Mercury Bay Area School Year 12 students Joseph Morcom and Renee Royal are this year's winners of the Mercury Bay Art Escape Trust Scholarship.

Now into it third year, the scholarship offers guidance and support to young emerging artists to aide them in progressing to the next level of their professional artistic development.

The Mercury Bay Art Escape Trust Scholarship has been awarded to Mercury Bay Area School Year 12 students Renee Royal and Joseph Morcom. Image: MBAET

Announced at the area school's annual prize giving on November 5, the scholarship is awarded to the top Year 12 student or students who show promise within the arts and are keen to pursue a creative career.

The scholarship runs for six months and during this period both Renee and Joseph will have an opportunity to learn different techniques and skills from a selection of the art trust's member artists.

Artwork by Joseph Morcom.

Visual Arts curriculum leader Janet Hoogwerf says Renee and Joseph both study NCEA Level Two Painting at MBAS.

'[They] both have a strong understanding of colour, tone and composition and will benefit greatly from receiving the scholarship,” explains Janet.

Artwork by Renee Royal.

For their NCEA portfolios, Joseph chose a theme of landscapes and reflected on the seasons and time of day, while Renee also chose a landscape theme depicting the construction and deconstruction of buildings.

Working closely with Mercury Bay Area School, the scholarship programme will assist Joseph and Renee with their personal creative development, as well as building their confidence.

Artwork by Joseph Morcom.

Jospeh was also the teen category winner of the Thames-Coromandel District Libraries ‘Love Life, Love My Library' competition which was announced earlier this week.

For more information on the Mercury Bay Art Escape Trust visit: www.mercurybayartescape.com

Artwork by Renee Royal.