Parliament’s art collection is showcased in this excerpt from the mid 90s arts series. Curator Jane Vial and Parliamentary Services Deputy Manager Beth Bowen are tour guides to some of the paintings and objects making up a then 1000 strong collection, which began in the 1870s. They include gifted works, like a portrait of the first Northern Māori MP Ihaka Te Tai Hakuene, and commissioned works from artists. Artworks are shown from John Drawbridge, Cliff Whiting, Robin Kahukiwa, and Guy Ngan (whose large-scale hangings adorn The Beehive’s Banquet Hall). 

Kowhai and Monty Hook run into some chic city girls at the dairy who invite them to play at an art opening. Under the influence of his mum’s “alternative medicine”, Monty pens an ode to spaghetti which Kowhai tries to reframe as a feminist thinkpiece. Crooner Frankie Stevens voices the twins’ slightly scary dad in this 10-part animated series created by Jessica Hansell. Wellington animators Skyranch is a collective of artist/musicians including Luke Rowell aka Disasteradio, responsible for the background sight gags. 

For this screen showcase of NZ visual arts talent, critic Mark Amery selects his top documentaries profiling artists. From the icons (Hotere, McCahon, Lye) to the unheralded (Edith Collier) to Takis the Greek, each portrait shines light on the person behind the canvas. "Naturally inquisitive, with an open wonder about the world, they make for inspiring onscreen company."

Douglas Lloyd Jenkins and Nick Ward's arts road trip reaches Wellington where Jacob Rajan and Justin Lewis of Indian Ink Theatre Company discuss their acclaimed play 'Krishnan's Dairy'. Dancer Ross McCormack reflects on his journey from building site to dance school; and percussion group Strike incorporate movement and staging into their work. Ceramic artist Raewyn Atkinson is exploring the textures of Antarctica and there's a visit to the Dowse Art Museum to meet jeweller Peter Deckers and to view an exhibition of textile designer Avis Higgs' work.

This 2014 series looks at the role of architects on Kiwi building projects, as they respond to the challenges of budget, environment, site and client expectations. In this last episode of the series, host Peter Elliott asks if "architectural design can be financially achievable". He meets company Herbst Architects, and talks space, emotion and design for a steep Waiheke Island section, and a modular bach. Two fathers share the build of a John Irving-designed beach house; and a Point Chevalier house designed by A Studio aims for zero energy. Plus Elliott recaps the series' grand designs.

In this excerpt from the 1996 TV One arts series, presenter Alison Parr interviews the NZ Film Commission's longtime marketing director Lindsay Shelton about the international success of Kiwi films. Shelton attributes the recent popularity of Once Were Warriors and Heavenly Creatures to Kiwi stories being different and new — "everything in our films was unexpected". Roger Donaldson, Geoff Murphy, Jane Campion and Peter Jackson are mentioned, with special note of Jackson's "confidence and wish" to stay in New Zealand's "tiny as well as fragile" film industry. 

In Episode Two of this series of The Big Art Trip, hosts Douglas Lloyd-Jenkins and Fiona McDonald visit the Grey Lynn home of painter Jacqueline Fahey and the downtown studio of photographer and rocketeer Yuk King Tan. Next they drive west to Laingholm and meet singer/songwriter Victoria (Taus) Girling-Butcher and her band Lucid 3. Then it’s back to Grey Lynn to meet artist John Reynolds and his oil stick paintings, and into the city to see the iconic Bushells sign and meet photographer Natalie Robertson, who is shooting a collection of NZ tea towels.

Episode 10 of season two of The Big Art Trip kicks off in Timaru, birthplace of artist Colin McCahon, where hosts Fiona and Douglas check out a collection of his paintings. Next it’s Dunedin to meet designer Vita Cochran, who makes handbags and other objects, and they visit the studio of Jeffrey Harris who talks about his evolving painting style. Dancer and choreographer Shona Dunlop MacTavish describes her career and life as a young woman in 1930s Europe and artist Grahame Sydney discusses landscapes, nudes, surrealism and his love for the Otago countryside.

This is the opening episode of this arts series which teamed “expert” Douglas Lloyd-Jenkins with “everyman” (and screenwriter) Nick Ward — and sent them on a road trip in search of artistic talent all around NZ. First stop is Northland which is “teeming with artists” as the pair encounter corrugated iron sculptor Jeff Thomson, potter Richard Parker, the iconic Hundertwasser toilets in Kawakawa, Manos Nathan who fuses traditional Maori design and ceramics, and Zealandia — Terry Stringer’s remarkable and “beautifully coiffeured” sculpture garden, studio and home.

Arts magazine series For Arts Sake screened on TV ONE for two hours on Sunday mornings for 22 weeks in 1996. This segment on dancer/choreographer Mary Jane O'Reilly marks the launch of her new company Auckland Ballet. The founder of the celebrated Limbs Dance Company talks about still being involved in dance in her mid-40s, the formation of her new company, the similarities and differences between ballet and contemporary dance, and her move into making dance films. The item also features excerpts from some of O'Reilly's dance works.