Wanganui Collegiate art students are snapping their way to their 1000 Stars fundraising target for the Sarjeant Gallery redevelopment.
A selection of affordable A3 colour photographic prints of images taken by students in the last days of the 2014 school year will be on display till the end of March - including over the two Artists Open Studios weekends - at Jolt caf in lower Victoria Ave.
Art teacher Catherine Richards says that at $25 each the prints are likely to be snapped up and all proceeds will go to the $1000 the school's art department aims to raise for the Sarjeant's 1000 Stars.
Individuals, businesses and other organisations have pledged donations of $1000 each to the campaign, which has a target of $1 million toward the cost of earthquake strengthening and extending the 96-year-old Sarjeant Gallery in Queen's Park.
Ms Richards says the exercise aims to encourage students to focus on the benefits of supporting charitable causes and taking part in fundraising. Since choosing fundraising for the Sarjeant redevelopment, Collegiate's art department has raised more than $500 from sales of students' photographs over two previous exhibitions.
The prints provide a unique view of flora, fauna, people and places ranging from the railway yards and town centre to Castlecliff Beach and Virginia Lake. The Year 9 students who produced the images were given a short lesson in basic composition before heading out to their assigned locations.
About half had digital SLR cameras and the rest used compact models, and they had about 45 minutes to take their photos. They then spent about an hour making some basic adjustments with Photoshop.
Ms Richards and Paul Collins, former head of learning in the arts department, selected the prints for showing. .
"I'm confident the prints we have selected will appeal to a wide range of buyers and, of course, we welcome donations over and above the purchase price as its definitely for a good cause," Ms Richards said.
Wanganui Collegiate's music department is also a supporter of the Sarjeant redevelopment fundraising through a series of concerts featuring senior students. The school has also made the Prince Edward Auditorium available for several musical fundraisers.