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What happened in 2025

We were inundated with projects happening around the city – here’s the (still-growing) list: – Angel Gardeners have been going crazy all around town! They refreshed the giant planters at the Bridge St Bus Depot, as well as along upper Bridge St. They completely transformed the gardens outside Nelson Library along Halifax St by spreading […]

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Montgomery Square

Briscoes has been gone for a while from its space in Montgomery Square, and those bright yellow walls were starting to fill up with posters and graffiti. So as part of Spring Clean Whakatū Nelson, we scrubbed down the walls, ready for the bicycle panels. And wow! They look so great!

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146 Bridge Street

How could we resist a bare corrugated iron fence? What’s more, we had the perfect artworks for it. We’ve actually displayed the originals of Dean Raybould’s works in a previous installation, but this time, we printed them onto metal, so they are colour- and weather-fast.

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Elma Turner Library

Everyone loves a library! And here at MakeShift we especially love that we’ve got two projects happening on opposite sides of the library building. One is Bill Hammond’s ‘All Along the Heaphy Highway’, as part of ArtWalk, and the other is the 2021 instalment of Te Wiki o te Reo Māori.

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Project: Bank Lane

Spring Clean Whakatū Nelson 2025 started off with a massive project involving about a dozen volunteers giving Bank Lane the best cleaning in who-knows-how-long?! There was vacuuming, scrubbing, spray-and-wiping, removing of sellotape and stickers, and general makeover brilliance! We even gave the public seat a sanding down and repaint, and painted over the graffiti behind

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Project: Selwyn Place

We transformed a building! The Selwyn Place project came together with an incredible team of cleaners, planters, artist, plant-donators, business-owners, painters and, most importantly, a property owner who could see the value of a spruce-up! It all started in Spring Clean 2024, when we gathered some of the tenants along Selwyn Place joining in the gardening

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Project: ArtWash!

It’s not often we get to clean a painting with a mop!  ArtWalk has been up for nearly five years, so the artworks needed a bit of a refresh.  This was done across a week, first with staff and volunteers from the Suter Art Gallery cleaning all the ones at street level, and then, with

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Pop-up Multicultural Market

It was a wonderful occasion at the third Shared Communities Pop-Up Multicultural Market, on Saturday 18 October, from 3.30-8.00pm at the top of Trafalgar St. Spring Clean Whakatū Nelson threw its support behind the market because there’s no better way to celebrate a spring clean than for everyone to come together for great food, and

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View Ports

Find out more about the opening event (Fri 12 Sept), meet-ups, workshops and walkshops (16-19 Sept) at www.artecology.net/viewports/ View Ports – (re)framing local perspectivesAn exhibition and workshop takeover of an empty urban space in Whakatū Nelson coinciding with NZIA Festival of Architecture. View Ports offers a conceptual frame for an exhibition of works by local printmakers

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Dreamland

Alicia RochaDreamlandacrylic paint, 2024 You can see more of Alicia’s art on Instagram. Monsters from an inner landscape symbolising fears and anxieties live in this dreamland where they are no longer scary. Alicia Rocha is a self-taught artist from Mexico, who came to Nelson nearly eight years ago. Alicia started making art as part of her

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What can I do? Just me!

It’s not rocket science – we all know that little actions can have a big impact. A clean, vibrant city starts with each of us noticing and caring for the spaces we share. Just by picking up rubbish and disposing of it responsibly, we help protect the beauty and integrity of our community. Small actions,

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Angel Gardeners

Our Angel Gardeners are back in 2025! Our Angel Gardeners had a group of volunteers who committed not only to help with some planting, but to do some occasional upkeep. In 2025 they refreshed the giant planters at the Bridge St Bus Depot, as well as along upper Bridge St. They completely transformed the gardens

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Graffiti Blasters

Hey – are you a property owner with graffiti giving you a headache? We can help! Russell at Make/Shift Spaces is an absolute whizz at matching colours to the exisiting surface. He can make that graffiti magically disappear in no time at all. Make/Shift Spaces will invoice you for our efforts at a reasonable rate.

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Rhythms of Barranquilla, Blush Reverie, Butterflies in Bloom

Karolina SerranoNelsonRhythms of Barranquillamixed media on canvas, 2022 Blush Reverieacrylic on canvas, 2023 Butterflies in Bloommixed media on canvas, 2023 You can see more of Karolina’s art on facebook and instagram. This series celebrates inner strength, cultural identity, and the many forms of beauty around us. Each painting invites us to look beyond the surface, to feel

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Hello City

Audrey AndersonNelsonHello Citygraffiti ink on canvas, 2023 You can see more of Audrey’s work on her website and on Instagram.You can also see Audrey’s work at Coolstore Gallery in Mapua. I find inspiration in the simplicity of everyday life. By being present in the world around me, stories naturally unfold, leading me to new ways

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Korowai

Tim CuffNelsonKorowaiphotograph, 2008 You can see lots of Tim’s work at www.nelsoncreative.co.nz This was a picture shot a few years ago for a magazine piece about one of Ngāti Koata’s korowai. Although the cloak is beautiful in its entirety, I liked the drama of zooming in tightly on the richly-coloured feathers. Tim Cuff established himself

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Feeling the Music

Being a part of this project was great. I had a lot of fun drawing and painting it. It was a bit challenging because of the bumps on the power box but I made it work. Patience is the key!  Originally from Colombia, David George Garcia came to New Zealand abut ten years ago for

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Va’a-tele

Mark Fa’avaeNelsonVa’a-tele (the big canoe)acrylic paint, 2025 Mark Fa’avae is a Samoan-born Nelson artist who has exhibited locally and nationally. Va’a-tele are large, traditional Samoan seagoing vessels, made of two canoes lashed together. Huge thanks to NEL (Nelson Electricity Limited) for supporting our artists to transform their boxes! And thanks too, to Matty Anderson for introducing us to

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Koha nga Kupu

Samara Davis Ngati Koata, Ngati Toa Rangatira, Ngati Kuia, Ngati Tama, Ngati Rarua, Te AtiawaKoha nga Kupuacrylic paint on board, 2022 Kai I ngā Ora To feed life or feed from life  A reciprocal relationship and slogan that came from a group exhibition at Refinery ArtSpace, Kai I ngā Ora, which was a response to the housing crisis.

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