Participants will step away from their everyday lives and dive into learning or fine-tuning a new skill at next week’s Wānaka Spring Art School. 

With the help of experienced tutors from New Zealand and further afield, they’ll spend five days on a chosen subject from a range that includes fiction writing, printmaking, photography, book arts and more. 

Coordinator Robyn Van Reenen said she was excited to open the doors to the art school on Monday (October 10) after it “felt like a long time coming”. 

The once-a-year event, now in its 32nd year, is better known as the Wānaka Autumn Art School, but this year the event was pushed back to spring as the result of Covid-19.

The organisers were still able to secure all but one of their returning tutors and the one gap made room for a new class - indigo dyeing - which filled up quickly. 

Some classes are perennially popular, Robyn said: “Mixed media always sells really quickly, book art fills quickly and the watercolour painting too.”

Moving the art school to spring had been “quite challenging”, Robyn said, and next year it will go back to taking place in autumn.

“We’ve had a lot of people book in and pull out and I’m not sure if that’s the time of year or if it’s a sign of the times post-Covid.”

The upside of this, for anyone who has decided at the last minute they want to sign up, is that there are still a few spots open in classes covering photography, painting and jewellery. 

Find out more about the available classes here.

Two people participating in the art school have received scholarships to attend.

“We used to do [scholarships] and then we didn’t get applicants for a while,” Robyn said. “We were thrilled to bits to get applicants this year. Hopefully it’s an ongoing thing.”

Members of the public will, as always, be able to visit the art school (held at the Mount Aspiring College campus) on Friday afternoon (October 14; 1-2.30pm) to see the art created. 

The Wānaka Autumn Art School is a non-profit event run by the Upper Clutha Community Arts Council. 

Surplus funds provide scholarships for young and needy artists and the betterment of the arts in the Upper Clutha Community. 

PHOTO: Supplied