Dionne Christian previews May's big fat helping of music for Auckland's children.

NZ's art history is strewn with images of the indigenous barbaric, which were frequently used to accentuate the counterpoint to the civilised European, writes Paul Moon.

A group of imaginative artists has shown magic can be made from a few simple lines in the sand.

Almost 600 children were at The Civic in Auckland to vie for the roles of the von Trapp kids in the Lloyd Webber production.

A month-long exhibition of portraits of Mongrel Mob members will start at an upmarket art gallery next week - and the photographer is expecting some negative reaction.

"Memorials became increasingly ignored and forgotten objects, presences in the landscapes that were taken for granted and just passed by. It is this period of slow loss of community consciousness that Aberhart's photographs capture so superbly." - Jock Phillips, Anzac: Photographs by Laurence Aberhart

Karlheinz Company's Composing Now concert opened dramatically.

A painting by one of the country's most acclaimed artists has been sold to a private collector in Auckland.

Duirng the lead up to summer, women are expected to wax, primp and polish their bodies to beach-ready perfection - a set of beauty standards that photographer Jessica Ledwidch finds 'absurd'.

As a former leader of the free world George W Bush had significantly greater access to world leaders than other budding artists. Which is why his art is so, er, surprising.

In her surreal photo series, Monstrous Feminine, the Melbourne-based artist, Jessica Ledwich, aims to show the number of ways women are conditioned to treat themselves, often using physical harm or pain, in order to appear 'beautiful'.

Indian Ink Theatre's Jacob Rajan returns to Southern India and is thrilled by his company's historic first.

Jeremy Shirley is spray-painting a three-storey building in downtown Hamilton - and the city council couldn't be more pleased.