Trust Invites Public to Open Studio

Trust Invites Public to Open Studio

The Whanganui National Art Exhibition and Award Trust is excited about participating in the 2012 Whanganui Artists Open Studios in March. It is a proactive way to promote Trust events and activities, as well as engage the public in demonstrations in painting and printmaking and other disciplines.

The trust was set up in 2010 to convene the annual Whanganui National Art Exhibition and Awards, and has a group of enthusiastic arts and business practitioners as Trustees. Having the awards show grow each year has prompted the trust to expand its activities to engage more with the wider community, and that includes the Open Studio.

Trust chairman Aaron Potaka is pleased to be able to have the trustees, as working artists and business mentors, participating in Open Studio. "What is really apparent from the buzz coming from the trustees is the excitement of directly engaging the public through their art making and promoting", he says.

Mr Potaka says it is important for the trust that the public sees art in process, from blank canvases and papers to finished works. "That way visitors have a real insight into art making and build a rapport with the artists and their works, away from the gallery environment where that relationship is less intimate."

The trustees consist of Aaron Potaka as a printmaker and painter, Neil Buddle working in printmaking and mixed media assemblage, Esther Topfer as mixed media artist and printmaker, Sandra Louwrens de Kock working with painting media, whilst Bernie Steyn is a fine arts student. Ariki Toru is responsible for trust development and marketing.

The Trust Open Studio will have an Exhibition of Trustees showing the works of the trustees, as well as the working studio, with the possibility of workshops for visitors in painting and printmaking.

Visitors can learn about what the Whanganui National Art Exhibition and Award Trust does, upcoming Trust events and activities, and the promotion of New Zealand contemporary fine arts. "We are really looking forward to entertaining, enlightening and engaging with our visitors to send them of with a behind-the-scenes look and hands-on participation in art making, and a better appreciation of art practice", Mr Potaka says.

The 2012 Whanganui Artists Open Studios is on 17th, 18th, 24th and 25th of March.

The Whanganui National Art Exhibition and Award Trust Open Studio is located on Level One, the Old Chronicle Building, 22 Drews Ave, Whanganui, and open from 10am to 4pm.

Thanks to Optiv101 Fine Arts and Multimedia Studios, Mathathane Studio, and the Whanganui Arts Marketing and Development Trust for their support.