Beyond Boundaries: New Work By Three Women Artists

Title: Beyond Boundaries
What: Painting, Installation, Ceramics
Dates: 13 NOV 2025 to 24 JAN 2026
Location: 68e Guyton Street, Whanganui, NZ 4500
Opening Hours: Wednesday to Saturday, 11am–3pm
More info: www.utopiastudiogallery.nz

Whanganui, NZ  | Three Whanganui based women artists have come together for Beyond Boundaries, a new exhibition at UTOPIA Gallery exploring the relationships between people, seabirds, and the environment. The show opened with a vibrant gathering that reflected Whanganui’s close and supportive creative community, a strength that continues to grow as the city embraces its status as a UNESCO City of Design. ‘Beyond Boundaries’ runs from 13 November 2025 to 24 January 2026.

Helen Manning and Angela Tier both moved to Whanganui in the early 2000’s to attend the Quay School of the Arts. In Helen’s floor installation ‘Secondary’, inspired by the material vocabulary of Eva Hesse and her work ‘Repetition III’, she pushes a 50-year-old domestic sewing machine to its limits. Through a mesh of thread that both holds tension and collapses, she explores the delicate balance between fragility and strength, mirroring the complex relationship between humans and the natural world. Helen describes the work as being “about paying attention to what is changing around us,” a sentiment reflected in her slow, repetitive process that becomes a form of drawing in space, with circles of thread connecting in unpredictable ways. The installation celebrates unseen labour, vulnerability, and impermanence, and contemplates the act of holding space for what is slowly perishing before our eyes but only time can reveal the inevitable.

Chris Cunningham moved to Whanganui to be closer to her daughter Emma Cunningham, who is another well respected artist. Chris Cunningham’s figurative paintings speak to viewers through the minds of seabirds, which she has long regarded as “symbols of grace, freedom, and endurance.” In these ethereal works, wishbones become emblems of hope, moons suggest harmony, and the spirit of a bird’s glide moves like the rhythm of waves. Her use of gold frames highlights the preciousness of each moment, reminding us that the natural world is a gift. Chris’ seabirds soar between ocean and sky, occupying the space in between, navigating the challenges of wind and wave in a timeless dance of resilience and beauty. Chris’ paintings reflect Angela’s ceramics in the colour palette and subject of seabirds.

Angela Tier explores human relationships and emotional bonds through anthropomorphic ceramic seabirds. Influenced by David Attenborough’s documentary Ocean and the recent passing of Jane Goodall, Angela’s works embody a message of hope amid environmental uncertainty. She explains that “we all have a role in looking after what is vulnerable,” a theme expressed in her piece Our Hands Holds the Future, in which two seabirds sit across from each other, one holding a single egg and the other clasping its hands in quiet anticipation. Her work reflects on the responsibility people share in protecting and restoring species numbers.

While the artworks do not focus on specific species, their themes carry a quiet relevance to Whanganui’s own environment. Beyond Boundaries invites visitors to reflect on how we inhabit and impact our surroundings, both individually and as part of wider communities.

Opening hours are Wednesday to Saturday from 11am to 3pm at UTOPIA Gallery, 68e Guyton Street, Whanganui.

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