Forty Mercury Bay artists are in the middle of their final preparations for the annual Mercury Bay Art Escape to be held over the next two weekends.
The free event is an opportunity for visitors to view and purchase artwork and chat to the participating artists in their studios located in Whitianga, Cooks Beach, Kaimarama, Whenuakite, Opito Bay, Otama, Hahei, Coroglen, and Hot Water Beach.
The artwork featured this year will include painting, sculpture, printmaking, ceramics, photography, drawing, jewellery, mosaics, stained and fused glass, silk painting, art books and botanical inks.
Trustee Marion Manson said the event, which had been held for around 15 years, always had a “very good” public response.
“[Visitors are] always seeing something new and something different, [they can] choose which artists studios you want to go and visit,” she said.
“You might be interested in pottery so you go and see the potters or maybe just do one area so there’s a lot of variety of media available for the visitors.
“We have people who come down from Auckland, people who come up from Bay of Plenty and also have people who come up from Taranaki who make it an event for the two weekends and tie it in with they’re holidays.”
Marion said in addition to the individual studios, one piece of artwork by each participating artist would be on display at Hot Waves Cafe at Hot Water Beach from March 4.
“If people don’t have time to get around each studio, it’s a good vehicle to go and see something from everyone and that’s on until April 11,” she said.
Visitors are required to collect an art guide with member’s details and a map of the studio locations from a local information centre or online.
DETAILS: Mercury Bay Art Escape, March 4-5 and March 11-12, 10am to 4pm both days, guides available from information centres and online. To download a guide and to check for updates visit: www.mercurybayartescape.com.
