Gallery at home in beautiful setting
Located on the picturesque Banks Peninsula midway between Christchurch and Akaroa, Little River Gallery is a must-visit destination for anyone seeking original art, beautiful gifts and a relaxing day out.
Housing an extensive, everchanging collection of New Zealand paintings, prints, jewellery, homewares, gifts and books, the gallery then tumbles out into a peaceful cafe garden, featuring garden art and large-scale sculptures by eminent New Zealand artists.
Monthly exhibitions are opened on Saturday mornings with delectable refreshments on offer and often a chance to meet the artist.
With the rugged beach landscape of Birdlings Flat nearby, numerous forest walks and birdwatching opportunities, plus quirky accommodation options such as the next-door Silo Stay, Little River Gallery should be top of your list for both a relaxing and stimulating getaway from the big city.
Like portals to paradise, Kirsty Nixon’s large-scale paintings invite the viewer to pull back the ‘‘fringes’’ of our native flora to reveal the quintessentially New Zealand landscapes hidden behind.
Framed by the structural forms of our native foliage, like cabbage tree leaves or nectarladen flax flowers, and almost always with a native bird or two in attendance, unfolding before your eyes could be an endless coastline, a deep, green cove or perhaps even a glimpse of the far horizon.
Kirsty is repeatedly drawn to the New Zealand landscape in its various guises, and while on holiday at the bird sanctuary island Tiritiri Matangi recently, she experienced a sense of utter peace while watching the bellbirds flitting about the feeders and hearing their hypnotic song.
Returning home, she became keenly aware of the absence of native birdsong and thus her new works pay tribute to the ways in which the melodic voices of our native birds have the ability to enrich our lives as we navigate our daily affairs.
Based in Auckland, Kirsty has been painting full-time since 1997, initially in the medium of watercolour but now having found her home in the freedom and impact of acrylic.