Major Art Fund
Shane Cotton photographed at The Dowse Art Museum during his exhibition Te Puāwai in 2021
The Major Art Commission
The Dowse Foundation is raising $100,000 for a major new artwork by renowned artist Shane Cotton (Ngāpuhi, born in Te Awa Kairangi / Hutt Valley in 1964).
This landmark commission will bring home a work that speaks directly to our place — drawing on the histories, stories and whakapapa of Te Awa Kairangi and Te Whanganui-a-Tara. For a museum with a modest acquisitions budget, this project represents a rare opportunity to support a significant addition to The Dowse Art Museum’s permanent collection.
Your contribution will help ensure that the creative legacy of our region continues to grow for future generations.
About the Commissioned Artwork
For this major commission, Shane Cotton is creating a large-scale, one-off painting that reflects the history and whakapapa of Te Awa Kairangi and connects to existing works in The Dowse’s collection.
The work will depict Whatonga, the legendary Māori navigator, rendered in Cotton’s distinctive tiki form. Framed by patterned foliage, manaia and taniwha figures, the painting will include references to ancestral names and places connected to Te Whanganui-a-Tara (the great harbour of Tara, Whatonga’s son) and Te Awa Kairangi (the Heretaunga / Hutt River).
It will also reference Nuku Tewhatewha, the historic storehouse cared for by The Dowse — a powerful symbol of continuity between ancestral whakapapa and contemporary art.
Donor Categories & Benefits
Inspired by the manu (birds) of Te Awa Kairangi, our donor categories celebrate the generosity and guardianship that sustain The Dowse’s collection.
Each contribution helps bring this important artwork into The Dowse’s care — and donors are acknowledged in perpetuity for their support.
Pīwakawaka — $5,000+
Energetic and generous.
Your name will be permanently recognised on the artwork’s wall label, on The Dowse’s online collection page, and on The Dowse Foundation website.
Kākā — $10,000+
Bold and committed.
Includes all Pīwakawaka benefits, plus an invitation for two to an exclusive dinner with Shane Cotton following the reveal of the work.
Huia — $25,000+
Rare and enduring.
Includes all Kākā benefits, plus an exclusive private visit to Shane Cotton’s Bay of Islands studio (travel not included).
All donors are invited to a function at which the artwork will be revealed.
Donations may be made in installments, and all contributions are tax-deductible.
Donate today
The Dowse Foundation | 02-0528-0162972-001
Reference: MAF + your name
Ngā mihi nui ki a koe — thank you for your support.
Previous Commissions
Fiona Pardington, Te whitinga o te pō (the shining lady of the night)
Fiona Pardington
Te whitinga o te pō (the shining lady of the night), 2021
Bronze, 24 karat gold plating, marble base, and four framed photographs
Commissioned by The Dowse Foundation and gifted to The Dowse Art Museum to mark its 50th anniversary, Fiona Pardington’s Te whitinga o te pō (the shining lady of the night) comprises a gold-plated bronze sculpture and four large-scale photographs. Cast from the skull of the now-extinct huia, the sculpture represents a significant extension of Pardington’s photographic practice into the realm of sculpture, while maintaining her enduring engagement with memory, loss, and cultural history.
The series pays homage to the huia as a revered taonga of Aotearoa, exploring its symbolic and ecological significance before and after European arrival. Through these works, Pardington interweaves Māori and colonial histories, reflecting on the forces of desire, collection, and over-consumption that led to the bird’s extinction. Te whitinga o te pō stands as both memorial and warning, a poignant reminder of the costs of exploitation and a meditation on care, reverence, and environmental responsibility in our present time.