The Riversdale Arts Mixed Media Art Exhibition has been cancelled this year in its physical form but instead, it will be showcasing the artworks online throughout the whole month of July. 

Usually, the popular art show runs each year over a 10-day period and attracts artists from all over the country. However, Riversdale Arts has reluctantly cancelled its 47th annual show due to uncertainty around holding events during the COVID-19 Alert Level stages.

Riversdale Arts president Kerryn Miller said purchasers would be able to browse the artworks online, make a purchase through Riversdale Arts and then the artwork would be shipped directly from the artist to the purchaser. 

She said it would be a bit like "online shopping, but for artworks," and would showcase a variety of media, with painting, photography, pottery, jewellery and sculpture able to be viewed at the virtual exhibition.

Ms Miller said the letters of invitation had been sent to artists from throughout the country and her team was hoping to have at least 50 artists exhibit their work in July.

She said what made the Mixed Media Art Exhibition special was that artists came from all over the country, ensuring there was new and unique work on display for Southlanders to appreciate. 

"We want to make sure we have something you wouldn't usually see here," she said. 

Last year the exhibition had 80 or 90 exhibitors and attracted around 2000 visitors over the 10 days.

The exhibition classes are still to be confirmed. Ms Miller said one tutor had pulled out and it was still a bit early to say if the classes could go ahead yet due to the uncertainty around what Alert Level we could be in in July. 

If the classes do go ahead, bookings will be able to be made through the Riversdale Arts website. 

The Mixed Media Art Exhibition guest artist for 2020, tattoo artist Renata Karena from Queenstown, won't be able to feature in person at this year's show but Ms Miller said he had confirmed his availability to be the guest artist at next year’s exhibition.

"He's really excited about it and it's cool to have him be able to come and do some tattooing with us [next year]," Ms Miller said. 

In the meantime, Riversdale Arts has a big job ahead to get all the art displayed online ready to go live on July 1. 

"We're on a tight timeframe, hopefully, we'll get a lot of people by then... but we're actually quite excited about doing it online because it's a whole new concept. Who knows, it might even happen again next year," Ms Miller said.