An Exhibition Of Firsts - Students At The Focus Of Artstart’s Wellington Art Showcase

The Artstart Foundation kicks off its first exhibition in Te Whanganui-a-tara, focused around secondary school students and the potential they hold for the future of local art.

The Artstart exhibition held at 152 Featherston Street from 24 June - 8 July explores the potential of high school aged artists, providing support for rangatahi into creative careers in Aotearoa.

“A common theme in the collection is our rangatahi wanting to find peace in a busy world” says Co-founder Sophie Paterson.

“The exhibition aims to inspire, with many artworks drawing upon familiarities that spark strong emotions and ties for many New Zealanders.”.

“The intention behind the Artstart programme is to give rangatahi hands-on mentoring and gallery experience so they can see a future in the art industry and realise their creative potential,” Co-founder Charlotte Sherratt says.

Being a part of the Artstart initiative has impacted the student’s lives, Wellington Regional Manager, Fiona Waitere says.

“I’m incredibly proud of our students. I often talk about significant life moments and without a doubt, we’ve seen the significance in what they’ve produced. It’s a privilege to see them in their element and [it’s evidence that] we’re living and breathing whanaungatanga,” she says. “We’re a family here [at The Artstart Foundation] and we hope to provide our students with the community connections and the tools to see them flourish in their creative careers.”

On top of the experience, recognition, and an avenue for career development, Artstart has given back $310,000 to student artists since starting in 2018. Sales of the artwork and prints remunerate the artists directly and there is no cost to the artist to be a part of Artstart. Student artworks were chosen from over 1,500 submissions - with judges choosing the best to feature in the first Wellington exhibition.

You can vote for your favourite artist at https://artstart.co.nz/pages/vote before the 8th July.

The winner of the High Performance Milling People's Choice Award will take away $1000 to support their creative career. All entries go in the draw to win a beautiful art book and candle by artist Cassandra Nevin.

Entry to The Artstart Foundation’s student exhibition held June 24 - July 8, 10am-6pm daily, is free.

The full exhibition collection includes students from the following schools. Our judges selected the best artworks from around 1500 entries.

Wellington College

Wellington High School

Wellington Girls College

Samuel Marsden

Whitby Collegiate

Aotea College

Hutt Valley High

St Orans

Wainuiomata High School

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