A new home for The Rydal Art Prize

Time and location

2026
TE URU GALLERY

We are delighted to announce that Te Uru is the new home of prestigious painting award The Rydal Art Prize.

The Rydal Art Prize is one of Aotearoa’s biggest art prizes with a biennial award of $25,000. The Rydal Art Prize was founded and had its first three iterations at Tauranga Art Gallery. The winners have been an impressive line-up: Christina Pataialii 2019, Ayesha Green 2021 and Owen Conners 2023.

The Fourth Rydal Art Prize winner will be selected this year by a panel of nationally recognised art professionals. The winner will be announced at an event later this year at Te Uru and will exhibit at Te Uru later in 2026.

Te Uru Director AD Schierning says, "The Rydal Art Prize makes a significant impact on an artist’s ability to develop new work and invest in their practice. Te Uru is thrilled to have been chosen as the new home for The Rydal Art Prize and to be a part of this continued support of artistic development in Aotearoa."

Felicity McGrath Seeds Trust trustee states, “Seeds Trust trustees are absolutely delighted that the team at Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery have welcomed the Prize with open doors. It is wonderful that The Rydal Art Prize can continue to give selected artists of Aotearoa the opportunity to show and develop their works.”

Once Tauranga Art Gallery has reopened after their major redevelopment, Owen Conners will present his exhibition in their second season. Director Sonya Korohina says “Following the successful cycle of awards we are thrilled that the Prize is able to continue in Tāmaki. I’d like to thank all those that have been involved in this prize, and wish Te Uru and Seeds Trust every success.”

Our 2025 judges are:

Natasha Conland

Natasha Conland is senior curator, global contemporary art at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. She has over 20 years’ experience developing exhibitions of contemporary art, and has written for a number of contemporary arts journals and catalogues in the Asia-Pacific region. She co-edited Reading Room, a peer-reviewed journal of contemporary art published annually by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2006–18. She has a long interest in performance, art in public space and the dissemination of the historic avant-garde.

Taarati Taiaroa (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Apa)

Taarati Taiaroa (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Apa) holds the position of Assistant Curator Contemporary Māori Art at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery Len Lye Centre, a contemporary art museum of the Pacific based in Ngāmotu, Aotearoa. Her most recent exhibition is Te Hau Whakatonu, A Series of Never-Ending Beginnings (5 August 2023 – 11 February 2024) a survey exhibition of Toi Māori from the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery Collection, and her curatorial debut, that has set the foundation for a renewed forward focus for Māori art programming at the Gallery. Previously Taarati was Assistant Curator Māori Art for the landmark exhibition Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art at Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Art Gallery. Her research has focused on Toi Māori exhibition histories, Māori Post-minimalism and the ethics of collaborative practice. Recent written contributions can be found in Crafting Aotearoa (2019), Art New Zealand (Summer 2021-22), Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art (2022) and Robin White: Something is Happening Here (2022).

James Gatt

James Gatt joined Te Uru in 2023 as Kaitiaki Curator and leads curatorial to develop and deliver the Gallery’s robust and diverse exhibition programme. James is a curator and writer from Gadigal Nura Sydney with over 10 years’ experience working in public and private galleries. He has curated numerous survey exhibitions with leading artists from Aotearoa and Australia including Bill Culbert, Daniel Mudie Cunningham, Elizabeth Pulie, and Ava Seymour, as well as solo and group exhibitions with important artists from the region. His writing and interviews with artists have been published widely in art periodicals, catalogues, and monographs, and he has edited numerous publications including Elizabeth Pulie: Reader (2022), furl (2023); kafay larday (2022–2023); Daniel Mudie Cunnigham: Are You There? (2023); and Gretchen Albrecht: Liquid States (2024). James holds a Masters in Curating and Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons) from the University of New South Wales.