Stitch up some personalised, colourful pencil cases.

Outdoor sculpture exhibition Sculpture on the Gulf is up and running. Set around the coastal walkway on Waiheke Island, the event has been marked as a must do in 2013 by The New York Times. The 30 piece collection will be on display until February 17. Here's a look at some of the pieces.

Last November in Hamilton, the Rothko Quartet carried off top prize in the Pettman/ROSL Arts International Chamber Music Competition.

The Alba family, the noblest in Spain after the King, has put its private collection of art on show at the Centro Centro in Madrid.

Aucklanders' rates have given a $46 million boost to 10 rescue, safety, arts and cultural groups in the past four years and a further $14 million gift is proposed for the 2013-14 year.

Antarctica's barren environment has flummoxed and troubled artists for five decades - not least because its cold prevents them from gripping a pencil or paintbrush.

Foreign backpackers going door to door posing as gifted artists to sell cheap, mass-produced Chinese prints have been caught by police.

On Saturdays, Hobart's Salamanca Place hosts a market visited by thousands of locals and tourists.

Ravi Shankar, a major influence on The Beatles and Dad to Norah Jones, has died. He was 92.

Basing its final concert for the year on Sunday around the theme of a German Christmas was a shrewd move for Bach Musica.

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra came to town with an early Christmas present: a Gershwin cocktail that capitalised on Freddy Kempf's recent CD.