Trail will net prizes for spotters of colourful fish art

CELEBRATION: Jill Walker (left) and Valerie Janin, owner of Cafe de Paris, are excited about The Fish Out of Water Art Trail. PHOTO/ STEPHEN PARKER

Rotorua's lakes and fisheries are being celebrated with 14 decorated fish creations placed around the city for The Fish Out of Water Art Trail.

The trail is in its 10th year, and is being co-ordinated by Jill Walker and Rotorua Lakes Council.

"It's a free art exhibition that has happened for 10 years in Rotorua to celebrate our local lakes and fisheries and bring art into the street and add colour and vibrancy to the inner city during the summer months," she said.

The fish trail will be up until February, and people are encouraged to pick up a map from the Rotorua Arts Village and from all participating retailers to follow the trail to win prizes.

Each fish is an individual piece of art.

"They have all been decorated by local artists, some are working artists and some are still studying, and some of them are worked on collaboratively and some are by individuals.

"The youngest is a group of children part of an art class at the Arts Village, so the ages range from 8-year-olds, to an artist in her 70s," she said.

"The fish are decorated in a real variety of ways, there is something for everyone's tastes.

"Basically there is one at City Focus, the starting place for people to pick up their map and bring back their map at the end."

There were prizes to be won, she said.

"There are two competitions, vote for favourite fish and on the map there is a little square picture of part of each fish, which you have to match up. This encourages people to really go around the whole trail and have a good look at the fish."

The fish are hosted by 12 retail shops and businesses, with one at the Art Village and one at City Focus.

Cafe de Paris on Hinemoa St is one of the retailers hosting a fish.

Owner Valerie Janin said the fish art had been catching people's attention.

"People really like it, it's nice for kids as well, I've seen kids doing the fish trail. I think it is good for this part of town, it attracts more people and brings more foot traffic to this end of the street," she said.