Generations of artists have come together to showcase their work at an exhibition at Riverton’s Te Hikoi Museum. 

This year’s submissions included pieces from grandparents, all the way to a 15-month-old child.

Marina Seager had four generations of her family submit work with her parents, herself, her daughter, and granddaughter all submitting a piece for the exhibit.

“I’m pretty stoked because we always consider Riverton as our tūranga waiwai, it’s the place that we belong so it’s pretty cool to all be able to be here.”

She was inspired to take part  after hearing about the event at a meeting and thought she would give it a go.

“I’m not really an artist at all but I like to try new things, I like to do brave stuff.”

After coming up with the idea for her piece which is suitcase art using one of her husband’s many suitcases, she decided to get the family involved too.

“I encouraged Karli to get involved and once she started doing something, Hazel thought she’d better jump on board too … I then put out the challenge to my mum and dad.”

 Marina was keen on the whole family getting involved saying she told them “come on, can we do four generations or not?”.

Despite visiting the exhibition every year, this is the first time she had thrown her hat in the ring and had a piece on display.

“I’m looking forward to it … it’s just fascinating seeing the things come out of the collection, things that have sometimes been away for a long time.”

Her daughter Karli Seager grew up doing art at Aparima College, saying she “accidentally sold some artwork”, back in the day.

“It wasn’t even for sale, but an artist liked it when we were displaying it at the school and purchased it.”

  Since then she had  only sporadically dabbled in art  due to life being busy. However, after her mum mentioned the exhibit, she decided to jump back in, Karli said.

“I’ve just recently moved back to Riverton and mum suggested it might be a good idea so I thought, why not?”

Also her first time displaying a piece at this exhibition, her work was a poem inspired by a 500-year-old bible she found.

“I’m Christian and have a really strong faith and respect the bible, so when I found out there was this massive historical bible just sitting there, I wanted to honour and respect that.”

She described feeling “very chill” coming up to the exhibit, saying there were so many other things going on that this was just in the back of her mind.

Her 8-year-old daughter Hazel is also participating, which Karli said  made  her “super proud”.

“When she saw me and mum doing it and wanted to join in I told her I wasn’t going to stop her.

“She’s just dedicated her time and effort to it, I’m very, very proud of her.”

Hazel said she felt “great” when she first saw her piece hanging in the exhibit.

She said the piece was inspired by her mum and, in particular, her grandmother Marina, who loves the colour purple.

Bridget Carter and her 8-year-old daughter Quinn have submitted works for the exhibition as well, but  they may have some difficulty seeing it in person.

“We live remotely on Rakiura so it’s not easy for us to waltz in, but the thought of people looking at it and considering it art still makes me squirm inside.

“But at the same time I’m super excited to see it in the context of all the other different pieces of art.”

Also new to art, Carter saw the exhibition on the museum’s website and appreciated its  accessibility for everyone.

“I had a look through the video for last year and thought we should try and go and have a look, then I realised you could actually submit art for it.

“I asked Quinn what she thought and she was keen to do it. She’s 8, she’s awesome and positive.”

After having a look at other pieces in the museum, Carter was intrigued by the natural history section since she had a background in that area.

“It didn’t take us long to start squabbling over what cool pieces we should consider for our art.”

They both enjoyed the experience and Quinn in particular loved seeing her art being accepted for the exhibition.

“She’s never submitted art in her life and it just got snapped up straight away. Now she’s believing she’s a premier artist.

“It’s a mother-daughter combo and when they were both accepted, I just couldn’t believe it.”

Initially she had doubts the pieces would be accepted as she thought they were not good enough.

“I’m pretty stoked now, it’s just being vulnerable and it doesn’t matter the quality.

“It’s about participating and that’s an important ethic for our tamariki.”

She hoped something like the exhibit at Te Hikoi would be able to make its way to Rakiura too.

“It’s a really clever and wholesome way to breathe life into museums … I’ve already suggested something to the trust here.

“It makes me feel grateful to be a part of something bigger than my little pencil sketch.”

  tayler.mutton@alliedmedia.co.nz