Highlights

In December 2023 Waikato artist Ruth Davey will turn 100.
Davey’s works are ethereal, expressive, and engaging. They are both poignantly local, and engaged in an international dialogue with music, literature, and the craft of printmaking itself. Here is just a small selection of artworks which span her extensive artistic career.

This collection of swimwear shows the development of the swimming costume. Prior to the 1930s swimsuits were typically made of wool before the use of new materials being developed, particularly rayon and nylon fabric.
Men’s wear includes swim trunks and women’s swimsuits includes one-piece, full-body wear and bikinis.
Swimsuit colour most visible underwater which affects swimmer’s safety have large blocks of solid colour or bright neon colours such as neon pink and neon lime green. While swimwear goes through many trends in colour pattern, style, material, length and cut. There is not much modification to the original variety of one-piece full body swimsuit.

Throughout the year the museum has been adding to it's collection. Here you can see some of the new accessions helping to tell our local stories.