Smorgasbord of art at Open Studios exhibition

Artists Open Studios Whanganui exhibition facilitator Esther Topfer with Garden Of The Mind, created by Daniella Sasvari. Photo/Stuart Munro

The Artists Open Studios Whanganui kicks off today.

The event - which sees more than 100 artists open their studios to the public - formally opened last night with the Starting Point exhibition at the Wanganui Community Arts Centre.

Exhibition facilitator Esther Topfer said Starting Point was an integral part of Open Studios, as each studio submitted at least one piece to the exhibition.

"If you come to Starting Point, you'll see examples of everyone's work. So visiting the exhibition is a good way to start planning your arts trail," Ms Topfer said.

Starting Point will be open to the public for the duration of Open Studios, and most works are for sale.

A huge range of mediums are represented, from glass to painting to jewellery to wearable art.

"There's work that's classed as fine art and work that's more craft art," Ms Topfer said.

"It just goes to show the depth of talent in this town - Wanganui's no one-trick pony."

Ms Topfer said the event drew a lot of visitors to Wanganui, and those out-of-towners were valuable to Wanganui's art community.

"A lot of our artists rely on Open Studios to get a hit of sales. It's an ideal situation - they don't have to go anywhere."

Ms Topfer said next year's Open Studios would be the event's 15th anniversary.

"We're expecting it to grow even more next year," she said.

Open Studios runs March 22-23 and 29-30. For more information, and for the full list of studios visit www.openstudios.co.nz.