Description

The Suter Art Gallery, Te Aratoi o Whakatu

Mission
The Suter Art Gallery, Te Aratoi o Whakatu functions as the public art gallery and museum.

The Suter Art Gallery is the primary visual arts resource for the Top of the South Island.
It is an art gallery, museum and art educator.
The Suter Art Gallery is connected to history through the permanent collection and looks to the future through the programme of exhibitions that aim to challenge inform and most importantly engage the wider community.

The Bishop Suter Art Gallery Trust Board was established by deed in 1895 by Amelia Suter widow of the late Bishop Suter who was Bishop of Nelson from 1866 to 1891.
The founding Trustees were charged with establishing and endowing an art gallery for the promotion of art to the people of Nelson.

The Suter Art Gallery opened, as a memorial to Bishop Suter, in 1899 making it New Zealand's third oldest public art museum. It was to house the core of a permanent collection a gift of 26 watercolours by John Gully, New Zealand's most successful 19th century watercolourist.
These and other works of art owned by Bishop Suter, were gifted to the people of Nelson by Mrs Amelia Suter after the death of her husband.
The establishment of The Suter Art Gallery was made possible by gifts of property from Mrs Suter and the Nelson Schools Society.
The citizens of Nelson raised the remaining funds by subscription.
Under the guardianship of successive trustees, exhibitions were held and the collection steadily grew, largely by gift and bequest.
With the appointment of its first professional director in 1975, The Suter Art Gallery underwent considerable expansion and came to provide the popular and multifunctional complex that exists today.

Name
An interpretation for The Suter Art Gallery's name in Maori is Art is the Pathway for Whakatu Nelson