Tauranga Art Gallery - Toi Tauranga

Children - start your own art collection! - 22 Mar 2010

Encouraging youngsters to appreciate art at an early age is the idea behind the Muka Youth Prints exhibition at Tauranga Art Gallery on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 March.

Adults are not allowed in to view the exhibition, which is how serious Muka Studio is about introducing young people to contemporary art without any preconceptions.

“This is an experience specifically for young art lovers between the ages of 5 and 18,” says Gallery Manager Penelope Jackson. “The idea is allow young people to appreciate, and perhaps purchase, works of art based purely on the work’s merit, without being influenced by their parents’ or teacher’s knowledge of the artist’s reputation, or what could be a potential investment opportunity.”

Well-known artists from around the world are invited by Muka Studio to produce a small set of lithographs that reflect the true style of the artist and are not simplified for younger viewers. The prints are originals, signed and numbered by the artists.

“Children with no background in art, see art differently to adults. There are no expectations or preconceptions. Therefore, many people who have collected Muka prints, see the works as an album of their history,” says Magda van Gils, director of Muka Studio. “Their collection is a reflection of who they are, what happened and how they felt at a particular time of their childhood.”

“Adults who have collected the prints previously, often bring in their children, and likewise we’ve had cases where people say to us that their prints remind them of their parents.”

Muka Studio, based in Ponsonby, Auckland, began in 1984 as a workshop dedicated to printing lithographs in the traditional way, where images are drawn on a flat limestone or metal plate. Only one colour of ink can be applied to the plate at a time, which is then pressed onto the paper, making the process very labour intensive.

Muka Youth Prints are available for purchase at the exhibition. They are a uniform price of $60 each, or $120 with a kitset frame, with a maximum of three prints allowed per child. Once a print has been purchased, a profile of the artist is then included.

Muka Youth Prints will be available to view from 12noon-4.30pm Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 March in the Education Studio.