Te Ara Whetū - Guiding Light: A Matariki Celebration

First Light Over Paradise — original abstract painting by Silke Hendel, cover artwork for the Te Ara Whetū Matariki exhibition 2026

Featuring 'First Light Over Paradise' by Silke Hendel - Cover Artwork for the 2026 Matariki Exhibition

Art in the Bar – Turner Centre, Kerikeri
Opening Night: Thursday, 2 June 2026 at 5pm - All Welcome, Free entry

Te Ara Whetū Guiding Light Matariki exhibition poster featuring First Light Over Paradise by Silke Hendel, Turner Centre Kerikeri 2026

There's a moment in winter, just before dawn, when the sky over Northland goes so still you can almost hear it. The cluster rises. Matariki. Puanga close behind.

A whole little galaxy of light reminding us - gently, every single year - that we made it through the dark, and that something new is on its way.

This is the season the artists have been invited to paint to.

And this year, I'm not quite sure how to put this without it sounding like a humble brag - so I'll just say it. My painting First Light Over Paradise has been chosen as the face of the show.

It's the painting on the poster. It's what people will see when they hear "Te Ara Whetū" this year.

I had to sit down for a bit when I found out. Then I made a cup of tea. Then I sat down again.

About First Light Over Paradise

The painting was born from a real moment - the Bay of Islands at first light. The water still as glass. The sky doing that thing it does up here where the colour seems to come from inside the air rather than from the sun.

Ribbons of pink and turquoise weaving across an orange dawn and sea. Mountains soft and purple in the middle distance. A tui tucked into the foreground, watching it all unfold.

I wanted to put that feeling onto canvas - the feeling of being completely alone with something beautiful, completely awake, completely grateful. We live in paradise. We really do. And the painting is my way of saying it out loud.

The original is a one-of-a-kind work, signed and dated, and will be hanging at the Turner Centre throughout the exhibition. Once it's found its forever home, that's it - there will never be another. See First Light Over Paradise here →.

For collectors who fall in love with the piece but miss out on the original, premium fine-art prints of First Light Over Paradise are also available - printed locally on archival paper and canvas.

First Light Over Paradise showing brushwork, colour blocks and contour lines by abstract artist Silke Hendel

About Te Ara Whetū

Te Ara Whetū - the path of the stars. The name itself is a guide. It's what Matariki has been to Aotearoa for centuries: a celestial map, a marker of time, a reason to gather, a way of remembering the ones who've gone before us and welcoming what's still ahead.

For 2026, the Turner Centre's Art in the Bar series transforms into a curated Matariki exhibition under that name. A handpicked group of Northland artists, each responding to the theme of Guiding Light - original works about place and remembrance, dawn light and the long Northland night, the people we've lost and the ones we're walking towards.

The Theatre Bar is the kind of space that holds a show like this perfectly - softly lit, warm, full of people who genuinely love art. It's where Bay of Islands collectors quietly come to find their next piece before it ever reaches a gallery wall.

New Zealand abstract artist Silke Hendel painting in Northland

A little about me, in case we haven't met

I'm Silke Hendel - a New Zealand abstract artist based in Northland. Self-taught, by choice. I paint bold, layered originals inspired by Northland's coastlines, native birds, wildlife, and the light that moves across all of it.

Every painting begins with a real moment outside - a Pīwakawaka in the bush, a Tūī feeding on pohutukawa blossoms, the dawn sky going colour-mad over the harbour - and I try to put the feeling of that moment onto the canvas, so the person living with the work feels it too.

My originals are held in private collections across New Zealand, Australia and the Europe. Each piece is signed, dated, and comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.

Come along - I'd love to see you there

Opening Night: Tuesday 2 June 2026, 5–7pm

Exhibition Runs: 3 June - 13 July 2026

Viewing Hours: Monday to Friday, 9am–2pm

Venue: Theatre Bar, Turner Centre, 43 Cobham Road, Kerikeri

Entry: Free - everyone is welcome

If you've been thinking about acquiring an original - opening night is the night. New work is on the wall, red dots go on quickly, and there's something genuinely lovely about being in the room when someone falls for a piece for the very first time.

I'll be there in person. Come and say hi. Tell me which piece pulls at you. I'd love to share the story behind mine, hear yours, and toast Matariki together. 💛

View First Light Over Paradise