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."

This second series leg of The Big Art Trip kicks off in Wellington with a visit to artist John Walsh, who chats about his Māori myth paintings and children’s book Nanny Mango. Douglas and Fiona also talk about Washday at the Pa with photographer Ans Westra and pop-in on jewellery designer Steph Lusted. They visit the Massey Memorial, explain typography and check out the Wellington Writers Walk before meeting architect Nicholas Stevens and viewing a cliff top house he designed. The episode winds up with a look at kinetic sculpture Pacific Grass, by Kon Dimopoulos.

Douglas Lloyd Jenkins and Fiona McDonald hit the Auckland area for this leg of their Big Art Trip. They meet up with Black Grace artistic director Neil Ieremia, who is running a mentoring programme for young dancers; sculptor/painter Roger Mortimer, who is transforming bland modern day business letters into replicas of beautiful old documents; sculptor Warren Viscoe, who is busy at a wood symposium, fashion designer Kate Sylvester, at her High Street boutique; and abstract painter Judy Millar, at work in her studio.  

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. 

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.

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.

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.

In the third episode of The Big Art Trip the little green car heads first to Piha, where hosts Nick Ward and Douglas Lloyd-Jenkins interview hip-hop artist King Kapisi. After that they visit jewellery and multimedia artist Lisa Reihana at her K Road apartment, discuss contemporary furniture with designer Kim Martinengo and drop in on hot glass artist Stephen Bradbourne. They also check out art in a corporate setting before meeting sculptor Emily Siddell, and finish up by visiting painter Andy Leleisi’uao at his home studio in Mangere.