Stoddart Cottage Gallery

05/06/2026

Jane Venis | A Little Bit of Pāua Goes a Long Way | June 6th - June 28th.

Jane Venis is an artist, musician, luthier of bespoke instruments, an academic and an educator. Her practice inhabits the intersection between visual arts, sound and performance. Jane frequently works with other artists, notably long time collaborator, Dunedin artist, Hannah Joynt.

Jane’s work is joyful, humourous and fun with its tactility and its participatory elements, while drawing upon important contemporary social, political and environmental issues.

In this exhibition Jane repurposes everyday objects to make bespoke musical instruments, combining these with pāua, native woods and possum fur to create a colourful and textural band of truly bespoke instruments. Jane’s band will be playing these instruments at the exhibition opening.

Please join us for the opening event, Saturday June 6th at 4pm. Nau mai, haere mai!

31/05/2026

Diamond Harbour and Districts Historical Association will be hosting Canterbury Museum Associate Curator Human History, Frances Husband, who will be speaking about the life and work of Margaret Stoddart. This event will be held in the Green Room at the Diamond Harbour Community Hall, 7.30 pm on Tuesday the 9th of June. Suggested donation of $5 at the door for non members.

19/05/2026

DATE AMENDED FOR TIM HOLMES ARTIST TALK: Please note that Tim Holmes’ artist talk was previously advertised for Sunday the 24th at 4pm. The correct date is Saturday the 23rd at 4pm. We hope to see you there!

16/05/2026

At Stoddart Cottage we are getting a bit short of volunteers.
Is this something you might be interested in helping with?
Most of us do two half days a month, either a morning or an afternoon, for 3 hours each. Two people are rostered on together: One meets and greets visitors coming into the gallery and the other takes care of sales at the counter in the Artisan's shop. Full training is given for both roles.
On wet miserable days there may only be 2 visitors all day, so there is plenty of time to get to know the other volunteer on duty or read a book, but on a fine public holiday we can have 150 people through and there is hardly time for a cup of tea! You meet some lovely people.
Once a month there is a social for anyone who wants to share a Friday night drink at the Cottage. Plus, we have other parties.
The cottage is open to the public on Fridays as well as weekends and most public holidays.
Please PM me if you would like to volunteer or learn more.
Cheers, Paula Smith See less

27/04/2026

Stoddart Cottage Gallery invites proposals for our 2027 exhibitions programme.

We welcome all applications, with the intention of providing a diverse range of exhibition experiences for our visitors.

Please visit Exhibit Here under Exhibitions on our website, for submission guidelines. Submissions close June 30th. We look forward to hearing from you.

Image: Photographer and conservation architect Tim Holmes photographing Stoddart Cottage for his May exhibition, Stoddart Cottage and its Contemporaries- Threatened by Their Environments. Opens May 2nd, 4pm.

https://www.stoddartcottage.nz/exhibit-here

24/04/2026

Stoddart Cottage Gallery is open today 10am-4pm, normal weekend hours and also on Monday, 10am-4pm.

Image: The Anzac Violin, written by Jennifer Beck and illustrated by Robyn Belton, is the the story of mathematician and musician, Alexander Aitken.

23/04/2026

The much inquired about attic, at Stoddart Cottage.

22/04/2026

Stoddart Cottage Gallery is open on Monday the 27th of April, 10am-4pm.

Illustration of the Mathematician and Musician, Alexander Aitken, from the book, The Anzac Violin. Written by Jennifer Beck and illustrated by Robyn Belton.

21/04/2026