A well established group for artists within the community.

An artist group in whanganui,
new zealand

all are welcome

Join us on Thursdays at
243 Wicksteed Street

Come and paint with other River City Artists in one of the best facilities in town.
Learners, novices, hobbyists or professionals – All are welcome.

Membership – $30 per year.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact us

About River City Artists

River City Artists is a non-affiliated group of artists who meet each Thursday to paint, enjoy each other’s company and learn from each other.

The group was started in 2016 by Val Donkervoort and now has over 20 like-minded members. As well as painting on a Thursday, we organise two or three workshops during the year, working on different styles and media. We also have some social outings –such as a restaurant meal or a trip to Palmerston North to visit art supply shops.

The aim of the group is for artists to have a space where they can work on a regular basis in a relaxed environment with other like-minded people. We have people at all levels in the group from beginners to very experienced. Everyone is welcome to come along and be part of the group.

Dennis Clark is our Patron. Dennis is a local professional artist who, along with his artist son, Nolan, runs on-line art classes. The link to their websites are: Paint Basket Art Classes and Online painting and drawing classes & lessons — Online Art Lessons. Dennis has been painting since he was 11 years old. He has been a registered art teacher since 1987 and he became a full-time professional artist when he retired from engineering in 1994. We got to know Dennis not long after the group started when we were looking for judges for a competition. Dennis and Nolan judged the competition and then gave everyone comments on what they liked about the entries. Dennis took an interest in the group and donated a large number of books for our library and we were delighted that this lovely man agreed to become our patron.

What some of our members say

“Everyone is so helpful and if I get stuck on some aspect of my painting, there is always someone with some good ideas. There was one time when I was painting an estuary with boats and I was not sure where to place the boats, so I cut out the shapes, blue-tacked them onto the painting and everyone had a go at moving them around until we got the best placement.”

“I love the group because it’s fun and relaxed. People are really kind and helpful. I’m a relatively new member of the group but right from the start I felt accepted and that made me feel very comfortable in the group.”

“It is good to have a regular time that is set aside for painting without any other distractions. The camaraderie is great.”

“The best thing about this group is the people and the sense of community. Setting aside Thursday for art means I actually get to sit down and paint.”

“I like coming to see what everyone is doing and to gain inspiration. The company is good.”

Coming up

Keep up to date with upcoming events.

Bi-Monthly Group Challenge – 26 June 2025

Our next challenge is to create an artwork with the theme “I wish I had.”

We are looking forward to seeing what the members come up with – it will be interesting to see how the members view this challenge as there are a number of ways to interpret the theme.

Our challenges are a fun way to stretch ourselves and try something different.

Yellow House Cafe –Exhibition of Group Members Artwork – May 2025

We are delighted that the Yellow House Cafe has agreed to display our artworks over the month of May 2025. All art displayed will be for sale.

Encourage your friends and family to come along to enjoy a coffee at the Yellow House and to browse our art.

recent happenings

Bi-Monthly Group Challenge – 24 April 2025

This month the challenge was to paint a picture in the style of our favourite artist. Group members either copied a painting from their favourite artist or painted something original in the same style.

The varied and interesting art we produced is shown below.

Our challenges are a fun way to stretch ourselves and try something different.

Artists Open Studios – 15-23 March 2025

Several of our members opening their studios as part of the Open Studios weeks in March. Mary’s studio “Art Attack” was very popular and she sold a number of paintings over the ten days. Sally, Sandie, Angela, Michael and Margaret had a gallery at Sandie’s house. They sold a few items.

River City Artists is planning on having a whole group studio exhibition for 2026. Watch this space!

Vintage Weekend Art Exhibition – Friday 17th to Monday 20th January

The group had a very successful exhibition over Whanganui Vintage weekend, with a large number of people coming through over the four days. Most of the exhibitors sold paintings over that time, mostly to out of towners.

The oil and cold wax abstract paintings were very popular.

A huge thank you to the team of members who spent a day getting the exhibition ready and for all the members who took turns to be on site.

We had a raffle of a gourmet food basket to raise money for the club, which was very popular and won by Sue Browne from Whanganui.

Christmas Lunch at the Sellars Select Wine Bar – Tuesday 19 November

Faye’s Granddaughter generously allowed us to use the Sellars Select premises on the riverbank for our Christmas lunch. She also cooked some delicious food for us.

We all had a good time with superb food and good fellowship. Everyone brought along a Secret Santa gift and then chose a gift from the pile.

We were all delighted that our patron Dennis Clark and his wife Anna were able to join us for the dinner.

Abstract Workshop with Angela Dickson – 26 September 2024

Angela Dickson, one of our members led an Abstract Painting Workshop using oil paints and cold wax.

This was a new technique for all those who took part and it was an excellent learning experience. Angela encouraged us to start with a blank mind and begin to feel what we wanted to do – from choosing the colour palette through to making the marks on the paper. We started off with 3 A4 pieces of paper and experimented with colours and techniques, then we graduated to A3 paper and produced an artwork.

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the workshop and produced quite different but beautiful works of art.

Artist of the month

Avril Walker

MEMBER OF RIVER CITY ARTISTS

Avril has always been interested in art but when she was working and had family commitments she had no opportunity to indulge her interest. When she retired two years ago she decided that the time had come to do something about her interest, so she took a Community Education class with Pauline Allomes to learn the basics of painting with acrylics.

Someone she met at the art course introduced her to River City Artists and she has been a keen member of the group for two years.

Avril works in acrylic because this is what she started out in, but she does also do some sketching to improve her eye for detail.

Avril’s work as a Med Lab Technologist meant she had to be very precise and pay attention to detail at all times. She has now brought this precision to her artwork by carefully working out the colours she wants to use before starting a painting and sometimes doing trial runs of a painting before going on to the final work. This means she is not a prolific artist but her works are precise replicas of the photo she is working from.

Avril loves painting and her overriding reason for painting is to have fun. She enjoys coming to River City Artists group to meet with like minded people where we are all learning from each other.