Two members of parliament, a mayor and a councillor swapped policy and planning for paintbrushes and paint for a good cause today.

Bay of Plenty and Tauranga MPs Todd Muller and Simon Bridges, plus Tauranga Mayor Greg Brownless and councillor Bill Grainger were in Tauranga's CBD painting portraits and trying their hand at pottery during a public event run by Tauranga Sunrise Rotary Club and The Incubator.

Their pieces will be auctioned off during the rotary club's annual Treasured Art Auction at Ingham Sears Mercedes Benz showroom in Mount Maunganui on May 12, with money raised to be donated to the Graeme Dingle Foundation's Kiwi Can programme.

'We wanted to raise attention to our Treasured Art Auction which will feature more than 60 pieces of very high quality art, and today's event has certainly done that,” says Tauranga Sunrise Rotarian and auction organiser Kathy Webb.

'We hold this auction every year and each time we've raised more than $13,000 depending on what's on sale.”

Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller working on his masterpiece.

Tauranga councillor Bill Grainger deep in concentration.

The public display of art drew in a large crowd of onlookers who watched the four men create a wheel thrown pot and portraits of model Tanya Trass from The Incubator who was dressed up as renowned artist Frieda Kahlo.

'We thought it'd be really good to invite The Incubator to help Simon, Todd, Greg and Bill to create some art, and who knows, we might get something that sells, possibly, maybe.

'I think they'll have novelty value,” Kathy says laughing.

For more information about the Treasured Art Auction, visit treasuredart.co.nz

Tauranga Mayor Greg Bownless and Tauranga MP Simon Bridges with their finished portraits of The Incubator model Tanya Trass who dressed up as renowned artists Frieda Kahlo for today's event.