Ashe is a contemporary art gallery and design store on High Street in Christchurch's central city, showcasing original artworks, prints and sculptural objects from emerging and established artists from across Aotearoa. Every piece is handpicked for the collection, with new arrivals landing regularly across original paintings, fine art prints, handcrafted ceramics made with New Zealand clay, and sculpture.
Alongside the art, home collections bring the same curatorial eye to living spaces: a curated shelf of New Zealand art and design books, home fragrance featuring design objects and hand poured candles from Ōtautahi and Wellington makers, and textiles ranging from wall pieces to handcrafted cushions and table runners. Gifting is well covered too, with gift vouchers and curated selections under $150 and under $500.
Ashe believes collecting original art shouldn't be intimidating. Through 'Collect with Confidence', personalised interest-free payment plans are available on selected artworks, and the gallery runs exhibitions and events, publishes a journal, and lists hands-on workshops — making it as much a place to browse and learn as to buy.
On High Street in the heart of Ōtautahi Christchurch, Ashe is a contemporary art gallery and design store built around a simple idea: that original art, made here in Aotearoa, belongs in everyday spaces. The gallery brings together original artworks, prints and sculptural objects from emerging and established artists from across the country, each piece handpicked for the collection. Whether you are furnishing a room, starting a collection, or hunting for a gift with real substance, the walls and shelves hold work that is contemporary, crafted and unmistakably of this place.
Ashe marked its first year with 'In Good Company', a special group exhibition gathering new work from its stable of artists — a fitting snapshot of the gallery's range, from reverse-painted acrylics to coil-built stoneware.
Painting sits at the centre of the collection, and the variety is genuine. Candy Clarke, originally from Kerikeri and now based in Nelson, paints in reverse on clear perspex — a technique that began as an accident more than twenty years ago and has become the foundation of her style. Working backwards lets layers of colour and imagery seem to glow from within, with fragments of songs, conversation and familiar phrases woven through. Cam Munroe of the Kāpiti Coast works slowly and intuitively, building acrylic, ink and oil into layered surfaces, then scraping back and etching in until textured, hieroglyph-like motifs emerge — paintings about time, memory and human presence. Amy Hoedemakers, based in Oxford, North Canterbury, explores abstraction in oil and silver leaf on gesso board, while Cakkie Lou layers Swiss voile, inks, acrylics and pastels into expressive landscape works shaped by wild places and the freedom they inspire.
Printmakers are equally well represented, with a curated collection spanning original screenprints, monoprints, and open and limited edition giclée prints. Michele Bryant's *Carto – Ōtautahi, Christchurch*, an oil relief print on hand painted canvas, explores identity, belonging and flight through aeroplane, glider, tree and horse motifs. Paora Tiatoa (Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Raukawa), an abstract contemporary Māori artist based in Mount Maunganui, has mastered a meticulous multi-pass screen-printing technique; much of his recent work responds to taonga Māori he viewed in person at the British Museum, abstracted and honoured through a contemporary lens.
Sculpture and ceramics give the gallery its tactile edge. Handcrafted ceramics made with New Zealand clay sit alongside original, limited and open edition sculptures. Picton ceramicist Rebekah Hall draws on the hīnaki — the traditional eel trap — for works incorporating wild dug Marlborough Sounds clay, studying weaving, shadow and the stories everyday objects tell. Wellington maker Aimée Mcleod, who has worked with clay for over thirty years, coil-builds her tall, imposing 'Amazon' figures and quirkily bird-like sculptures before glazing and firing them in a gas kiln; they are equally at home indoors or in the garden.
Ashe's home collections extend the same curatorial eye to living spaces. There is a curated selection of favourite New Zealand art and design books, a home and fragrance edit featuring design objects and hand poured candles from Ōtautahi and Wellington makers, and textiles ranging from wall art to handcrafted cushions and table runners. The gifting pages make the store an easy answer to hard questions, with gift vouchers and curated selections under $150 and under $500.
The gallery is candid that collecting original artwork is a considered, deeply personal decision — and that the right piece doesn't always arrive at the right financial moment. Its 'Collect with Confidence' programme offers personalised, interest-free payment plans on selected artworks, designed to make collecting more accessible while respecting both the value of the work and the practice of the artist behind it.
You'll find Ashe on High Street in Christchurch's central city, with the full store online — from 'New In' arrivals to ceramics, paintings, prints, sculpture and textiles. Check Exhibitions & Events for what's currently hanging, browse the Journal for stories behind the work, or book into one of the workshops listed in the store. However you approach it, Ashe makes it easy to live with New Zealand art.