MORE than 300 art pieces by 93 children as young as four years old were mounted at Bank Windhoek’s Omba Gallery Monday under the banner Children Art Exhibition.

The children, some of whom are studying art at colleges and universities, belong to Helga Mertens Art & Craft Studio.
Mertens is an art teacher who founded the exhibition which is now in its 12th year.
Although there is no common theme, Mertens said she asked the children to paint the world.
“We look at the world; the sea, the open space, the desert, the flowers, the trees, wild life and the people. This year we painted a lot of tress, sea and fish under the sea,” she said.
The pieces are in mixed media, oil on pastel, acrylic, mosaic while some child painters went out of their way to create sophisticated combinations.
Some of the pieces are 3 dimensional while others are 2 dimensional with yet some one dimensional.
Mertens believes this year’s exhibition is better considering the ages of the painters.

“We always try to be better every year. But this year we are better than the previous years in terms of ages. While in the previous years the painters were around 17 years, this year we have very young children who have the same abilities,” she explained.
Although she has seen hundreds of children pass through her art school, Mertens admits that most of her graduates are now engineers, office workers and are living a balanced life as citizens.
“Art makes a well-balanced human being. My students are just that,” she said.
In her statement, Mertens who works at the National Art Gallery of Namibia adds, “My art students are my greatest inspiration in my own art work. Maybe I would one day be as good as they are.”