|
Taranaki is not only home to dairy cows, oil rigs, walkways and famous gardens! The pioneering region is also the centre for a thriving arts industry, boasting world-renowned art galleries, museums, and some of the country’s top artists and craftspeople
There’s no better place to enjoy the region’s arty flavour than Surf Highway 45, where artists and artisans tend to flock for the area’s superb natural beauty and inspiration. Take a trip from New Plymouth to Hawera, and expect to be impressed by the huge array of artists’ galleries to pick from; or stop at Percy Thomson Gallery in Stratford, where local and national artists are displayed. Not to be missed is the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery – considered to be one of Australasia’s leading contemporary galleries and a place where your senses can be challenged and titillated.
Taranaki boasts some of New Zealand’s top artists, holds an annual WOMAD (World of Music Arts and Dance), a biennial Taranaki Festival of the Arts, supports a thriving amateur theatre movement, and can claim several top art galleries of international standing. Internationally renowned kinetic sculptor Len Lye gifted his collection to the region, and examples of his stunning designs are starting to pop up around New Plymouth City.
Taranaki is the home of WOMAD (World of Music Arts and Dance), which sweeps into town every year, transforming Brooklands Park and Bowl into an international kaleidoscope of song, movement and colour. Various other community events, such as food and wine festivals, festivals of lights and multi-ethnic parades, add to the rich and diverse arts scene that Taranaki enjoys.
If you still ponder at the strength of Taranaki’s art scene, just stand at New Plymouth’s foreshore looking up at the city’s iconic 45m Len Lye windwand that attractions thousands of people each year…and you will see why we are ‘like no other’.
|
|
|
