Arts festival season at Bay of Plenty Polytechnic

Arts festival season at Bay of Plenty Polytechnic

Art livens up city centre

A fresh slice of culture came to town this month as Bay of Plenty Polytechnic students presented their annual end of year shows.

First off the block, the community were invited to attend a free exhibition of Year One Diploma in Art student’s work at the Void Gallery at the Polytechnic’s Windermere Campus. Students were given a 76cm x .76cm canvas to create their works which provided a fresh challenge for students to fit their ideas into a specified size and medium.

Described by Art Programme Coordinator Laurie Steer as primarily playful, some of the pieces showed through darker undertones while others gave ironic references to modern art providing plenty of thought provoking moments for local community, staff and fellow students.

The Year Two exhibition ‘Fresh of the Boat’ was held at the Civic Arcade Gallery in the centre of Tauranga’s CBD. Also a free public event, the exhibition included a mix of installation, sculpture and paintings and covered an eclectic mix of individual expression.

The exhibition provided the students with an opportunity to refine other projects from throughout the year into a final piece. Laure says it’s a chance for the students to interface directly with a public audience. “It’s a time to put their stuff out there. This final graduation show really represents the popping of the Art School bubble, our little art fledglings flapping off into the big wide world.”

Graphic artists and catwalk models - INfuse style and design at TECT Arena

The highly anticipated INfuse Design Exhibition wowed an audience of 700 at TECT Arena, drawing together the creative talents and months of hard work of the graphic and fashion design students.

Graphic Design students exhibited their stunning collections in TECT Arena’s purpose-built gallery, impressing audiences and industry judges alike with edgy multi-media presentations, static art displays and website presentations.

Judges from within the local graphic design industry included David Reid from Real Media, Brendan Herring from Wave Design and Trent Sunderland from Family Design Co.

The Industry Design Award for the Diploma in Graphic Design Year Two was awarded to Michelle Van der Sluijs; highly commended was Carol Lee. Industry Design Award for the Certificate in Graphic Design was awarded to Jenny Kay with Brendan Montgomery awarded highly commended.

Downstairs in the TECT Arena, the runway show celebrated the successes of students and graduates of the diploma and degree programmes. For the first time, the five piece collections of the third year degree students were shown – 2011 being the first year the Otago degree has been delivered in Tauranga.

2011 sees more than 20 years of Polytechnic fashion graduates and to celebrate the Polytechnic invited several local graduates to send their own labels down the 34m catwalk in the ‘Beyond’ section. Liz Turner (riddleme.this), Teresa Hodges (Blak Basics), Aroha Wikatu (Shikoba) and Tina Patrick (NYNE – Tripod clothing) showed their latest collections, adding a fresh component to the show and providing further excitement and inspiration for the current students.

The student collections were judged by Karen Downey (Lower), Vicki Reid (industry) and Tamryn Reeve (You Know We Ain’t Ltd) who awarded two supreme awards.

Arielle Mermin was named Year 2 Supreme Designer with her ‘True Grit’ collection celebrating the designer’s American roots and drawing inspiration from Western classics, prairie dresses and Native American artefacts, encapsulating Americana and the cowboy spirit.

Year 3 Supreme Winner was Renee Moreland with her ‘Diminutive’ collection. Based on the celebration of women and the history of women’s clothing, the collection featured dusty pink high-fashion leather corsets and innovative purely feminine skirts and pants.

Leanne Wild, INfuse coordinator said it was a hugely fun evening. “The student work was outstanding! TECT Arena gave us such an awesome space to work with and we’ve got even bigger ideas for 2012. We’ve had great feedback from the public - we can’t wait to be even better next year!”

Ends.