Te Tuhi, formerly known as Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts, Te Tuhi - The Mark, Te Tuhi Gallery and Pakuranga Arts Society is a public contemporary art gallery situated in

Pakuranga Pakuranga is an eastern suburb of Auckland, in northern New Zealand. Pakuranga covers a series of low ridges and previously swampy flats, now drained, that lie between the Pakuranga Creek and Tamaki River, two estuarial arms of the Hauraki Gul ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Managed by Te Tuhi Contemporary Art Trust and the Contemporary Art Foundation, Te Tuhi presents significant exhibitions and projects by New Zealand and international artists. Te Tuhi also serves as a focal point for the community as an events venue and meeting place for our many users and community groups in Pakuranga.

History

Te Tuhi’s history traced back all the way to the early 1960s with the creation of the Pakuranga Arts Society. Pakuranga Arts Society founded by a group of local women, the first meetings were in a garden shed. It was only in 1975, it was opened as New Zealand’s first purpose-built arts centre. Te Tuhi was created in a partnership between the Fisher Gallery and the Pakuranga Community and Cultural Centre. The name ''Te Tuhi'' was gifted by the local iwi (tribe)

Ngai Tai Ngai (also called Múrungu or Enkai) is the monolithic Supreme God in the spirituality of the Kikuyu (or Gikuyu) and the closely related Embu, Meru and Kamba groups of Kenya, and the Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania. Ngai is creator of the universe ...

. The name ''Te Tuhi'' comes from the legend of the ancestor Manawatere, a

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

voyager and explorer who arrived in the

Hauraki Gulf The Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has an area of 4000 km2,Tainui Tainui is a tribal waka confederation of New Zealand Māori iwi. The Tainui confederation comprises four principal related Māori iwi of the central North Island of New Zealand: Hauraki, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Raukawa and Waikato. There are oth ...

. Landing at the beach at what is now

Howick Howick may refer to: Places *Howick, KwaZulu-Natal, in South Africa **Howick Falls * Howick, Lancashire, a small hamlet (Howick Cross) and former civil parish in England *Howick, New Zealand **Howick Historical Village **Howick (New Zealand electo ...

's Cockle Bay, he made his ''tuhi'', or mark, on a

pohutukawa ''Metrosideros excelsa'', commonly known as pōhutukawa ( mi, pōhutukawa), New Zealand Christmas tree, New Zealand Christmas bush, and iron tree, is a coastal evergreen tree in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, that produces a brilliant display o ...

tree situated on the foreshore, using ''karamea'', a

red ochre Ochre ( ; , ), or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colours produced ...

. The pohutukawa tree of the story still stands today, although the mark has since gone. Te Tuhi has been exhibiting in Pakuranga for over 40 years.

Present

Te Tuhi is situated in 13 Reeves Road, Pakuranga, Auckland, right next to Pakuranga Plaza. In 2017, Te Tuhi won Exhibition Excellence - Art section, ServiceIQ New Zealand Museum Awards for the exhibition ''Share, Cheat, Unite''. During the time between 2017 and 2018, Te Tuhi had attracted 175,000 visitors, of which 5500 are students, and hosted 15 exhibitions that featured 20 artists and commissioned 11 artworks. More than 150 workshops and classes, and more than 30 seminars and lectures were hosted in Te Tuhi

References

{{Howick Local Board Area Art museums and galleries in Auckland Tourist attractions in Auckland Howick Local Board Area Art galleries in New Zealand Art museums and galleries in New Zealand East Auckland 1975 establishments in New Zealand