowse team tried Bellbird’s cult-favourite WOAP Burger Wellington burger, the Lamb-da Rassa Pao, and we ca...
12/08/2026

Yesterday the Dowse team tried Bellbird’s cult-favourite WOAP Burger Wellington burger, the Lamb-da Rassa Pao, and we came to two very important conclusions. 🍔

First: this messy little b*tch lives up to the HYPE. Inspired by chef chetan pangam 's hometown in India — a place known for very good food and very hot gossip — it’s a glorious drippy double-lamb situation with Zany Zeus mint yoghurt chakka, lettuce, LOUDER peanut chilli thecha and topped with a fried pickle chilli for extra crunch. You are given a little pottle of rasa jus to baptize the whole thing in gravy before taking a bite. And then… transcendence.

Second: if I posted any of the ACTUAL photos I took during lunch, my colleagues would never ever speak to me again. Eyes rolling back in their head with delight, gravy dripping down chins, thecha mayo all over their fingers. Undignified animals, every one of them.

We couldn’t look ourselves in the eye afterwards, so it’s very lucky that The Dowse is right there, filled with great art to look at instead.

The 10/10 Lamb-da Rassa Pao is available at Bellbird Eatery for Burger Wellington until 23 August. Book your table, bring your appetite, and prepare to leave your dignity at home. Our team certainly did.

Whoop whoop! Guest speaker in the house! Nathan Pōhio, Kaitiaki Matua, Toi Māori | Senior Curator, Māori Art at Auckland...
09/08/2026

Whoop whoop! Guest speaker in the house! Nathan Pōhio, Kaitiaki Matua, Toi Māori | Senior Curator, Māori Art at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, will be at The Dowse this Sunday, giving a talk about Wayne Youle's practice within the broader landscape of New Zealand and Māori art.

Pōhio will reflect on the humility, wit, conceptual rigour, themes and community engagement that define Youle’s art making to date, drawing on more than 20 years of watching him thrive as both an artist and a respected member of the Ōtautahi arts community.

The talk coincides with Wayne Youle: Back In Five, a major survey exhibition charting two decades of Youle’s practice.

Register via https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/slowly-but-surely-twenty-years-of-wayne-youle-tickets-1996772180343?aff=oddtdtcreator to come along and hear from this special guest speaker.

Reuben Paterson, Perrier Jouët (2003)Masculinity, queerness, matriarchal lineages, whānau relationships, vintage fabrics...
07/08/2026

Reuben Paterson, Perrier Jouët (2003)

Masculinity, queerness, matriarchal lineages, whānau relationships, vintage fabrics, glitz and glamour. These are just some of the topics explored in Paterson's glittering artwork.

The artworks in Things We Don't Talk About all have this richness of depth in common. You barely need to scratch the surface to unveil a plethora of discussion points. At Let’s Talk About It: How Conversation Can Impact Social Change for Māori Communities, Sunday 23 August, our panelists will be delving into the artworks and teasing out the issues they deal with, having the hard but necessary conversations.

Check out the exhibition, and register for the panel via https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/lets-talk-about-it-how-conversation-can-impact-social-change-for-maori-tickets-1993800127854?aff=oddtdtcreator

If you're in Ōtepoti Dunedin this Friday, please join our senior curator Chelsea Nichols for a free public talk at Duned...
05/08/2026

If you're in Ōtepoti Dunedin this Friday, please join our senior curator Chelsea Nichols for a free public talk at Dunedin School of Art exploring the wonderfully strange world of The Dowse collection. Expect enchanting stories of magic wands and even magic-er jewellery. 🪄

Friday, 7 August at 12pm. Dunedin School of Art, Lecture Theatre P152, 19 Riego Street. Free entry. Details on their website.

Opening soon at The Dowse is Where U From, feat. Jimmy Ma’ia’i, Isabella Lepoamo, Jasmine Tuiā and Doron Riki-Semu, who ...
03/08/2026

Opening soon at The Dowse is Where U From, feat. Jimmy Ma’ia’i, Isabella Lepoamo, Jasmine Tuiā and Doron Riki-Semu, who explore the language of siapo — the Sāmoan art of barkcloth making. Each carry the practice forward in ways that honour its history while speaking to contemporary questions of identity, belonging and culture.

📷 Detail of ‘Where U From’ (2025) by Jimmy Ma’ia’i. Photo courtesy of Sam Harnett 🅙🅘🅜🅜🅨

Opening soon at The Dowse is Where U From, feat. Jimmy Ma’ia’i, Isabella Lepoamo, Jasmine Tuiā and Doron Riki-Semu, who explore the language of siapo — the Sāmoan art of barkcloth making. Each carry the practice forward in ways that honour its history while speaking to contemporary questions of identity, belonging and culture.

📷 Detail of ‘To’alua’ (2026) by Doron Riki-Semu. Photo courtesy of the artist Doron Riki-Semu

Opening soon at The Dowse is Where U From, feat. Jimmy Ma’ia’i, Isabella Lepoamo, Jasmine Tuiā and Doron Riki-Semu, who explore the language of siapo — the Sāmoan art of barkcloth making. Each carry the practice forward in ways that honour its history while speaking to contemporary questions of identity, belonging and culture.

📷 Detail of work in progress of ‘Ia lolomi / Ready To Print’ (2026) by Jasmine Tuiā. Photo courtesy of the artist jasmine.tuia

Ahead of our upcoming panel, Let’s Talk About It: How Conversation Can Impact Social Change for Māori Communities, Chair...
30/07/2026

Ahead of our upcoming panel, Let’s Talk About It: How Conversation Can Impact Social Change for Māori Communities, Chair Metiria Turei reflects on the works in Things We Don't Talk About. Of Zena Elliott's The Abundant Future: Roaming the Lands of Empty, The Lone Garden Warrior Begins to Plant Plenty, Turei writes:

"Like all the pieces in the exhibition, Elliot’s work holds many conversations.

Its existence alone denies the colonial Christianised limits inflicted on mana wahine and our responsibilities to enliven our own whakairo.

In this way, the "time-travelling storyhouse” Elliot describes, also talks about the regeneration of whakairo wāhine.

The work speaks to the deep dislocation from land loss but also offers visions of an unbounded future. Wherever we are, our tipuna are too because we take them with us.

We can always be located, because ahikā has its own kind of momentum through time and space. So maybe it’s less about what we don't talk about and more that if you want to join the conversation, just pick up a teatowel."

We look forward to hearing more from Turei and panelists Maria Bargh, Kassie Hartendorp and Jack McDonald on Sunday 23 August at The Dowse.

It’s the last weekend to see the sumptuous (but also gory) glassworks in ‘George Agius: Sweet Meats’ here at The Dowse.A...
29/07/2026

It’s the last weekend to see the sumptuous (but also gory) glassworks in ‘George Agius: Sweet Meats’ here at The Dowse.

Agius is a master at glassmaking, managing to push the medium into new realms. Feilding-based, Agius was recently named in the Corning Museum of Glass’s ‘New Glass Review’ one of the 100 most innovative glass artists’ internationally to watch.

Closes Sunday. Come sneak a peek before it’s gone George Agius

Address

45 Laings Road
Lower Hutt
5010

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 10am - 5pm

Telephone

+6445706500

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