For one afternoon later this month, a room on Kelvin Street will be closed to grown-ups. Inside, children and teenagers will move along a wall of small original lithographs, pick the ones that speak to them and, if they choose, buy them with their own money. None of them will know which famous artist made which print, because every name will be hidden.

The MUKA Youth Print Exhibition comes to He Waka Tuia, at 42 Kelvin Street in central Invercargill, on Friday 27 November, from noon until 5pm, for one day only. The Eastern Southland Gallery, which is promoting the southern leg of the tour, says the exhibition has been travelling since 1987 and shows stone lithographs made only for young people. In a Facebook post, the Gore gallery said this year's selection is 40 original lithographs by 20 prominent artists. Entry is free, and the gallery's listing promises "no pressure to buy".

The reason it matters is simple. Original art is usually priced well beyond a school pocket, and most of it is chosen by adults for adults. MUKA turns that around. The project's own website explains that it invites well-known artists to make sets of small lithographs, each 100mm by 200mm, in their usual style rather than a watered-down version for children. Every print sells at one flat price, which in New Zealand is $90 unframed, so a work by a big name costs exactly the same as one by an artist nobody in the room has heard of.

A lithographic stone, the flat slab of limestone an artist draws on to make a lithograph, held in the Princeton University Library collection. The MUKA youth prints are original stone lithographs. File photo. Photo: Andreas Praefcke / Wikimedia Commons, public domain
A lithographic stone, the flat slab of limestone an artist draws on to make a lithograph, held in the Princeton University Library collection. The MUKA youth prints are original stone lithographs. File photo. Photo: Andreas Praefcke / Wikimedia Commons, public domain

The rules are strict, and that is part of the charm. Only people aged 5 to 18 may buy. Adults are kept out of the exhibition space, and young visitors are allowed in only once, without phones or cameras. Buyers may choose only for their own collection, not on behalf of a parent, relative or friend, and the artists' names and signatures stay covered so that taste, not reputation, does the choosing. MUKA's website lists DIY frames at $85, ordered when paying and posted out within 10 days.

The show is a familiar visitor to the south. When it called at the Invercargill Public Library on Dee Street last December, co-founder and director Magda Van Gils told the ODT's Southland Express that the exhibition had toured almost every year since 1987, with 165 artists contributing over that time, 88 of them from New Zealand and 77 from overseas. Over the years the artists have included Dick Frizzell, Gretchen Albrecht, Pat Hanly, John Reynolds, Nigel Brown and Ralph Hotere. Her explanation for why it works was brief: "young people really engage with the works of art, on their own terms."

The H & J Smith clock tower on the corner of Kelvin and Esk Streets. He Waka Tuia, where the MUKA prints will be shown on 27 November, is at 42 Kelvin Street in the central city. File photo. Photo: Pear285 / Wikimedia Commons, CC0
The H & J Smith clock tower on the corner of Kelvin and Esk Streets. He Waka Tuia, where the MUKA prints will be shown on 27 November, is at 42 Kelvin Street in the central city. File photo. Photo: Pear285 / Wikimedia Commons, CC0

This year's southern run started today, Tuesday, at the Forrester Gallery in Oamaru, and heads next to Timaru, Ashburton and the Christchurch Art Gallery, where it runs from 13 to 15 November. After Invercargill, it moves to the East Gore Art Centre, at 6 Rock Street, on Saturday 28 November from 11am to 5pm, and finishes at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery on Sunday 29 November. That gives eastern Southland families a second chance if the Friday afternoon clashes with school or work.

An artist draws with a waxy lithographic pencil on a stone at a print studio in Austin, Texas, in 1975. Each MUKA print begins as a drawing made this way. File photo. Photo: Michael E. Arth / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
An artist draws with a waxy lithographic pencil on a stone at a print studio in Austin, Texas, in 1975. Each MUKA print begins as a drawing made this way. File photo. Photo: Michael E. Arth / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

For the parents left waiting on the footpath, the reward comes at the door, when a young collector walks out with a print chosen for no reason other than liking it. As Van Gils put it, the young buyers make up their minds "on their own terms."

The MUKA Youth Print Exhibition is at He Waka Tuia, 42 Kelvin Street, Invercargill, on Friday 27 November from 12pm to 5pm. Entry is free for ages 5 to 18, and unframed prints cost $90.