Toi Stories

From Studio to Collection – Where Art, Story and Inspiration Meet

Discover the people behind Aotearoa’s art scene — the makers, the collectors, and the stories that connect them. Toi Stories brings you closer to the creative process, the passion, and the purpose behind each piece.

  • Hollie O’Neill – turns sunlight into art

    Hollie O’Neill – turns sunlight into art

    Every sunrise feels like a fresh canvas Meet Hollie O’Neill, an Auckland-based artist whose work captures the magic of light itself. Using pigment and epoxy polymer on mirrored glass and aluminium, she creates bold, luminous paintings that shimmer and shift with every angle — a dance of colour and reflection that celebrates nature’s radiant spirit. […]

  • A Love Letter to Midge

    A Love Letter to Midge

    By Carla Russell, Executive Director – NZ Art Show For nearly two decades, there’s been one constant at the heart of the NZ Art Show — a steady, smiling, unstoppable presence who somehow manages to juggle artists, chaos, laughter, and logistics all at once.Her name is Midge Murray, and this is my love letter to […]

  • Behind the scenes with Jane Blackmore

    Behind the scenes with Jane Blackmore

    Jane Blackmore is a Wellington-based artist with over 30 years’ experience and 16 years exhibiting with the NZ Art Show. She owns Jane Blackmore Gallery and Studio in Lyall Bay, Wellington. She invites us into her studio for a chat and a glimpse of what she is working on as she prepares for this year’s […]