Whanganui Creative Space unveils Unlocked 2 exhibition at Edith Gallery

Brydee Rood (second from left) and Jody Edmonds (front, with hat) and the artists behind Unlocked 2. Photo / Bevan Conley

The new exhibition by the Whanganui Creative Space is a vibrant display of colours and designs - and it's open for viewing for one week only.

The studio works with people with diverse-abilities, and groups attend classes every week.

Their first exhibition, Unlocked, was held in conjunction with Artists Open Studios in March, and tutor/co-ordinator Brydee Rood said the new body of works had been a collaboration with Whanganui artist Jody Edmonds, who completed a 16-week internship at the Dublin St studio.

Edmonds curated the exhibition Unlocked 2.

"Because the Creative Space is a community access studio, we have a lot of different special needs and diverse-abilities artists," Rood said.

"That idea of unlocking their creative spirit is really important. It comes back to art-for-wellbeing, and the importance of that.

"When you give the work the space it deserves, with clear, white walls, everything gets a chance to shine."

Some of the pieces had taken months to finish, and rainbows had sprung up in several artists' works, Rood said.

"One artist created about 12 weeks worth of layers on his work. There were an enormous amount of renditions, in different colours and in different ways, just building, building, building.

"Eventually he was happy to call it finished."

Exhibiting artist Peter Connell created a vibrant volcanic eruption, his first exhibited work in a gallery.

The exhibition is the follow-up to Whanganui Creative Space's Artists Open Studios project, Unlocked. Photo / Supplied

"That was from something I saw on the news, and there was a lot of lava coming out," he said.

"It took me weeks to complete, what with all the colours and things."

Fellow painter Nathan Davey took a slightly different approach, painting a portrait of himself and his family.

He said he really enjoyed going to Whanganui Creative Space.

"I'm going to paint Mt Taranaki next," Davey said.

There were no family portraits or volcanoes for Anthony Welch - his work was strictly high-octane.

"I've got some stock cars and some drags, and sometimes I paint my ute," Welch said.

Rood said Welch even brought toy cars into the studio to paint.

For Edmonds, seeing all the finished work was something "really special".

"I've loved working with all these different personalities, with different ways of communication," Edmonds said.

"The space itself and the crew are great. There is a really strong whānau environment."

Edmonds said she tried not to direct the artists too much, offering them her own artistic perspective instead.

"That could be something as simple as saying 'Maybe you could try a bit of white there, it'll create space'."

"I got to watch them grow within their work.

"A lot of it is intuitive for them, they aren't really thinking about it. When they finish and you step away and look at it, you can see their personality in the work. I think that's beautiful."

For more information on Whanganui Creative Space, email whanganuics@gmail.com.