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 estuary, estuarial arms of the ...

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. 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. 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 Co ...

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 (canoe), waka confederation of New Zealand Māori people, Māori iwi. The Tainui confederation comprises four principal related Māori iwi of the central North Island of New Zealand: Hauraki Māori, Hauraki, Ngāti Maniapo ...

. Landing at the beach at what is now Howick's Cockle Bay, he made his ''tuhi'', or mark, on a

pōhutukawa Pōhutukawa (''Metrosideros excelsa''), also known as the New Zealand Christmas tree, or iron tree, is a coastal evergreen tree in the Myrtus, myrtle family, Myrtaceae, that produces a brilliant display of red (or occasionally orange, yellow o ...

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

red ochre Ochre ( ; , ), iron 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 col ...

. The pōhutukawa 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