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Young Northern Tasmanian students have been given their start in art at the opening of an annual Queen Victoria Art Gallery exhibition featuring their visual works.
The primary school art show ArtStart has opened its doors for another year featuring works from burgeoning artists selected by student curators.
The exhibition and program is designed to encourage children's participation in the visual arts and is open to kindergarten to grade six students from across the region.
With this year's theme of My Imaginary World, a selection of student curators selected a total of 40 works for display from over 80 student submissions.
As part of the ArtStart process, students met with QVMAG curators to learn about the curatorial process for an art show - looking at things like what colours and themes go best together, and what goes on behind-the-scenes to open an exhibition.
Student curator and mentor Trai Thompson said it was a difficult process to choose what would be a final work within the show.
"It's hard to choose from everything. The first round of selections were easy, but once we got to narrowing down the art it was a lot harder. The more works there are, the harder it is," Trai said.
"It was also a lot harder to choose - or not choose - the works when we knew it was one of our classmate's art works. It's a lot harder to say no."
Other first time student curators were Mila Pihan, Mila Humphrey and Seth Humphrey, who were mentored by classmates Hamish Walker-Adams, Bellatrix Harper and Trai Thompson who were previous Student Curators for the ArtStart: For Our Elders.
Taking inspiration from exhibitions currently on display at the Art Gallery, Hamish Walker-Adams said taking a look at the QVMAG art storage rooms was a highlight of the process.
"It was so cool to see the storage rooms with all the art that could go in exhibitions," Walker-Adams said.
QVMAG's Creative Arts and Cultural Services general manager Shane Fitzgerald said ArtStart was a fantastic exhibition to showcase the creativity of primary school students across northern Tasmania.
"ArtStart is an invaluable experience for so many students within our community to showcase their emerging talent and creativity," Fitzgerald said.
"Each year our visitors love to explore the works on display in this exhibition, and I'd encourage everyone to make the most of this exhibition while on display at the Art Gallery until early March 2024."
ArtStart is on display until March 3, 2024, at the Art Gallery at Royal Park with free entry.