Toi MAHARA celebrates local culture and heritage. We partner with eight Kāpiti museums to participate each year in Wellington Heritage Festival (18 October–9 November) and Kāpiti Coast Heritage (17–19 January).
This year our events are centred on our new exhibition Further revelation: Frances Hodgkins and British modernism 1920–1935. The show has been two years in development and will be up for the next six months in Taonga Tuku Iho | Heritage Gallery.
The starting point is five works from our Field Collection, the family collection of Isabel Hodgkins and Will Field, founding figures in modern Waikanae. These were the last paintings Hodgkins sent home from Europe in the hope of selling them (they didn’t). They now represent a turning point in her development as a professional artist working closely alongside an exciting younger generation of the British avant-garde.
Curator Vicki Robson has included works from that group of artists borrowed from Te Papa Tongarewa, Museum of New Zealand; Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington; the Parliamentary Collection; and significant private collections.
Over the opening weekend, Robson gave a floor talk in the exhibition. This event proved so popular that we have scheduled a second talk in February 2026. Book now as spaces are limited.
Find out more about events on during Wellington Heritage Festival.