On the Beach in Devonport

Auckland artist Kirsty Nixon is staging a solo exhibition of 15 iconic beach and coastal paintings at Devonport’s Art by the Sea Gallery from 8 October to 27 October. Nixon paints warm emotive New Zealand beach scenes which evoke memories of summer holidays spanning the generations. Her paintings usually include cabbage trees, toetoe, nikau, flax and pohutukawa. “I just love cabbage trees. They are striking pieces of nature: sculptural and iconic. To me they just scream: New Zealand,” Nixon says. Her exhibition features beaches and coastal scenes in the Bay of Islands, the Coromandel, Mahurangi, Piha, Matauri Bay, Rangitoto and Tauwharanui near Omaha.