The Arts Village has awarded three unique artists with a range of crafts the Pop Up Summer Residency.
The Pop Up Residency sees artists given space, time and resources to work, and the community given access to free/low-cost art-making.
The residency project takes place from January 5 to January 31, 2021, when artists will be at work on site and running at least 10 hours each of community programming including workshops, demonstrations and arts talks.
This will be the project's first time running, as an alternative to the Open Studios Project.
The Open Studios Project is a six-week residency programme that has been running since 2011 and since that time has seen 44 artists participating.
This project was not able to go ahead as usual for the current summer season due to the effects of Covid-19 on funding and resourcing at The Arts Village.
The Pop-Up Summer Residency received 16 high-quality applications which were reviewed by a panel of six sector professionals from a range of backgrounds.
The panel awarded the residency to three artists this year who are all New Zealand-based.
Their artist practices include photography, stencil and spray painting, and traditional ink.
The artists are Natascha Hartzuiker (Rotorua - photography), Razor Taser Laser (Moutere - stencil and spray painting) and Smithy-James Sarah (Rotorua - traditional ink).
Each artist is awarded $1000 to support their living costs, $250 of materials, and four weeks of studio space, promotion, and support at The Arts Village.
The Arts Village director Mary-Beth Acres says the standard of applicants was extremely high this year and that the panel had a hard job in making the final selection.
"I want to really acknowledge the efforts made by all of the artists who applied and the mahi they did putting forth project ideas that were meaningful and exciting.
"We were thrilled to receive such an amazing calibre of applicants to this project from all over Aotearoa.
"It was a very difficult choice to select only three and where possible we are exploring options for other ways of working with some of the other shortlisted artists in the year ahead.
"Our three selected artists each offer a unique experience for the community to engage with, as well as a compelling idea to explore within their own arts practice," she says.
The Pop Up Summer Residency is made possible with funding support from Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust, Creative Communities Rotorua, and the Rotorua Arts Village Trust .
Important Dates - Opening Talks - Saturday, January 9, 2021, 10.30am - Residency Period - January 5 to January 31, 2021 - Closing Showcase - Saturday, January 30, 2021,10.30am
Natascha describes herself as a "Jack of all trades and a master of none".
She developed her multimedia arts practices from her diploma in art and design at Toi Ohomai (then Waiariki Institute of Technology), which introduced her to mediums like ceramics and sculpture, spatial design, weaving, photography, painting, art history and screen printing.
During the summer, Natascha's project will involve old-school photography techniques to capture answers to introspective questions.
Natascha will be running workshops on using the pinhole camera and developing photographs.
Razor Taser Laser. Photo / Supplied
Razor Taser Laser (Moutere) - Stencil and Spray Painting
Simon, known in the art world as Razor Taser Laser, is a self-taught stencil and spray artist, drawn to this art form from travelling the world and experiencing cities, spaces, and subcultures.
He enjoys exploring the interaction between public and walls, the power of simple imagery and street art, the hugely inclusive nature of the art form, and the paradoxical nature of a street artist as both being accessible and inaccessible.
Over the summer, Simon will create and exhibit works that challenge the status quo, as well as invite the audience into the unseen world of stencil making and street art.
Simon will be running workshops on stencil-making and spray painting at The Arts Village.
Smithy-James Sarah. Photo / Supplied
Smithy-James Sarah (Rotorua) - Traditional Ink
Smithy is an artist that is heavily inspired by Japanese manga, comics and video games. He studied at Toi Ohomai and graduated with a bachelors in creative technology, focusing on digital illustration and animation.
He is also a streamer and uses twitch.tv as an outlet to focus on making digital art and socialise with the viewers and other streamers.
His project will be works showcasing various ink applications inspired by Japanese art forms such as manga (comic) and ensō.
Over the summer, Smithy will be running workshops on inking techniques, ensō, digital art basics, and mixed media workshops. He also invites the community to open drawing sessions he will run during the residency.
