A self-portrait by Bundaberg State High School student Natasha Venz won the People's Choice Award at the annual Emerge Exhibition.
The Year 12 art student spent 15 weeks creating the piece and said while creativity had always been her passion, she didn't think she would come out a winner.
“I was pretty surprised by it!” she said.
“There were some other gorgeous artworks there and so much talent.”
What is Emerge?
The Emerge Exhibition featured a wide selection of art from six schools ranging from works on paper, experimental painting, canvas, printmaking, small to medium scale sculptures, photography and digital works.
The exhibition was held at Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery and ran from 23 August to 13 October.
Natasha said her winning portrait was designed at school during her art classes with the semester unit based on self-portraits and masking.
“We had to look at our self, our body, our likes and dislikes and mask them in a certain way,” she said.
“I chose to focus my artwork on my face, which I broke up into fragments with a collage flowers on it.
“It was about what people see, my glasses and my face, and breaking it all up so you can still see who I am but in a different way.”
Natasha said participating in the Emerge Exhibition had been a great challenge and an opportunity to showcase her work to the community.
“Emerge is great because it gets people to see your artwork and appreciate it,” she said.
“Actually having other people tell you your work looks gorgeous is a good feeling.”
Natasha said she wants to continue along a creative career path after school ends, putting her skills to good use in marketing or design.
“My main specialty is art- I like the creativity, it is about problem solving and then making something out of those problems.,” she said.
“I want to get into something creative when I finish school, like design or web design.”
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