An exhibition of work by artists aged under 19 is on show at Teignmouth’s TAAG gallery for the first time.

A total of 160 items are on display until Thursday, October 15, in an initiative ‘to celebrate the creativity of young people across our community’.

Children and teenagers were invited to submit paintings, drawings, collages, photography, textiles and 3D pieces such as sculpture and mosaic.

The two-week youth art exhibition is to become an annual event, with the next one already in the diary for October 23 – November 5 2027.

The idea is to give young artists the chance to showcase their work in a professional gallery setting, which many will never have done before.

They also had the opportunity to sell their exhibits; some items were snapped up in the first two days.

Liz Lockyear, chair of the trustees at TAAG, said: “Young people are the future and we want them to feel that TAAG is a place where they feel comfortable to visit and that it can become part of their creative lives.”

The work has come in via various different routes. TAAG contacted local schools, home education groups and youth organisations to invite submissions. Other young artists heard about the exhibition through friends or relatives associated with the gallery, or through TAAG’s work at The Makery’s art and craft workshops.

The exhibitors had to learn how to prepare their work and present it in a D-ringed frame ready for hanging. Some have included short descriptions of their work, explaining what inspired it and how they would like people to react to it.

The youngest exhibitor is a five-year-old child, who submitted a model elephant made from a plastic milk carton. A school group submitted artwork inspired by their outing to The Eden Project. There are landscapes, seascapes, still lifes, abstracts, collages, photographs, and an amazingly detailed depiction of Exeter Cathedral.

TAAG is open from 10am daily.