The Chartwell Trust is an independent charitable trust whose collection of more than 2100 works of New Zealand, Australian and international contemporary art has been acquired over 50 years through the insight, enthusiasm and diligence of founding trustee Rob Gardiner ONZM.
Previously held in Kirikiriroa Hamilton, responsibility for the Chartwell Collection moved to Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki in 1997 so that it could fulfil its objective of bringing the pleasures and challenges of contemporary art to a larger audience.
Today the collection is seen in a programme of exhibitions and through loans in Aotearoa New Zealand and overseas. This is an important part of the Chartwell Collection’s philosophy – to be an active resource: available for exhibition and online for research and education.
Megan Shaw is manager (special projects) at the Chartwell Collection Trust. She is leading Chartwell’s 50th anniversary projects between 2024 and 2025 and is co-editor of Being, Seeing, Making, Thinking: 50 Years of The Chartwell Project with Sue Gardiner. She is responsible for in-house management of the Chartwell Archive and Collection records and is a co-curator of the present exhibition at the E H McCormick Library.
Sue Gardiner (MNZM) is the chair of the Chartwell Charitable Trust, dedicated to deepening the understanding of the visual arts and the creative process. She is co-editor with Megan Shaw of Being, Seeing, Making, Thinking: 50 Years of The Chartwell Project, and co-director of the Chartwell Collection, a major public collection of contemporary art held on long-term loan at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. She is also co-director of Squiggla.
