ArtRage continues tradition of promoting young artists
Media release – Issued Wednesday 19 August 2020
Not even the coronavirus pandemic can stop this year's annual ArtRage exhibition.
Now in its 26th year, ArtRage is an initiative of the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery and draws on work by Tasmanian year 11 and 12 art students.
City of Launceston Mayor Albert van Zetten said he was delighted that the ArtRage exhibition will once again bless the walls of the Queen Victoria Museum at Inveresk in 2020.
"The COVID-19 pandemic had initially created a lot of uncertainty around the Museum's ability to run this year's exhibition," Mayor van Zetten said.
"At the height of the Tasmanian lockdowns, both museum sites had been closed, students were learning from home rather than in the classroom.
"Additionally, there were a number of restrictions in place that would have severely impacted our ability to travel around the State and select artwork for the exhibition. "Our museum staff had to think long and hard whether they could actually deliver a full statewide, touring art exhibition.
"However, things have now progressed to the point that, as life slowly returns to normal, we are fully committed to bringing the ArtRage exhibition back."
Creative Arts and Cultural Services General Manager Tracy Puklowski said that she was incredibly proud of the opportunity the Museum was able to provide young, emerging artists through the exhibition.
"One of our goals is to actively encourage students to continue studying and practising art once they finish school and there's absolutely no doubt that ArtRage is one of our more popular exhibitions," Ms Puklowski said.
"For the past quarter-of-a-century, ArtRage has helped young people right across the State share their stories and express themselves in what is always a vibrant and sometimes provocative exhibition.
"And what we end up with is an array of beautiful, challenging and mature work that reflects the last important years of secondary education."
Last year, more than 100 individual works from 99 students from 25 schools and colleges around the state were featured.
Ms Puklowski said artists used a broad cross-section of mediums and processes - from analogue photography and traditional printmaking techniques to sculpture, video animation and 3D printing technology.
And in what Ms Puklowski described as a beautiful segue, in December the museum will open an exhibition by a former ArtRage participant, Tasmanian interdisciplinary artist Alastair Mooney.
Mooney's first major solo offering, Nest, reflects on the resilience and beauty of Tasmania's endemic birdlife in the face of human consumption and destruction.
ArtRage will be on display at the Queen Victoria Museum at Inveresk from December 2020.
The exhibition is open to the public until March before it tours the State.