The Refinery ArtSpace

The Refinery ArtSpace is committed to stimulating and strengthening the artistic and cultural life of Whakatu, supporting a diverse programme of engaging community-driven and/or contemporary exhibitions, projects and events.

Gallery Opening Hours
Monday - Friday 10am to 5pm
Saturday 10am to 2pm

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Upcoming Exhibitions: 10 April - 10 May 2025

Current Exhibitions: 10 March - 5 April 2025

Are you looking for a social, art-focused volunteer role?

We're looking for enthusiastic people to join our team as Front of House volunteers for Refinery ArtSpace. This role involves greeting visitors in the gallery, gallery stewardship during day time hours, and assisting with exhibition openings.

Shift options are:
- Morning shift: 10 AM - 1 PM
- Afternoon shift: 1 PM - 5 PM
- Occasional exhibition openings: 4.30 PM - 7.30 PM

The role promises variety, flexibility and engagement with creative communities. In recognition of the valuable contribution from volunteers, Arts Council Nelson provides professional guidance, a safe and positive work experience and training for volunteers, where needed.

If you are interested in one of these positions contact Janja Heathfield - [email protected]. Let Janja know why you'd like to be a volunteer, and what your preferred shift times are.

Previously...

WAKA OF DREAMS: PUNANGA POHEWA
Lissy + Rudi Robinson-Cole

Under the Sea Light and Movement
Ministry of Inspiration, Nelson Whakatū

Ministry of Inspiration (MOI) is a Nelson-based charitable trust which is committed to offering young people opportunities to develop a wide range of skills and build confidence via STEAMS (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Maths and Society) related activities. Under the Sea Light and Movement is an immersive and interactive experience of sea creatures, light, shadow, and motion.

Matariki -
Te Oro Hā

Be embraced in a sanctuary of sounds, voices and projections, carrying the stories of Matariki. Told by Te Ora Hā with art by Ashia Te Moananui, installed by Lee Woodman.

Image | Laila Marie Costa, HSDCTC-colab.

CONTAINMENT / UNCONTAINED

Artists: HSDCTC collaboration (HandShake project + Dialogue Collective + TempContemp)

HSDCTC collaboration, three jewellery artists’ groups from New Zealand, United Kingdom and Australia join forces to explore the ‘Containments/Uncontained’, reflected by the relationships between jewellery objects and themes of freedoms and restrictions.

This exhibition encompasses the stormy journeys that triumphantly sustained the demoralising worldwide pandemic and actual geographical borders. Each of the twenty artists conclude their collaboration voyage at the Refinery Art Space, Nelson with their dissected theme studies and jewellery objects supported by images, texts, and video.

Whenua
Vicki Lenihan, Rongomaiaia Te Whaiti, Alix Ashworth, Caitlin Donnelly, Mya Morrison-Middleton:

E honoa ana mātou mā te whakapapa; he whānui mātou. He uri mātou o Tahu Pōtiki i kōnei
We are connected by whakapapa; we are family. We are Ngāi Tahu.

Whenua – meaning both land and placenta – connects us to Papatūānuku: we are all children of her womb. Whenua binds us to our place in the world. Because we are from and of the whenua, we belong. As Ngāi Tahu object-based artists, we have a powerful attachment to our whenua; it nourishes and validates our mana, mauri and wairua while we do the same for it: every decision, every action we undertake is inextricably intertwined with the health and future of our whenua and of us. This collection of works explores our connection to whenua, to our place in Aotearoa and Te Waipounamu.

Reflect: Occupation Artist

Participants: Vivien Atkinson, Becky Bliss, Kelly McDonald, Sarah Read, Nadine Smith, Caroline Thomas

Occupation: Artist opened our workshop-in-a-shopping-mall and started presenting quick-fire exhibitions and performance pieces for bewildered Wellington commuters. Here’s to another ten years of making our work and getting it out there.

Though our individual practices are based on diverse personal interests, we’ve found great strength as a group that is able to engage with the community via large-scale public art projects.
These typically address socially-conscious subjects (think climate change, traffic pollution, property prices) and encourage public interaction. Materials to date have included a truckload of ice, many many toy cars, and of course lashings of our trademark gold leaf.

KO TE ĀKAU: POETICS OF LAND, WATER & SKY
Te Toki Haruru (Charles Koroneho)

KEI HEA A TIKI? WHERE IS TIKI?
Kim Ireland

Ko Te Ākau is a visual arts installation and curated performance programme for live and virtual spaces, created for group and solo performances, within a design accurate, site-specific installation of lighting, sound design and video projection. The project references the collaborative works of artists Ralph Hotere and Bill Culbert and serves as the inspiration for exploring the poetics of Te Ākau, the space where the ocean meets the land, where the horizon connects land, water and sky.

The kaupapa of Ko Te Ākau is best served by ‘Mātiro Whakamua’ with a gaze firmly fixed on the horizon. The project is aesthetically futuristic and abstract, a vehicle for the past, present and future, performed by the living ancestral body of the artists.
In this shared space, performances journey us through remembrance, acknowledgement, and aspiration. The hope of a poetic land, water and sky is the horizon carried by the kaupapa, where the optimism and guidance of a human being in ceremonial performance places our imagination amongst the cosmos.

Unlike anything else, this is an exhibition, a performance, a gathering, a virtual experience, and a sharing, from one of our most extraordinary artists Charles Koroneho.
A special Nelson Arts Festival commission.
Created by Charles Koroneho for Te Toki Haruru and in collaboration with Filament Eleven 11.
Nelson Arts Festival

In te ao Māori, tāne and wāhine once lived in balance with each other, and all other beings who originated from Ranginui and Papatūānuku. Gender and sexual diversity were normalised but colonialisation brought a strict gender hierarchy and static sexual identities. With the power of pūrākau and whakapapa, this exhibition attempts to draw forth mātauranga Māori of gender and sexuality.

Kim Ireland’s (Te Arawa) practice is founded upon identity and the power of historical narratives. Directed by rangahau and mātauranga, Ireland has evolved her multidisciplinary works, often playing with temporality or reclaiming what has been lost. Kei Hea a Tiki? is her first exhibition of clay works.
Nelson Arts Festival