Unreal Canterbury: 26 May – 20 June 2026

Opening event: 5.30-7pm, Tuesday 26 May. All welcome.

Floor talks with the Curator will take place every Saturday at 11am throughout the show.

Unreal Canterbury brings together 11 artists whose works tilt the familiar, unsettle the expected, and reimagine the region. Canterbury appears as a place both real and slipping: braided rivers and devastating floods sit alongside scorched and ravaged earth; the land – and our identity – is staked and challenged. Familiar touchstones become strange and alien. Do we recognise ourselves in the messaging of a clean, green landscape and a shiny, rebuilt city, or does the lived reality tell a different story?

Across painting, sculpture, photography, moving image, textile and monoprints, the exhibition invites viewers to consider not only what this place is, but what it has been, what it might become, and the versions of it we carry within us.

Artists: Cakkie Lou, Dusty Urchin, Ross Ellen, Joe Furniss, Judy Rogers, Meg Maguire, Milly Brown, Olivia Mercer, Ros Huppert, Sarah Brown and Tom McCone.

Location: 388 Worcester St, free parking and entry.

Opening Hours: Wed-Thu: 11am-5pm | Fri-Sat: 10am-5pm

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Meg Maguire, "The Still Point," oil on canvas, 2025
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Ros Huppert, "The Arrival, 1957," oil on canvas, 2024
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Milly Brown, "The One," collage and acrylic on canvas, 2026
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Joe Furniss, detail of "Canterbury Plains (Making a return)," brick, lambskin, cotton thread, 2026
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Ross Ellen, "High Time #1," acrylic monoprint on paper, 2026
Tom McCone
Tom McCone, "Circuitry," audio visual, 2026
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Sarah Brown, "Land/Whenua," carpet in recycled frame, 2026
Cakkie Lou, "Peter's Barque," oil, charcoal and collage on canvas, 2025

Stride by Stride 2026: 28 April – 23 May

posted in: Eastside Gallery, Past | 0

Opening event: 5.30-7pm, Tuesday 28 April.

Sitting at the heart of our artist-development pathway, “Stride by Stride” brings together a thoughtful mix of painting, jewellery, photography and moving‑image works from eight local artists who are steadily expanding their practice and their exhibition experience.

Eastside artists: Bethany McCone, Charlie Fox, Frances Caldwell, Gemma O’Neill, Gina Coatsworth, Jon Auton, Ros Huppert and Roslyn McLean.

Location: 388 Worcester St, free parking and entry.

Opening Hours: Wed-Thu: 11am-5pm | Fri-Sat: 10am-5pm

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Gina Coatsworth, “Last light over oil spill,” acrylic on board, 2026
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Ros Huppert, “The Shieldmaidens of the North Trilogy 02: Freydis Bloodaxe,” oil on linen, 2026
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Roslyn McLean, “Pink House,” oil on canvas, 2024
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Charlie Fox, “Nathan Bonner 2016/2025 Diptych,” photo on paper, 2025
Gemma O'Neill Liths
Gemma O’Neill, “Liths,” oil and acrylic on paper, 2024
Jon Auton
Jon Auton, “exploding detection can dog unit,” oil/encaustic on aluminium, 2026
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Frances Caldwell, "Beneath the Forest Necklace," shibushi (copper and silver alloy), sterling silver, fossilised wood and cotton cord, 2024
Bethany McCone, still from “Finding Wendy,” audio visual, 2024