From steel to stained glass: Friends of the Gallery explore The Ara Artwork Collection, Te Kōpa Iti

_{Pat Hanly's Fire and Rainbow}

Led by Kaitiaki Toi (Art Curator) Julie Humby, the group ventured through Ara’s City campus, encountering artworks that weren’t just visually compelling, but deeply connected to place, people and purpose.

Established in 1935, The Ara Artwork Collection, Te Kōpa Iti, began with a vision: to enrich student life through exposure to contemporary art. The initial donation of 61 artworks has grown to nearly 700 pieces, many created by leading Aotearoa artists, including those with strong ties to Canterbury.

Humby guided the group through a curated selection of these treasures, beginning with Chris Reddington’s Song Song: A Musical Bridge, an interactive corten steel sculpture commemorating the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes. Visitors were invited inside the piece to strike its 28 strings, each honouring a past student lost in the disaster. With every note, sound and memory reverberated across the metal structure.

Next, the group admired Niki Hastings-McFall’s Fledge, which hovered in the stairwell of the Kahukura building, its iridescent feathers evoking both a chiefly cloak and the motion of flight - rooted in Pacific heritage and luminous in its storytelling.

_{Left: Chris Reddington’s Song Song: A Musical Bridge
Right: Julie Humby discussing Wayne Youle’s THE HOUSE OF WELL BEING ALL WELCOME during the tour}

On Barbadoes Street, the bold mural Haser’s Manawa Pou Manawa Ora towered with meaning. Created during the Ōtautahi Street Art Festival, the work draws on the city’s earthquake legacy, honouring its pain, while envisioning growth, resilience and community healing.

Inside the Rakaia Centre, is Fred Graham’s Rangi me Papa, a stainless steel, marble and stonerelief sculpture capturing the Māori cosmological tale of earth and sky’s separation - an origin story reimagined as a metaphor for enlightenment and education.

Nearby, Cliff Whiting’s Te Ao o Nga Atua in carved kauri, kiekie and pīngao - a spiritual map of Ngāi Tahu narratives, brought to life through Whiting’s consultation with local hapū. Ancestors like Aoraki, Rākaihautū and Tūterakiwhanoa stand amid celestial and terrestrial realms, telling stories of landscape, identity and whakapapa.

_{Left: One of Fred Graham’s two Rangi me Papa sculptures
Right: Cliff Whiting’s Te Ao o Ngā Atua}

In the atrium, Pat Hanly’s Fire and Rainbow bathed the space in colour. A stained-glass response to the Rainbow Warrior bombing, the piece fuses activism with artistry, radiating the joy and defiance Hanly was known for.

Just steps away at the library entrance, Dallas Matoe’s Ki Te Ao Mārama greeted visitors with vinyl-cut forms depicting Tāne’s journey to retrieve the baskets of knowledge. It’s a visual metaphor for the student journey, seeking light, overcoming challenge, and moving from darkness into understanding.

Outside on the North Green, the group admired Bing Dawe’s Diverting, Defending – Birds over the Waimakariri. Cast in bronze and steel, the work honours endangered riverbed bird species while calling attention to the impact of environmental disruption.

Humby also highlighted the Memorial Garden, where laser-cut corten steel pillars stand as solemn tributes to past students and staff who served in conflict. Designed by Ara students and alumni, including Dallas Matoe’s waka motif, the garden glows at night, turning remembrance into a living presence.

Finally, visitors encountered Catherine Griffiths’ Collidescape, a sweeping ceramic ink-on-glass installation that wraps the windows of Te Kei building in vowel-shaped abstraction. Griffiths’ work plays with sound, form, and perspective, offering a shifting visual soundscape that invites contemplation from both inside and out.

To continue exploring Te Kōpa Iti beyond the tour, Ara offers two free apps developed by students to help visitors navigate the collection on their own:

• Ara Art Tour – An interactive guide to selected artworks across Ara’s City campus, complete with maps, artist bios and audio commentary. Perfect for a self-paced exploration.
• Taonga Māori a Ara – Focused on the rich Māori artworks in the collection, this app offers insights into the cultural narratives, symbols and histories behind these taonga, designed to engage learners, staff, and the wider community.

Both apps are available for free on the Apple App Store. Whether you're a first-time visitor or returning for a deeper look, they’re a great way to experience art in your own time and at your own pace.

Throughout the tour, Humby encouraged visitors to see beyond the frame - to consider how these works reflect, challenge and shape the evolving identity of Ara and the community it serves.

A heartfelt thank you to Julie Humby for her knowledge, warmth and storytelling, and to the Friends of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū for their continued support.