The founder of the Lilliput Libraries scheme, the Poems in Waiting Rooms project, and Poetry in Motion, Arnison is herself a poet.
Five years ago, she established Art@Marinoto — a programme of monthly rotating exhibitions by local artists at the Marinoto Clinic cafe, on Mercy Hospital campus.
"It has been quite a successful project — it gives the artists an opportunity to show their work, and provides a nice distraction for people visiting the clinic," Arnison said.
"It ticks along nicely and the artists like it — this year’s exhibition space is all booked out and we are planning for next year," she said.
The current Art@Marinoto exhibition, titled "A Taste of Dunedin", is based on a short collection of Arnison’s poems, which she collected into a booklet for Poetry Day last year.
Local artists Bev Brenssell, David Corbalis, Eion Mills, Larissa Jones, Allie Simpson, and Sheryl McCammon took inspiration from the poems to create artworks.
Their creations depicted scenes from the Otago Farmers Market, the Regent Theatre, Karitane, the Octagon, and Dunedin Botanic Garden.
About a dozen works are displayed on the Marinoto Cafe walls in the "A Taste of Dunedin" exhibition until February 27.
With the Art@Marinoto programme under way for the year, the Step Sisters project, created by Arnison and McCammon to paint poetry on steps around the city, is trying something new this summer.
Working with local businesses, the pair are preparing to use art to transform pipes into fun illustrations of poems in a project called "Pipe Dreams".
