Abundance of inspiration as students' Top Art exhibition comes to Rotorua

Rotorua's Sydney Riley with his photography portfolio featured in Top Art 2022. Photo / Supplied

There will be no shortage of creative inspiration as the Top Art exhibition returns once again to Rotorua.

Top Art is an annual exhibition featuring some of New Zealand's top secondary school Visual Art portfolios, toured by New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA).

Hosted by Rotorua Museum, this showcase of New Zealand's talented youth will be open to the public at Rotorua Library, Te Aka Mauri (Level two) from 12pm March 14 to 12pm March 25.

This year there is a Rotorua student displaying their work in Top Art - Sydney Riley, (John Paul College) was selected for his photography portfolio.

One of the photos in Sydney Riley's portfolio. Photo / Supplied

Rotorua Museum education lead Emma Liley says a variety of mediums are included in the exhibition - painting, photography, sculpture, printmaking and design.

Most of the portfolios are shown on physical art boards but some students have elected to show their portfolio using moving image.

She says having this exhibition on display in Rotorua is a great opportunity because it provides motivation, and gives students an understanding of what is required to achieve Excellence or Scholarship in Visual Art at NCEA Level 3.

"It gives people a chance see the work our talented youth are producing in schools.

"It is exciting to see how creative the youth of New Zealand are."

Emma says visitors to the exhibition each year are in awe of the talent and creativity shown, and she knows students use it as a great source of inspiration for their own portfolios.

She encourages people to make sure they don't miss out.

The Rotorua Museum Education team is accepting school bookings to view Top Art 2022. Contact kristina.joyce@rotorualc.nz or call (07) 351 7835.

The exhibition is available to view during library opening hours, except when closed by appointment for school groups.

Visitors to Rotorua Library do require a vaccine pass for entry.

For those that might not be able to attend the exhibition in person, images of all the portfolios will be posted on the Facebook @NZQATopArt (https://www.facebook.com/NZQATopArt).
The exhibition might also be uploaded on the NZQA site.