Chartwell Archives Talk with Sue Gardiner and Megan Shaw, Saturday 3 May, 9 - 10am | The Chartwell Project

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Creative visual thinking is fundamental to us all as human beings as we strive to understand our sense of self and the world. Chartwell seeks to deepen understanding about the importance of art and creative thinking for our future and our wellbeing.

In 2024-2025 Chartwell celebrates its 50th Anniversary, marked in part by the publication of our Chartwell Project book. Purchase your copy here.

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Thinking

Chartwell encourages everyone to think about art and the creative process with a commitment to drive an understanding about the significance of the visual arts to general creative thinking. We share a curiosity to know and learn more: an imaginative, ongoing investigation.

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Chartwell Archives Talk with Sue Gardiner and Megan Shaw, Saturday 3 May, 9 - 10am

9 April 2025

Discover the history and impact of the Chartwell Collection in this special archive talk, marking 50 years of Chartwell’s visionary collecting and support for contemporary art. Sue Gardiner and Megan Shaw from the Chartwell Collection will present a curated selection of archival materials that trace the collection’s journey – from its beginnings in 1974 in Kirikiriroa Hamilton to its long-term home at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.

Through photographs, documents and rare ephemera, this talk offers a behind-the-scenes look at the Chartwell Trust’s commitment to creative visual thinking and its role in shaping contemporary art in Aotearoa. Learn more about the artists, exhibitions and ideas that have defined one of New Zealand’s most significant collections.

This talk draws from the Chartwell Collection and E H McCormick Research Library’s archives and supports the exhibition Being, Seeing, Making, Thinking: 50 Years of The Chartwell Project, co-curated by Freya Elmer (Archivist/Librarian), Philippa Robinson (Research Library and Archives Manager) and Megan Shaw, on display at E H McCormick Research Library, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.

Limited spaces available, for Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki Members only.

Date: Saturday 3 May 2025, 9 - 10am

Location: Library, Mezzanine

Cost: $45 (+ fees)

Megan Shaw is manager (special projects) at the Chartwell Collection Trust. She is leading Chartwell’s 50th anniversary projects between 2024 and 2025 and is co-editor of Being, Seeing, Making, Thinking: 50 Years of The Chartwell Project with Sue Gardiner. She is responsible for in-house management of the Chartwell Archive and Collection records and is a co-curator of the present exhibition at the E H McCormick Library.

Sue Gardiner (MNZM) is the chair of the Chartwell Charitable Trust, dedicated to deepening the understanding of the visual arts and the creative process. She is co-editor with Megan Shaw of Being, Seeing, Making, Thinking: 50 Years of The Chartwell Project, and co-director of the Chartwell Collection, a major public collection of contemporary art held on long-term loan at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. She is also co-director of Squiggla.