Four of Otago's top secondary school art pupils have works on display in a New Zealand touring exhibition which will appear in Otago and Southland galleries next month as part of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority's annual Top Art exhibition.
The exhibition is a selection of the country's top 60 secondary school art portfolios, all of which achieved excellence in a visual arts subject at NCEA level 3 in 2012.
Wakatipu High School pupils Sarah Wood (design) and Georgia Wales (painting), and St Hilda's Collegiate School pupils Lauren Chittock (painting) and Gabrielle Gill (photography) will have artworks from their 2012 NCEA level 3 portfolios on display in the touring exhibition.
Sarah said she created her design work in the hope it would ''somehow influence and inspire girls with the sense that they are beautiful and life is worth living''.
Georgia said she focused on attempting to challenge herself by using a range of unfamiliar colours and subject matter.
''While searching for inspiration, I came across Pat Perry and the work of James Jean, whom I instantly loved and whose visual ideas I wanted to weave into my own work.''
Lauren said her artwork began with the basics of hunting, but she later developed the idea of animals becoming more than the targets.
Gabrielle's artwork takes on an apocalyptic movie-type setting, in a run-down kitchen surrounded by darkness.
''I had the idea that when all humans/civilisation had left, plants would then take over, kind of like what is happening at Chernobyl.
''I originally planned to do some sort of B-grade zombie theme, using elements from Gregory Crewdon's photography, but instead developed the idea to be more about plants.''
The selected artworks have been split into two exhibition tours - one collection to tour the upper North Island, and the other to tour the South and lower North Islands.
NZQA chief executive Dr Karen Poutasi said Top Art was an opportunity for members of the public to see the high quality of art being created in schools.
It also provided an opportunity for secondary pupils to gain an understanding of what was required to achieve excellence in visual art at level 3.
Five streams of art are covered in the exhibition - design, painting, photography, printmaking and sculpture.
Part of the Top Art exhibition will appear at the King's and Queen's Performing Arts Centre, in Dunedin, on May 6-10; at Waitaki Girls' High School, in Oamaru, on May 13-17; at Blue Mountain College, in Tapanui, on July 1-5; and at Wakatipu High School, in Queenstown, on July 8-12.john.lewis@odt.co.nz
