Artspace adds colour to CBD

Bay of Plenty Polytechnic group leader Mary Stewart in the city centre pop up gallery The Project Room. Photo/Stuart Whitaker

An ever-changing showcase of Bay of Plenty Polytechnic student and staff creations has a home in a pop-up gallery in the CBD.

The Project Room is located at 63 Spring Street and will add to the cultural vibrancy of the CBD for the next three months.

It provides an opportunity for Bachelor of Creative Industries (BCI) students to test ideas as they undertake their course of study. The range of exhibitions will present new work in photography, graphic design, moving image, painting, sculpture and fashion design. A range including tea towels, prints, t-shirts and pet accessories will be for sale.

BCI programme coordinator and recent winner of the New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Award, Nicol Sanders-O'Shea, says students enrolled in the BCI degree focus on technical, creative and business aspects of art and design.

"A big part of the BCI degree is to mentor business initiatives that will help to establish our students when they graduate. Through our collaborative projects, students take an idea for a service or product, develop it, test it, launch it - the way they would in a real life market."

Certificate in Art and Design and Toi Maori students will also be exhibiting work from their one-year programme showcasing ceramics, weaving, carving, photography and painting.

The Bay of Plenty Polytechnic programmes are taught by some of the best artists and designers in the country. The pop-up will finish with an exhibition of their work, opening to the public on December 10.

The initiative comes about through the generosity of building owner Barry Harnett and support from Downtown Tauranga and Basestation.

Since launching in 2014 students have developed projects for public events including the Little Big Markets, the Garden and Art Festival and the forthcoming Tauranga Arts Festival.

* For a programme of exhibitions, visit www.boppoly.ac.nz/bci