Room 9 was very excited as they boarded the bus heading for the Tauranga Art Gallery on Wednesday, 17 April.

When we arrived at the art gallery, Grant and Ash met us and introduced themselves. Ash told us a bit about the Judy Darragh exhibition that was on. Judy reused lots of old material to make her art. Some of the material that Judy used were bottles, metal bowls like people use in the kitchen, and wooden poles and ornaments. Judy also made balloons out of plastic cups which she melted in the oven. Judy used bright, fluorescent colours in her pieces. Ash told us Judy's art is non-representative which means it wasn't supposed to look like anything.

Next we got a chance to make our own art using some material similar to what Judy used. It was a collaborative piece which meant that we all joined in and helped to make it. We used cones, hoops and records. They were all bright, fluorescent colours. We took turns to put the objects down on the ground to make the piece of art. Some of the objects overlapped each other, some extended the edges out and some were stacked on top of each other.

Then we went into the classroom space to make our own pieces of art. Ash showed us some art which used optical illusions to trick our eyes. One of the pictures looked like the image sunk into the page, like how pages in a book sink into the spine. Another picture looked like a round ball was coming out of the page. Ash gave us some white paper, a fluorescent sticker and some strips of fluorescent paper which we arranged in a repeating pattern. It was lots of fun, even though we had to use our fingers to spread the PVA glue.

Finally it was time to go and meet the bus and head back to school. We all had a great time at the art gallery and can't wait to go back and visit another day.

Tauranga Art Gallery on PhotoPeach