Tai Tapu Sculpture Garden - what a Gem!

Saturday 4 July

Thanks to our friend Emma’s recommendation, the Tai Tapu Sculpture Garden was top of our To Do List while we were out this way - so we’d called ahead and booked ourselves in for a Saturday morning visit.

Founded & created by Peter Joyce & Annabel Menzies- Joyce this evolving native biodiversity regeneration project is home to around 40 permanent art works and every March the Annual Autumn Exhibition comprises 100 new pieces from contemporary NZ sculptors and any unsold pieces remain in the garden for the next year.

We spent about an hour and a half exploring the winding pathways through the gardens, through groves, across marshland boardwalks and over open lawns, discovering all the fascinating pieces. They had a strong relationship with Llew Summers, exhibiting several of his works, and I was super excited to find two beautiful Virginia King pieces. We recognised several other artists from sculpture exhibitions we’d visited in Auckland and there were other sculptors we enjoyed discovering. Sorry, not sorry, for the number of photos on this post!!

Peter Joyce provided us with a wonderful 5 panel brochure detailing all the permanent and annual exhibition pieces and with a map of the trail so we could find all the sculptures. So we set off exploring...

So many faces - Debbie Templeton Page’s bronze masks surrounded by Llew Summer’s cement heads and Tony O’Grady’s Takaka marble king. Top right is Llew’s self portrait with his trademark Mohawk, a tradition continued by Peter’s schnauzer dog who greeted us on arrival! The huge corton steel sculpture Louis hid behind was by Simon Max Bannister; “Kairos” - yours for just $84,000! The biggest and third most expensive piece from the 2026 exhibition

In the summer house were a number of smaller pieces, but many had been sold. Annabel Menzies- Joyce had many of her sculpted glass pieces on display there, and also in the Fertility Goddess Grove.

So many stunning examples of stone carvings - some polished and shiny, others rough & natural. I absolutely loved Oriah Rapley’s “Waka of Solace” - the contrast of the heavy Taranaki andesite rock sailing through the stainless steel tree tendrils was stunning. Josh Olley’s “Hold” was fascinating - from one side, a plain old argillite rock, from the other a huge intricately carved hand… a snip at $90K!

Alison Erivkson’s “Bureaucracy and the Huia” was another piece that captured our hearts. Anneke Bester is better known for her strong feminine sculptures, but this fella Jacob was very cool - hollow and half complete he looked different from every angle… especially with an impostor hiding behind him!

Neil Dawson’s giant “Kotare” feather twisting & turning with the wind was absolutely stunning above the harakeke and the swamp. Continuing the nature theme were three bronzes by Samantha Lisette - depicting kowhai held in bud, bloom & wane. Natalie Guy’s “The Genius Loci of the Chapel” looked so strong and sharp against the reeds and cabbage trees.

The swampland had boardwalks allowing you to cross, and admire pieces displayed within the reeds.

“Does my bum look big in this?” 🤣 Rear end (literally) of Llew Summers’ “ Follow me”

There were birds in many guises - Simon Max Bannister’s “The Hawk’s Bind” - so strong and powerful against the sky; I loved the repurposed saw wings of the hawk at the top of the montage and lower left is giving Sam the Bald Eagle from The Muppets vibes! Bing Dawe’s “Wry” was a sad environmental commentary but on a happier note, another Bing Dawe creation - “A Landscape with too many holes waiting for St Francis - A Gateway” - was a sculpture with too many words in its name? But an intricate beauty that sat so well in nature 🖤💚 Another much smaller piece “The Lookout” by Virginia King was made more special by a piwakawaka flitting around us in this grove.

Happiness is a Virginia King sculpture - “Threshold” was a pair of beautiful lacework polished steel arches. I've always loved her pieces especially the waka and ghostly kauri trees up at Brick Bay north of Auckland.

Anton Forde’s “Three Sisters” in front of Graham Bennett’s “None so Blind” - including an ex-communications pole recycled from Antarctica - were elegant and fierce wahine toa with their engraved korowai and hefty pounamu necklaces. There were several dynamic sculptures - Andrew Drummond’s “Ngaio”, Graham Bennett’s “None so Blind” & Ben Foster’s “Infinity” spinning gently in the wind.

In the last picture above we are taking shelter in “Shelter” by Simon Max Bannister - yours for $110,000… or we could buy a brand new Snowy River for less and have a roof over our heads and fewer drafts!!!

Neil Dawson’s “Vortex” dominated the garden - the gorgeous swirls of golden swallows were stunning against the green tree backdrop… so beautiful. Circles in the garden - and we had come full circle. What an amazing place to discover and enjoy - highly recommend Tai Tapu Sculpture Garden.

After lunch back at Banjo we chilled for a bit - I took a walk around Tai Tapu to feed my Fitbit then Carol & Geoff who own the POP came over for a chat and introduced us to some of the ostriches. Trixie stopped by for a visit with them - such a cute wee thing, half collie and half spitz and oh so friendly!

We tried feeding the ostriches handfuls of grass, but despite having no teeth, their beaks can do some damage as they are quite random in their pecking and don’t really care if they grab the grass or your fingers!!

We took a walk across the farm to the old POP site on Crossars Road and back via Tai Tapu Hotel - The Tap where we popped in for a drink. A very drunk lady at the pub was completely obsessed with my Pachamama sweater and wanted a pic with us!

Thought about staying for the rugby then remembered we had lamb burgers waiting for us at Banjo so wandered on home.

Ate our burgers, watched the All Blacks 🇳🇿 beat France 🇫🇷 and sat some practice tests for our Class 2 licences which we’ll need to tow Banjo behind the new Ute!