Named a “must see” attraction by the New York Times, the bi-annual Sculpture on the Gulf gets underway this week.

The event is one of New Zealand’s premier outdoor art exhibitions with multiple works displayed along a 2km walkway on Waiheke Island’s Matiatia Headland.

Chair of Sculpture on the Gulf Caroline Forsyth told Lorna Subritzky that there will be 28 sculptures on display this year. She

"One of the reasons why it takes so long from start to finish is we go out and ask for submissions not long after the last event, and we gradually whittle them down."

She says the first event was more successful than anyone ever expected, garnering 12,000 visitors when only 3,000 were expected, and it has become more successful since.

It is the first time artist Euan Lockie has featured in the exhibition. He told Lorna Subritzky this was a huge deal for him.

"I've never had an opportunity to make work on this scale, so it was a really awesome opportunity." 

Lockie has been making art his whole life, but has been focused on sculpture for the last six years. 

He says that over the last two events, he saw a spot in the water that he knew he wanted to use. Lockie's artwork will see a Department of Conservation hut resting in the water. 

"It points towards global warming and sea level rising. DOC huts are a staple of the New Zealand landscape, it's an easily identifiable hut, and it fits perfectly into the Waiheke landscape." 

Lockie got his ideal location, but Forsyth says that the landscape, which includes huge cliff drops and a Pohutakawa forest

"We always manage to find a satisfactory solution."