The 2015 Mercury Bay Art Escape Open Studio Tour will be officially opened by preeminent artist Dr Carole Shepheard on March 6.

The launch will take place at Hot Waves Café in Hot Water Beach and tickets to this major event usually sells out well beforehand so you best get in quick.

Dr Carole Shepheard will officially open the 2015 Mercury Bay Art Escape Open Studio Tour when it is launched at Hot Water Beach this March.

Carole is a former Professor of Fine Arts at Auckland University and a holder of the Order of New Zealand Merit for her contribution to the visual arts.

She is also a respected artist, educator and writer living and working in Kawhia where she runs Te Puti Art Studio.

Best known for her printmaking, Carole's work is held in national and international collections and she is presently exhibiting in Sydney.

The Mercury Bay Art Escape Trust says it is delighted to welcome such a renowned artist to its Open Studio Tour and exhibition launch in 2015.

'Carole enjoys being part of a small community and puts particular value on the work being done by artists in places outside large cities,” says the trust. '[This is] where she believes new energy is found and ideas are expressed in individual and challenging ways.

'Her experience and beliefs fit well with the Art Escape Trust mission to promote and develop the growth of the visual arts in Mercury Bay in particular and the wider Coromandel.”

The Open Studio Tour showcases the outstanding artistic talent of approximately 50 established and emerging artists from Kuaotunu to Tairua in the Eastern Coromandel.

It is an opportunity for residents and visitors to interact with the artists in their studios and purchase artwork direct from artists' studios.

Artists' studios are open the first two weekends of March: March 7-8 and then March 14-15.

The new edition of the ‘Guide', an invaluable resource with easy to read maps, artists' profiles' galleries, cafés, B & B's and local tours is also available from the Art Escape website.

The 2015 Mercury Bay Art Escape Open Studio Tour will be launched at Hot Waves Café in Hot Water Beach on Friday, March 6, from 5.30pm

To book tickets or for more information visit the trust's website at: www.mercurybayartescape.com

Caorle Shepheard's 'Proof of Intent' (Media Print, 2013). Photo: Supplied