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Environmental group Mahurangi Action has launched a pilot art competition in schools that aims to encourage young people to value the unique maritime environment in which they live and foster their creativity.
This year the Coastal Heritage Art competition will be open to students from Horizon, Snells Beach Primary and Warkworth Schools and it’s anticipated the competition will go region-wide from 2021 onwards.
This year students will create art based on the themes of Shipwrecks of Mahurangi or Seabirds of Mahurangi.
The work of the finalists will be exhibited in the Warkworth Town Hall in mid-October where they will be judged by a distinguished panel of artists.
The winning pieces will also be exhibited in the Matakana Cinema Complex and Scott Homestead and be forwarded to Toitoi – a journal for young New Zealand artists and writers.
Organisers are keen to ensure that the project grows in time to include the full range of artistic expression including painting, drawing, printing, photography, 3-D work, sculpting and film making.
They would particularly like to see some of the artwork permanently included and displayed in the region’s ongoing urban development.
The idea for the competition has been partially inspired by a schools’ project that is run nationally in Scotland by Scottish art galleries.
Coastal Heritage Art organiser Kelsay Grovehills came across one of the project exhibitions during a visit to an Edinburgh gallery, and says she was reminded again of the need to foster and publish young people’s work.
An approach to Mahurangi Action to be the institutional home of the competition was warmly received and enabled the launch of the project.
Organisers are pleased with the enthusiastic response to the competition from the local community and are confident that it will grow to become one of the region’s eagerly anticipated annual events.
