Lopdell House is Titirangi's historic cultural heart and its functions go far beyond an art…read moregallery. I've been here on school trips doing art workshops in the dank basement. I've been to plays in the theatre by the Titirangi Theatre Company. My favourite thing to do here is to ride the elevator; vintage and beautiful with a pull-across iron gate. Even just popping in to the cafe to soak up the atmosphere is worthwhile. Unfortunately none of us will be doing much of anything at Lopdell House for the next little while as Auckland Council treats it to a much-needed makeover including serious structural work and a whole new adjacent building. In the meantime the gallery and theatre are operating out of temporary spaces in New Lynn. We can look forward to this grand old lady that started life as a hotel, reopening rejuvenated and hopefully being around for many years to come.

A great new gallery building next to the lovely Lopdell House. Amazing architecture & veiws along…read morewith cool contemporary art exhibitions. A great reason to head west! Stop on the way to tbe beach.

One of my favourite places in Auckland, the Waiheke Community Art Gallery is truly special. It…read moreseems to capture everything that's magical about the Island in just four rooms. The last time I went was for the opening of the Off The Wall sculpture exhibition, and it was as stimulating and well put together as any exhibition I've seen. The Gallery always seems to attract and foster distinctly fresh perspectives, and the variety of pieces was terrific. One of the great things about this gallery is that it attracts a great mix of people too, from hippy creative types to some of the posher, newer residents of the Island. It always has a distinctly relaxed, island vibe so you don't need to feel out of place if you pop in from the beach in your jandals, but at the same time, there's plenty to be serious about in the quality of the art. I'll admit I have a weakness for art gallery shops and Waiheke is the best I know of - it's a tempting collection of jewellery, ceramics, paintings, prints, and small sculptural pieces.

I'm so pleased I accidentally stumbled across this little gallery on Ponsonby Road; it's a small,…read morequiet but inviting space on the K' Road end of Ponsonby and showcases small but interesting exhibitions in its whitewashed rooms. I really like its current "Islanders" exhibition, which showcases the work of NZ sculptor Jo Torr. I'm really fascinated by fashion history and the exhibition provided a unique insight into how Polynesian culture inspired European dress during the early days of New Zealand's colonization, which I found really interesting. There are usually two exhibits on in the gallery at any one time: a small one in the window at the front, and the main one covering the rest of the gallery. It's a real shame the gallery isn't slightly bigger as, really, you couldn't spend more than about half an hour in there; but it's free and culturally enriching. I think it's really important for places like this to exist in any city and this one is great if you just want a quiet break from the noise of the city for a while, learn about stuff or just look at beautiful things. Exhibitions usually change around once every month or two.

Flagstaff Gallery is a petite wee gallery located near Mt Victoria in Devonport Village. There is a…read morenice range of contemporary NZ art on display that all have a fresh modern take on classic New Zealand motifs, such as Brad Novak's clever little 'Eye Chart for Aotearoa'. What impressed me the most about Flagstaff was their very innovative wall drawer system at the back of the shop - there were all these massive sheets of fencing that would slide in and out of the wall, and they would all have pieces of artworks displayed on them (each fence belonged to a different artist). I thought it was a very clever use of the limited space in the gallery. The shop assistant was also very nice even though we came in just before closing time, and happily chatted away to us about some of the artists on display and the framing service they have on offer. Definitely worth a visit if you are into NZ art and in the area.

If you're pottering around the Main Street of Devonport and you have some free time, make sure you…read morepop in and have a gander at Flagstaff gallery. They have a range of contemporary New Zealand artists work on show here, from paintings through to sculptures. There are a lot of eye catching peices in there at the moment, and if you are not all that familiar with New Zealand art this gallery provides a good showcase. They also offer a professional framing service service for your own personal 'work of art' like family photographs, or of work you buy in the gallery itself. What I think is most cool about this gallery is that they actually hire out the venue to be used for functions and cocktail parties etc, they call them 'corporart cocktails'. My friend was actually telling me she went to a work function here once and it was all very classy and posh with live music and everything! Oh to be a fly on the wall!

I have driven past this character house on Fred Thomas Drive many a time on my excursions out and…read moreabout, and actually did pop in many years ago to find that there onsite cafe was closed that day. However on this occasion they were open, and I got to attend a free pre school art class in the centre. Part of the summer community program for children in the pre school age range, my three year old and I attended a morning session for about half an hour, where we participated in weaving using different arts and crafts and decorating our pieces. I got to meet other parents with little children and also au pairs. Then after the fantastic class the children and parents, etc relaxed outdoors on the lawn with free toys from the community trust, just a great way to spend time with other mums with little children. Lots of space for the kids to run about and let of steam, and they even had a permanent play tee pee and swing. Inside the main building is a cafe where you can purchase food and drinks and sit inside undercover of the dining room, or deck, and even outside if it is a sunny warm day. Good to know that there are classes that you can enroll your children in from school age five, somewhere that creativity flows freely.

I recently had a friend exhibit some art work here and was quite impressed with the place. Its a…read morebeautiful old heritage building on Barry's Point Reserve in Takapuna so once you're there you feel like you're at a private estate in the country (ok maybe sometimes depending on wind direction you can hear the motorway traffic). I had previously thought it was just a gallery that local artists put their work in but its much more - basically a community centre only way more interesting. They have art classes for all ages and all sorts of free children's programmes during the summer. Also really cool is every couple of years they host a wood-sculpting event where you can go and watch sculptors create pretty large-scale art pieces from raw wood over ten consecutive days. There's a café onsite that caters and does functions and they have a few different rooms in the lake house itself that are available for venue hire too. This place is not just for the arty-farty!

The West Coast Gallery is one of those places that you can't miss when visiting Piha - it's a…read moreregistered charitable trust, the West Coast Community Arts Trust, that supports local artists who reside in the Western region of Auckland. The gallery is situated in the old Piha Fire Station, converted after the new fire station was built next door. Filled with a wide range of artistic items, from oil and watercolour paintings, to sculptures, jewellery, cards, pottery and photography. A great place to discover well known West Coast artists, such as Dean Buchanan and Helga Strewe, to less known and upcoming artists. Regular new exhibitions, that capture the true spirit and essence of the west coast and its people. It's great to know that the money that you're spending at the gallery will go directly to benefit the artists themselves, and not just paying a huge mark up that you would pay in galleries closer to the city. Very well priced. Local roots, run by locals, for the benefit of the local community. Worth supporting!

This gallery is situated in beautiful surrounds, a very fitting place for an art gallery!…read moreI was surprised to hear that they are the only one in Piha, I figured there would be loads since Piha is such a famous destination so close to Auckland's CBD, popular with locals and tourists. So lucky them! They can cash in on the art trade all to themselves at this gallery! And it is a gallery well worth supporting, they are run by a non-profit Trust (West Coast Community Arts Trust). Any West Auckland Artist is welcome to place in an application to exhibit here, just follow the links and advice on the website (great website too guys!) and you can go solo or in amongst a group, obviously your proposal would have to state all those details. I haven't created a large body of work/art in a while, but this gallery makes me want to get all creative, maybe...

Lovely gardens and a oasis of calm and serenity in Auckland. We had gone in October and managed to…read moresee some cherry blossoms as well

Great botanical garden with so many things to see as well as a few other parks joined together. So…read moremany different sections. We couldn't believe this was free and you could easily spend a few hours here. There is also a cafe and art gallery near the entrance. Our favorite section was the rock garden

We popped into this gallery because it was on the way home and Kiwi artist Sally Smiths bronze…read moresculptures which were on the wall as you walked in looked really cool. Glad we did as they've got a great collection of works including sculpture which showcase New Zealand contemporary fine artists from all over the country and of course Waiheke Island too. They have been open for a couple of years now and what an upmarket addition to the Oneroa experience.