Rotorua Lakes High School Year 13 art exhibition an exciting showcase of students’ hard work

Rotorua Lakes High School art students Eva Lescheid (left), Samuel Trass and Alexis Wigzell, all 17, at the art exhibition. Photo / Andrew Warner

Rotorua Lakes High School Year 13 art and photography students were excited to showcase their hard work and display their pieces in a student-led exhibition this week.

And they were grateful to be able to use canvases for their work that were donated by a former student of the school.

Megan Malcolm, art head of department, says there were 13 paintings and 13 photography pieces in the exhibition, on display in the school’s auditorium, and that all the works are quite distinct and individual pieces.

She says planning this exhibition is part of gaining credits for the students, and some of them will be heading off to art and design schools next year.

These pieces were huge in scale compared with what the students would normally work on, and it was a great challenge for them to see it through, she says.

“The students planned the exhibition from start to finish, which was a new experience for them.

“I think the achievement and celebration from seeing something through and finishing it gave them a new appreciation for what happens behind the scenes.”

Megan says some of the works will be displayed in the Rotorua Library from April 29.

She says the canvases used in the exhibition were donated by former student Rachel McKechnie who drove to the school one day and offered a range of canvases to the art department.

“The fact we had this donation is why this [exhibition] happened.”

Capryce Proctor, 17, with her painting of Tāme Iti being showcased in the exhibition. Photo / Andrew Warner

Student Capryce Proctor, 17, says her inspiration was the movie Muru, and that it felt great to have her painting of Tāme Iti on display in an exhibition because a lot of work went into the piece.

She says it was a student-led exhibition, with people having various roles such as making the posters, organising food and performances for the opening night, and helping to set the artworks on display.

Student Eva Lescheid, 17, says the theme for her painting was exploring the idea of impostor syndrome, and including mirrors was a fun thing she decided to do as part of this. The figure in the painting moves through a liminal space with mirrors floating all around, seemingly searching for identity or recognition for who they are.

She says creating an exhibition and seeing their work featured in it was cool and pretty surreal because they have been working towards it for a while, and it was a way to showcase all their hard work.

They say it was cool to have the canvases donated because it gave them the opportunity to try creating art of new, different sizes.