Huntress x Paul Martinson

Each month, Boutique Connection sponsors Sanderson Contemporary Art’s exhibition openings.

This is a collaboration of wine and art pairing where we pair a handcrafted New Zealand wine with the artist’s hero piece. The project explores how taste and texture can echo a visual experience and perhaps even enhance it.

I’m exploring the non-verbal dialogue between art and wine and pairing each artist’s hero piece with a wine that echoes its mood, energy, and emotion.

The aim is to translate visual expression into taste, inviting viewers to experience the artwork through another sensory lens. Each match is intuitive and collaborative, celebrating both the artist’s vision and the craft of our boutique producers.

Paul Martinson

Paul Martinson’s work reflects a deep awareness of time, place, and the shifting relationship between humans and the natural world. His paintings often sit between history and the present, drawing on both personal observation and wider environmental narratives.

There is a quiet restraint to his approach... rather than overwhelming the viewer, Paul pares things back, allowing space for reflection. His work doesn’t demand a single interpretation, but instead invites you to sit with it, to consider what has been lost, what remains, and what continues to evolve.

Birds in a Landscape

Birds in a Landscape is deliberately monochromatic, echoing the sepia tones of early photography. It feels like a memory... or perhaps a fragment of one, capturing a time when human settlement began to more profoundly shape the natural environment.

There is stillness in the composition, yet also an underlying sense of movement. The birds feel both present and fleeting... suspended between arrival and departure.

The work holds a quiet tension... both tragic and hopeful. It reflects on the temporary nature of life, where landscapes shift and species come and go. Nothing is fixed, yet everything leaves a trace.

Huntress - Matiti Pétillant Naturel

Huntress Matiti Pétillant Naturel is a wine that embraces both the past and the present. Made using an ancient method, it captures fermentation in motion... bottled before it fully finishes, resulting in a lightly sparkling wine that feels alive, textural, and gently untamed.

What makes it such a natural pairing with Birds in a Landscape is this shared sense of time and transition. The painting looks back with quiet reflection, while the wine carries that same idea forward... an old method rediscovered, evolving in a modern context.

There is no heavy hand here... just something unfolding naturally. A reminder that life, much like the wine and the work, is always in motion.

- Renée Dale

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Paul Martinson
Transition

1 - 24 April 2026

Sanderson are pleased to present the exhibition Transition by Aotearoa New Zealand environmental painter Paul Martinson.

Transition is a thought-provoking exhibition that pairs science-informed imagery with a lifetime spent observing Aotearoa’s natural world. Through paintings that speak to the archipelago’s beauty and its profound ecological losses, Transition invites viewers to reflect on how human arrival has re-shaped forest and bird life, and the very soundscape of Aotearoa’s bush.

Aotearoa New Zealand’s archipelago - a cluster of hundreds of relatively small islands at the bottom of the planet - bears a lamentable distinction. It is often described as the bird extinction capital of the world, with more than one quarter of all human-caused bird extinctions worldwide occurring here.

A painter’s lens on science and place - Martinson’s practice bridges empirical insight with the intimate experience of years spent observing New Zealand’s flora and fauna. The exhibition explores how scientific understanding informs our grasp of ecosystems while recognizing the personal, sensory and surreal experience of place—the textures of leaves, the hush of a dawn, and the enduring music that remains only as memory in the wake of extinction.

A central and ongoing motif in Martinson’s works is the Huia - a dark greenish monarch of the forest that once heralded the dawn chorus with its flute-like song. The works render the huia as a powerful symbol of both loss and reverence, acknowledging shared responsibility across Māori and European histories for the species’ decline while honoring a collective love for this iconic songster across generations.

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Read more here.

Mora x Jon Tootill

Each month, Boutique Connection sponsors Sanderson Contemporary Art’s exhibition openings.

This is a collaboration of wine and art pairing where we pair a handcrafted New Zealand wine with the artist’s hero piece. The project explores how taste and texture can echo a visual experience and perhaps even enhance it.

I’m exploring the non-verbal dialogue between art and wine and pairing each artist’s hero piece with a wine that echoes its mood, energy, and emotion.

The aim is to translate visual expression into taste, inviting viewers to experience the artwork through another sensory lens. Each match is intuitive and collaborative, celebrating both the artist’s vision and the craft of our boutique producers.

Jon Tootill

Jon Tootill’s work sits in the space between action and observation. His paintings are not about capturing a fixed moment, but about watching … how colour shifts, how light moves, how the eye travels across a surface. There’s a patience to his process, a willingness to sit with the work and let it evolve.

Rather than directing the viewer, Jon creates space for interpretation. His pieces feel alive, inviting you to slow down and notice how your own perception changes over time.  

“Rooted in his countryside life over the last 15 years, Tootill traces how changing seasons shape perception, colour, and form.“ - Sanderson Contemporary Art Gallery

Harakeke

Harakeke (XIII) draws from the familiar form of flax, yet moves beyond representation into something more sensory. Vertical lines pull the eye upward, creating a sense of lift and quiet momentum.

At first glance, the colours feel vibrant and immediate … playful, even … but as you sit with the work, a more contemplative energy emerges. The interplay of light and tone creates subtle shifts, like watching colour breathe.

It’s a piece that unfolds slowly, balancing spontaneity with stillness … much like a thought that appears suddenly, then deepens the longer you hold it.

Mora - Brut NV

Mora Brut NV is a Methode Traditionelle sparkling wine from Central Otago, shaped as much by time as by intention. Fine bubbles rise steadily through the glass, creating a gentle vertical lift, while layers of citrus, brioche, and mineral texture build beneath.

What makes it such a natural pairing with Harakeke (XIII) is this shared sense of movement and evolution. The wine meets you with brightness and energy at first … much like the initial impact of the painting … before settling into something more textural and reflective.

The fine mousse mirrors the upward motion of the work, while the quiet complexity beneath speaks to the time spent observing, adjusting, and allowing something to fully reveal itself.

- Renée Dale

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Jon Tootill
Harakeke

1 - 24 April 2026

Sanderson are pleased to present Harakeke by Jon Tootill - the artist’s latest exhibition marking his 75th year.

 With a bold meditation on the seasonal colours of Aotearoa, this new body of work continues the artist’s intimate exploration of his immediate environment; mapping the colours of native flora and fauna that live outside his Karaka home and studio.

 The focus of the show is the Harakeke (New Zealand Flax), a recurring subject for the artist since 2020, whose graphic forms and vibrant palettes anchor the exhibition’s dialogue between landscape, lineage, and abstraction.

 Rooted in his countryside life over the last 15 years, Tootill traces how changing seasons shape perception, colour, and form. His artworks celebrate Aotearoa’s flora and fauna that colour the landscape at different times of year, translating botanical observations into a painterly language. 

 The artist's Ngāi Tahu heritage and whakapapa are inherent in these works - the exhibition continuing his integration of cultural motifs into a contemporary visual language:

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Read more here.

Marathon Downs x Damien Kurth

Each month, Boutique Connection sponsors Sanderson Contemporary Art’s exhibition openings.

This is a collaboration of wine and art pairing where we pair a handcrafted New Zealand wine with the artist’s hero piece. The project explores how taste and texture can echo a visual experience and perhaps even enhance it.

I’m exploring the non-verbal dialogue between art and wine and pairing each artist’s hero piece with a wine that echoes its mood, energy, and emotion.

The aim is to translate visual expression into taste, inviting viewers to experience the artwork through another sensory lens. Each match is intuitive and collaborative, celebrating both the artist’s vision and the craft of our boutique producers.

Damien Kurth

There’s something quietly magnetic about Damien Kurth’s work.

At first glance, you’re looking at masking tape, paper, foil, bottles - everyday objects arranged with care. This new body of work continues Kurth’s exploration of the still life tradition, but not in a nostalgic way. He’s using it as a framework to ask something deeper.

He’s interested in the idea of haecceity… the qualities that make something uniquely and unmistakably what it is. It’s a philosophical concept, but in his hands it feels intuitive. We all know that feeling: when an object holds presence beyond its function. When it feels like more than the sum of its parts.

Murmur

Damien:

“At certain times I may describe it as : a bright, colorful assemblage of the known and unknown, working together, building a platform to open up future re-interpretation of the fundamentals.”

Marathon Downs - Marlborough Syrah/Viognier 2024

The wine paired with Murmur was the Marathon Downs - Marlborough Syrah/Viognier 2024.

Marathon Downs is a small-batch, family-farmed producer based in the Awatere Valley, Marlborough, New Zealand, crafting wines with a focus on thoughtful expression and minimal intervention.

Their Last Dance Syrah/Viognier is a co-fermented blend of 95 % Syrah and 5% Viognier. All hand-picked fruit that spends time in neutral oak, offering floral lift, savoury herb notes, and a textured, expressive palate.

This wine aligns beautifully with Damien’s work because both are assemblages of distinct elements that remain individual yet harmonise into a coherent whole. The Syrah provides structure, depth and a cool-climate savoury edge; the Viognier lifts the aromatics and brings a subtle brightness. Just as his compositions balance structure and play, shadow and light, this wine balances weight and lift - creating a tasting experience that feels layered, thoughtful and alive in the moment.

- Renée Dale

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Damien Kurth
Murmur

4th - 29th March

Sanderson are pleased to present the exhibition Murmur by Damien Kurth.  

In this new body of work, Kurth continues to interrogate philosophical concerns within the tradition of the still life genre.

Through his chosen modality, the artist explores the concept of haecceity - the properties or qualities that make something uniquely what it is. This notion gestures toward a universal truth or essential understanding of an object, one that language may struggle to articulate.

Within Kurth’s images, the essence of his chosen objects is preserved in a poetic stillness. He arrests the haecceity of the seemingly mundane through his unique arrangements of inanimate and delicately lit objects. The assemblances take on new forms and meaning, each individual piece presenting unique characteristics.  

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Read more here.

VILAURA x Ray Haydon

Each month, Boutique Connection sponsors Sanderson Contemporary Art’s exhibition openings.

This is a collaboration of wine and art pairing where we pair a handcrafted New Zealand wine with the artist’s hero piece. The project explores how taste and texture can echo a visual experience and perhaps even enhance it.

I’m exploring the non-verbal dialogue between art and wine and pairing each artist’s hero piece with a wine that echoes its mood, energy, and emotion.

The aim is to translate visual expression into taste, inviting viewers to experience the artwork through another sensory lens. Each match is intuitive and collaborative, celebrating both the artist’s vision and the craft of our boutique producers.

Ray Haydon

Ray Haydon is a contemporary New Zealand artist whose work explores form, movement, and emotional energy through abstraction. His practice is intuitive and expressive, often inviting the viewer to experience feeling before meaning.

I met Ray over a year ago, but I had never seen his work out in the wild before! It wasn’t until 2025 that I noticed one of his elegant works appear on New Zealand’s Best Homes with Phil Spencer (Season 2, Episode 1). Featured in the Hahei House designed by Paul Clarke of Studio2, Ray’s sculpture feels almost inseparable from the timber architecture almost as though it belongs to the house itself. While I was disappointed that Phil didn’t pause to acknowledge the piece, I felt a quiet thrill in recognising it instantly as Ray’s work.

Spring

Spring has a sense of lift and release in the work and is a visual expression of freedom and optimism. Ray has spoken about his enthusiasm for green as a new colour when creating the piece, a sense of freshness.

The work feels alive… buoyant.

It doesn’t sit heavily in a space; instead, it draws the eye upward, suggesting growth, motion, and the promise of something new. When asked to translate the work into another sense, Ray, a man of few words, promptly described it like drinking champagne… effervescent.

VILAURA - Marlborough Rosé Extra Brut Rosé Méthode Traditionnelle2022

The wine paired with Spring was the VILAURA 2022 Marlborough Rosé, disgorged in Spring and perfect for this artwork.

VILAURA is an independent New Zealand sparkling house founded outside the constraints of corporate winemaking. In just a few years, they’ve made a significant impact onf the local wine scene, collecting gold medals, trophies, and multiple Wine of the Show awards.

What connects Spring and VILAURA Rosé isn’t just effervescence…it’s energy.

Both the artwork and the wine move upward. Both feel light yet intentional. Both are expressions of independence and optimism, freshness and freedom, made with care and conviction rather than excess.

Together, they speak the same language … one of renewal, lift, and quiet joy. A pairing that doesn’t try to impress, but instead invites you to pause, look up, and feel uplifted.

- Renée Dale

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RAY HAYDON
Seventy Five

11th Nov - 7th Dec 2025

Sanderson are pleased to present the exhibition Seventy Five by Ray Haydon. Celebrating his seventy fifth year the exhibition explores the artist's dynamic and varied oeuvre spanning over two decades.

Haydon’s practice is celebrated for its deep engagement with the physical and conceptual properties of space. His works are held in many private collections worldwide, and have featured in major sculpture exhibitions in Aotearoa including NZ Sculpture OnShore, Shapeshifter Wellington, NZ Sculpture on the Gulf, and the Aotearoa Art Fair Sculpture Court. Haydon’s works have been featured in publications including Art News, Art New Zealand, ArtZone,The New Zealand Herald, Urbis, Denizen and Sothebys magazine.

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Read more here.

Amoise x Julia Holderness

Each month, Boutique Connection sponsors Sanderson Contemporary Art’s exhibition openings.

This is a collaboration of wine and art pairing where we pair a handcrafted New Zealand wine with the artist’s hero piece. The project explores how taste and texture can echo a visual experience and perhaps even enhance it.

I’m exploring the non-verbal dialogue between art and wine and pairing each artist’s hero piece with a wine that echoes its mood, energy, and emotion.

The aim is to translate visual expression into taste, inviting viewers to experience the artwork through another sensory lens. Each match is intuitive and collaborative, celebrating both the artist’s vision and the craft of our boutique producers.

Aster

Julia described her hero piece Aster, as:

“reassuringly domestic but quietly radical in its reclaiming of craft and feminine creativity".

The wine I’ve chosen reflects that tenderness: textural and comforting, with a nostalgic warmth and nurturing feeling. It’s a wine that feels familiar and homely, much like Aster itself… a reminder that the simplest memories often hold the deepest emotional weight.

Amoise

I immediately thought of the Amoise Chenin Blanc 2024 - a wine that feels equally familiar yet quietly radical in its craft. Chenin Blanc is a wine that is synonymous with apple skin.  There’s something deeply domestic and familiar about its flavour. Could there be anything more nostalgic than helping mum to peel granny smiths for an apple stew, and nibbling on the skins? Simple moments that carry both nostalgia and warmth.

Amoise Chenin Blanc 2024 is a wine that carries a sense of quiet familiarity. There is something warm, domestic, and deeply human about it. Chenin Blanc is synonymous with apple skin: that simple, nostalgic flavour of helping nana peel Granny Smiths for a stew, nibbling the curls of green as if it was a daughter’s quiet duty. It’s humble, textural, and full of memory.

Amoise embraces that same honest craft. Foot-crushed fruit, a vineyard-born pied de cuve starter, and a low-intervention approach give the wine a gentle texture that mirrors the hand-made world Julia creates.

Winemaker Amy Farnsworth works with a kind of radical sensitivity herself: minimal sulphites, natural ferment, and techniques that can be risky if mishandled yet in her hands, they become quietly brilliant.

Like ‘Aster’, the wine feels both familiar and inventive, rooted in tradition yet confidently its own.

- Renée Dale

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JULIA HOLDERNESS The Room at Ashenby

11th Nov - 7th Dec 2025
Opening - Thursday 13th November, 5.30-6.30pm

Sanderson are pleased to present the exhibition The Room at Ashenby, featuring a new body of works by Julia Holderness.

In her latest exhibition at Sanderson, Holderness presents a collection of new ceramics alongside selected watercolours from her studio archive — a space hovering between memory and invention. The scene feels familiar yet faintly out of time, like a quiet corner from Monk’s House or Charleston; filled with vessels, books, painted furniture, and soft afternoon light. Decoration of the vases and hand-painted tiles becomes both reverie and research — a way of thinking through pattern, colour, and form. In their company, The Room at Ashenby becomes a site for imagination and memory: to settle, rearrange itself, and set out again.

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Read more here.

Collaboration Wines x Natasha Wright

Each month, Boutique Connection sponsors Sanderson Contemporary Art’s exhibition openings.

This is our inaugural collaboration of wine and art pairing where we pair a handcrafted New Zealand wine with the artist’s hero piece. The project explores how taste and texture can echo a visual experience and perhaps even enhance it.

I’m exploring the non-verbal dialogue between art and wine and pairing each artist’s hero piece with a wine that echoes its mood, energy, and emotion.

The aim is to translate visual expression into taste, inviting viewers to experience the artwork through another sensory lens. Each match is intuitive and collaborative, celebrating both the artist’s vision and the craft of our boutique producers.

Handful

For Natasha’s hero piece Handful, I was drawn to its quiet strength and sense of generosity … the way it holds something both tender and deliberate.

The wine I’ve chosen mirrors that balance: textural yet restrained, layered with warmth but grounded in subtle tension. It’s a wine that unfolds slowly, inviting reflection, much like Natasha’s work …a reminder that what we hold, and how we hold it, shapes the story we share.

Argent

Like Handful, Argent carries a dark brooding energy beneath its calm surface. Layers of black fruit, leather, and spice unfold slowly, balanced by fine tannins and quiet precision.

Winemaker Julz, whose time in Napa shaped her belief that “smallness is not a barrier but an asset,” brings a deft touch with oak and a gentle sensitivity to balance. Inspired by the parallels between art and wine, she has crafted a wine that is dense and powerful yet surprisingly light on its feet.

- Renée Dale

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NATASHA WRIGHT - Main Character

Opening Wednesday 15th October, 6-8pm
15th Oct - 9th Nov 2025

Sanderson are pleased to present the exhibition Main Character, featuring a new body of works by Natasha Wright.

The opening will take place on Wednesday 15th October 6-8pm, with wines from Boutique Connection and cheeses from Kāpiti. All Welcome.

Wright (b.1987 Aotearoa, New Zealand) is a New Zealand born artist based in New York City. Wright’s practice explores and redresses the depiction of woman-as-subject throughout history. Her large-scale paintings fuse figuration and abstraction in intricately layered compositions; referencing traditional modes of portraiture within contemporary contexts…

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Read the full exhibition text by Evangeline Riddiford Graham here