[As published in July/August 2026 BayBuzz magazine]
Collaborators. Winter exhibition highlights, Italian Film Festival
Collaborators
What’s more of a collaboration in our region than this: the hard-working, hearty people our local wine industry, a community-spirited bunch of voluntary committee members, a line-up of generous and committed sponsors, an audience of supportive, wine-loving bidders and buyers, and Cranford Hospice?
This massive project is pulled together by general manager Samantha Kershaw, who remains stunned by the combined effort and effects of the wine auction.
“What I love most about this event is the community behind it,” she says.
“There are so many people who give their time, talent and resources to make the Hawke’s Bay Wine Auction happen, especially our winemakers, whose generosity never ceases to amaze me, and the businesses that get behind the event year after year. The scale of that collaboration and contribution blows my mind daily, and it’s the reason we’ve been able to raise more than $5 million for Cranford Hospice over the past 35 years.”
It’s not just virtuous either – it’s a bunch of fun, a chance to get to know wines and wine people, while supporting one of the region’s most valuable causes.
Tickets are now on sale for both the main event and the preview tasting:
• Wednesday 19 August – Napier Preview + Tasting Evening, 5.30pm-7.00pm
• Saturday 12 September –Hawke’s Bay Wine Auction, 12.30pm-5.00pm
See hawkebaywineauction.co.nz for more info and to secure tickets.
Winter exhibition highlights
Burnt Offerings runs at Muse Art Gallery, Havelock North, from 9 July to 12 August.
Here’s an exhibition of painting, carving and sculpture shaped by destruction, recovery and renewal. This group show brings together Hawke’s Bay artists Kaye McGarva, Te Ara Hihiko collaborators Jacob Scott and Jason Kendrick, and Nelson-based sculptor Chauncey Flay as they explore themes of materiality, atonement, and new beginnings.
In January a fire on the outskirts of Havelock North devastated studios and workshops, and although Kaye McGarva’s own studio there escaped major damage, the experience had a lasting impact.
“Fire is devastating and destructive, but it can also represent rebirth, like the phoenix rising from the ashes,” says McGarva. “There’s also a strong connection with Matariki and the idea of renewal and reflection.”
The concept for Burnt Offerings developed from conversations McGarva had with Scott and Kendrick, who often use the Japanese charring technique yakisugi in their carving practice. After visiting the site of the fires, the artists began discussing ways to incorporate the fire – both literally and symbolically – into a collaborative exhibition.
Material for works in the exhibition include large Kauri planks recovered from the burnt shed, custom-built and then charred frames, and charcoal from the site.
“There was something compelling about creating beauty from something so disastrous,” McGarva says.
“I hope people connect with that sense of resilience and possibility.”
Paradise – An Exhibition by Jeremy McCormick runs at Boyd-Dunlop Gallery, Napier, through the month of July
Pop to Boyd-Dunlop Gallery on Hastings Street to see the new show from New Zealand artist Jeremy McCormick. Here, his new paintings sit alongside print reproductions of selected earlier works now held in important private collections, including the Parkin Collection at the QT Art Hotel.
Jeremy has been exhibiting at Boyd-Dunlop Gallery for over eight years and has built a following of fans and collectors for his paintings which sit at a cross-section between surrealism and hyperrealism. Elisa Boyd-Dunlop comments that, “His dreamscapes depict two worlds in tension, the grit and texture of urban decay set against the raw power of the natural world.”
“Each new painting is a thread building a fantastical tale or postmodern fable full of symbolism and grandeur. Each element carries weight, some symbols are universal, drawing on shared human experience, others are personal to McCormick, embedded quietly for those who look closely enough. McCormick exhibits a technical skill that tends to stop people in their tracks. In the age of AI, McCormick’s works have a humanity and spirit that is relatable to people of different ages and cultures.”
Gwen Malden Te Mātau-a-Māui Art Commissions runs at Te Whare Toi o Heretaunga Hastings Art Gallery from 1 August
Earlier this year, four Hawke’s Bay artists – Asaki Kajima, Leanne Morrison, Raewyn Tauira Paterson (Ngāi Tūhoe) and Miria Pohatu (Ngāti Porou, Rongowhakaata, Ngāti Kahungunu) – were selected by a panel of local arts leaders to receive support to develop and exhibit new bodies of work.
The resulting works form the second edition of a biennial partnership between Te Whare Toi o Heretaunga Hastings Art Gallery and the Gwen Malden Charitable Trust.
The group show features a mix of media, explores themes of the environment, relationships, self-image and memory, and is on until Mid-November.
Ahakoa He Iti runs at Te Whare Toi o Heretaunga Hastings Art Gallery until 12 September
Curated by Hawke’s Bay independent curator and author Tryphena Cracknell (Rongomaiwāhine), Ahakoa He Iti is a conversation between eight contemporary adornment artists. The exhibition brings together emerging and well-established names: Pepi-Joy Gilgen, Gina Matchitt, Matthew McIntyre-Wilson, Aroha Millar, Neke Moa, Rowan Panther, Frances Stachl and Keri-Mei Zagrobelna.
“Ahakoa He Iti came from the idea of jewellery itself being usually quite small, but behind that there can be a really powerful narrative,” Cracknell says. “You have this tiny little object or sculpture, and then you have this big story behind it.”
The artworks explore identity, connection to Māori atua, Te Taiao (natural environment), grief, cultural losses of language and social structures. It also celebrates the reclamation of materials like muka (harakeke fibre).
Italian Film Festival
Set aside some winter hours to warm up with the Italian Film Festival, running in both Napier and Havelock North.
In its eleventh year, the nation-wide festival is owned and organised by founders Paolo Rotondo and Renee Mark who live in Havelock North.
Artistic director Rotondo says the Hawke’s Bay season is naturally a special leg for them.
“It’s a little bit like a homecoming for us, not to mention the fantastically supportive audiences we have here.”
Rotondo, an award-winning New Zealand-Italian film director, actor and writer, says he uses popular films from the previous year’s Italian releases as a starting point when curating the festival’s annual programme.
“However, it’s very much driven, not by what I want to see, but by what I feel Italian film was trying to say about life in the previous twelve months through its cinematic releases. From there we begin to thoughtfully stitch together a programme that reflects a particular dialogue or snapshot of life all driven by the artistry of Italian film,” says Rotondo.
The festival hits Focal Point Cinema in Havelock North, from 22 July to 2 August and Ahuriri’s Globe Theatrette from 23 July to 2 August and then again in mid-December.
See italianfilmfestivalnz.com to plot and book your local Italian escapes.
