Artists emerge

Experienced artist Rob McGregor catctches up with emerging artists Sandy Clarke and Vicki Fraser. Photo: John Borren.

An exciting and new addition to this year's Bay of Plenty Garden & Art Festival in November is The Weekend Sun Emerging Artist Award.

'We put a call out a few months ago, and received interest from a number of artists,” says festival director Marc Anderson. 'The festival artist's committee then selected 13 as finalists.”

The chosen artists, all ranging from teenagers to retired, with a broad array of styles, will now be participating in development workshops in coming months with artist Rob McGregor.

'They are already good artists, but it just gives us another opportunity to offer a platform so people can gain confidence,” says Marc. 'And give them a chance to express themselves creatively and learn from professionals like Rob.”

One of the artists will be awarded ‘The Weekend Sun's Emerging Artist' award at the Garden & Art Festival, and all of the finalists will have work exhibited at Bloom in the Bay, which will be the festival hub at the Tauranga Racecourse.

'We developed the emerging artist award because we believe one's wellbeing can be affected positively by creativity and art, and we wanted to offer a platform for more people to be involved.”

All the professional artists exhibiting in Bay of Plenty gardens during the festival will also have one piece of their work on display at Bloom in the Bay.

'We believe creativity and well-being goes hand in hand and we think the festival can help provide the opportunity to develop both,” says Marc.

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