Sculpture in the Gardens 2024–25 at the Auckland Botanic Gardens
Fifteen stunning large scale works were exhibited throughout the gardens
The 2024–2025 Sculpture in the Gardens exhibition is now closed. It ran from 16 November 2024 to 2 March 2025. A record number of visitors made the trip to the stunning Auckland Botanic Gardens to enjoy the 15 large-scale works throughout the gardens, and the exhibition in the Huakaiwaka Indoor Gallery.
This exhibition was made possible by the financial support of Auckland Council, the Friends of the Auckland Botanic Gardens, and our generous sponsors and patrons. An event like this requires a big team behind the scenes and we would like to thank everyone for their hard work: the artists; the curators; the organising team; the marketing team, including photographers, our web developer, videographers, graphic designers, printers; social media gurus and more; the installers and engineers; and the staff of the Auckland Botanic Gardens. We also would like to give a huge shout out to everyone who came to enjoy the exhibition and to all who voted in the Burrill People’s Choice Award.
We look forward to doing it all again in 2026!
The Burrill People’s Choice Award just announced!
The People’s Choice Award is the highly coveted ‘stamp of approval’ from exhibition visitors.
The people have voted and it is Josh & Amelia Olley for their work Hand Down who win this award for the 2024–2025 exhibition.
If you missed the exhibition…
You can still read all about the artists and their works.
James Wright, Long Fin Eels, Tuna – Kuwharuwharu.
Chris Moore, Bubblegum.
Metal Metcalfe, Patchwork of Possibilities.
Huakaiwaka Indoor Gallery
This exhibition showed a varied range of medium and small scale sculpture from the artists exhibiting in the outdoor show, as well as work from previous exhibitors and invited guest artists from all over Aotearoa.
Watch our videos
Learn more about the 2024–25 exhibition. You can also find videos about each of the artists in the exhibition, on their artist page and on our YouTube channel.
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About
Samantha Lissette, Rose Cathedral (detail), 2008.
Sculpture in the Gardens is run by the Friends of the Auckland Botanic Gardens and hosted by Auckland Botanic Gardens. It is held every second summer.
Permanent Collection
Jamie Pickernell, Bird Lady, 2012.
Every day, whether the exhibition is on or if we are between exhibitions, there is art to enjoy with permanent collection sculptures displayed throughout the Auckland Botanic Gardens.
Auckland Botanic Gardens
Find out about the beautiful Auckland Botanic Gardens, the onsite Cafe Miko, the plant collections, other events and more…
Past exhibitions
Holding Ground Exhibition, 2023–24
Lucy Bucknall, Sky Gazers, 2023.
Holding Ground is a free indoor sculpture exhibition held in 2023, featuring 47 works by some of New Zealand’s best and most loved artists.
2021–22 Exhibition
The winning sculpture for the 2021-2022 exhibition was Taiki e! United in Purpose! by The Indigenous Clay Artists Collective
Our last outdoor exhibition was held in 2021–22. You can see more about all the artists who exhibited in this show, and who took out the awards.
Archive of all past exhibitions
Richard Mathieson, Reservoirs, 2021 – Part of the permanent collection.
Our digital archive captures the history of Sculpture in the Gardens and forms a useful resource for the wider art world. We have held exhibitions featuring local artists since the establishment of the event in 2007. This archive presents a complete list of artists exhibited from then.