Original Voices edgy and original

Original, inventive, challenging.

These are the words curator Stuart Shepherd uses to describe the work of self-taught artists featured in an exhibition presented by Arts Access Aotearoa at Pataka next month.

Original Voices includes work by artists from 16 community art groups around the country, including Porirua’s own Colours Art Studio.

Sixty of the 300 works submitted were selected to line the walls of the Bottle Creek Community Gallery. However, all the works will be presented in a continuous slide show throughout the exhibition.

The art produced by the artists from these groups is contemporary, edgy and imaginative, Shepherd says.

Shepherd hopes that gallery visitors will open to the different ‘‘voices’’ of each artist.

‘‘You don’t need a degree to enjoy art. You need a confidence and an openness to appreciate the work and the different forms of expression.

‘‘I am constantly challenged and delighted by the innovation, and the fresh visual languages and accents bubbling up from this sector of the art world.’’

Original Voices ember 6 to 23.

A public programme will include an art workshop by Marcel Baaijens on August 30; an artists’ talk on September 13; and a curators’ talk and panel discussion, moderated by art critic Mark Amery, on September 16.

runs from Sept-