Artists offered leg-up with careers expo

EIT's School of Arts and Design is pulling together top talents for its first-ever Creative Arts Career Expo next month.

Targeting a broad spectrum of artists seeking to build careers in the creative sector, the two-hour expo will be held in EIT's School of Arts and Design, starting at 4.30pm on Thursday, August 2.

The event will include informal discussion between students, the public and participating artists, a 20-minute address by nationally recognised artist Martin Poppelwell and a panel discussion featuring Martin and three other guest artists, chaired by Head of School Dr Suzette Major.

Dr Major says the expo will provide practical advice to fledgling professional artists and point to new opportunities opening up in paint, film, music, design, fashion and other creative areas.

"There will be the chance for those attending to ask questions about developing careers in their respective creative fields."

Guest artists taking part are:

Martin Poppelwell , who works from his architect-designed studio in Napier, is renowned for creating contemporary works that often twist the words and ideas of other artists. Turning appropriation, derivation and cultural references into an art form of its own, he presents it to the wider art world as a bowl, plate or jug.

Paula Taaffe completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts with honours at Elam before working for 20 years as a freelance illustrator, exhibiting and teaching art in Canada and the USA. Now Hawke's Bay-based, she continues to exhibit nationally while teaching part-time at EIT. Her multi-media art practice includes paint, photography, collage and more recently video.

Makiko Sakamoto, a graduate of EIT's Bachelor of Visual Arts and Design, finds working for the production team at David Trubridge Design great fun and an amazing experience.

Paul Wilson has a Bachelor of Computer Graphic Design and has worked in the creative industry for 10 years - for AdPlus, the Victoria International Film Festival in Canada and now for No9 Design. Paul will be a speaker at the expo.

Lucy Kemp is a former EIT student whose new fashion label is Pardon my French. Lucy's collections have a style of modern classics with a hint of sportswear and always an alluring feminine aesthetic.

Marlene Greaves is One Red Thread's designer and shop owner. Hastings-based, her business specialises in "made to measure" and "woman's retail clothing with a twist".

Ryan Beavan, an EIT Diploma in Screen Production graduate, will share his experience of what it takes to gain a foothold in the industry - from hanging from a helicopter filming extreme sports events, working as an intern for TVNZ Breakfast live broadcasts to recently securing a prime position as a TVNZ trainee.

Blair Berg followed a Bachelor of Visual Arts and Design with a Diploma in Screen Production at EIT. Blair will talk about his experience of writing, shooting, cutting and making the zombie movie Brains in one weekend to take out top prize in the V48Hour Furious Filmmaking Competition.

Sarah Wiig studied at the Nelson School of Music before completing a degree in sonic arts at Victoria University. Since then she has produced two studio albums, and performs regularly around New Zealand as a versatile singer/songwriter. Sarah is a tutor for EIT's Certificate in Contemporary Music Performance.

Carly Binding, a graduate of EIT's Diploma of Performing Arts (Voice), was a member of the popular girl group True Bliss.

She is now preparing for her performance in an upcoming Andrew Lloyd Webber musical tribute and is planning to release an album next year.

Silverstone Classic 2012-BRM-Promo Girl-Bry Patrickson.