Impressions Newsletter July 2008

Impressions Newsletter

July 2008

 

Greetings and welcome to our mid-year newsletter. The weather may be chilly, but things have been “heating up” with the Arts Council Nelson Impressions Regional Art Awards. There was a small level of growth– we received 264 entries this year and due to some clever hanging, all were displayed. We celebrated with a wonderful turnout of artists and supporters, and enjoyed a glass of wine courtesy of Wine Art or beer courtesy of Macs Brewery.

Nikki Huizinga was presented with the Supreme Award .

 

2008 Award Winners

Supreme Award: Nikki Huizinga

Supreme Runner-Up: Vibeke Friis

Painting Sections

Abstract – Winner: - Florien Costash, Merit: - Timm Corrin and Patrick White

Small Work – Winner: - Nikki Huizinga, Merit: - Betty Salter and Nic Foster

Representational – Winner: - Angela Reidie, Merit: - Jane Nicol and Jane Nicol (Yes that’s correct– Jane took out both Merit Awards!) 

Photography Section

 

Gold Award: Vibeke Friis

Silver Award: Lane Collins

Bronze Award: Phillip Bartlet

Highly Commended: Graeme Skinner, Stephen Draaijer and Mel Dowdall 

We affirm our hearty congratulations to all the winners, and a special thank you to all artists and photographers who put forward their work to be displayed and judged. We also give a special vote of thanks to Lloyd Harwood and the team at Arts Council Nelson for their sterling work in organising the event, as well as the two panels of judges whose thankless role it is to examine all the works and find those which stand above the rest in terms of creativity and technical excellence. I really appreciated the comments that were made by the judges and believe that the entrants would have found them very helpful too.

 

 Scooter of The Darkroom was on board once again as sponsor for the Photographic Section and he had also secured sponsorship from Canon, Colour Management and D-Photo. For our part, we are delighted to have been principal sponsors for the three events to date, and look forward to continuing this support for the Region’s artists.

 

Arts Council Nelson Impressions Regional Art Awards Exhibition

The exhibition of entries is now on at the Refinery Artspace in Halifax Street, Nelson. Be sure to pop in to see the exhibition and cast your vote for the People’s Choice Awards. It would be really nice if you could take your visitors, friends and family along to see some of the best recent artwork produced by local artists. The winning works will be displayed in our shop from 21st July until 2nd August.

People’s Choice Award

These awards will be presented in-store on Thursday 24th July at 6.30pm. All artists and supporters of the winners are invited to attend and enjoy the success these people have achieved. The People’s Choice Award represents those works which have popular appeal and give everyone a chance to express their preferences. Do join us.

Croucher Street Development

 

The streetscaping outside is now complete and what a transformation for the street! The wide boulevard-feel created by the single level, and light-coloured paving have really created a lovely open town centre which will be a real asset to Richmond. The centrepiece for the new development is the fountain, which features special glass tiles designed by Grant Palliser. This water feature will provide a natural focal point for the area as well as softening the effect of the landscaping and adding gentle movement. The Council is planning an event to celebrate the completion of the project, so I hope you can make it along to see just how effective the total design has been.

As well as the earthworks out the front of the building, we’ve been coping with noise, vibrations, mud and dust, from the development at the back of the building. With the steady growth that the region has seen, the NZ Post Mail Room has been constrained by a lack of space. So they have been having extensions built, which in turn has necessitated a re-configuration of the parking facilities at the back, to comply with Council requirements – meaning that as well as buildings going up, others have been coming down. So some days, the earth not only shook but also rumbled at times, as the mountain of rubble grew! Thankfully the work is almost complete.

In-Store Workshops

The pencil workshops, organised and run for us during June by Catherine were well received. If you are interested in attending workshops to explore the use of a variety of art materials, register your interest with us, and we will contact you to advise of any vacancies. The next series will cover the use of oil painting materials next month and will be led by Charlotte. Numbers are strictly limited for in-store workshops so registration is usually essential. Places are confirmed upon receipt of the fee payable. Keep an eye on the Workshops page of our website www.impressionsnelson.co.nz/impressions-art-workshops.htm for updates. Art Club Members who have requested information about oil workshops will receive advance notice.

Impressions Art Club Mid-Winter Warmer

The first Impressions Art Club Evening for Members (holding membership cards) and applicants (holding purchase records) is planned for Thursday 10th July, from 5.30 – 7.00pm.

Programme

5.30pm Tea / Coffee / Juice and Finger Food Served

Special Buying Deals Available6.00pm Artist Talk and Painting Demonstration – Tony Allain

6.30pm Special Buying Deals Continue

See our Impressions Art Club page http://www.impressionsnelson.co.nz/the-impressions-art-club1.htm for further details.

Pop in on your way home from work, enjoy hot drink and a snack and hear Tony Allain talk about his background as an artist and watch him put together a painting in less than half an hour!

Top Shop 2008

Impressions is fortunate to have been nominated for the Top Shop 2008. Lewis and I just want to say a special thank you to our nominators and indeed all of our customers for their patronage. The Nelson Mail will be printing a feature on Wednesday 9th and Saturday 12th July. The feature will contain voting forms, so if you agree that Impressions is worthy of Top Shop recognition, you may like to put in a vote for us. We would certainly appreciate your votes and I understand that voters go into a draw for a prize...

New Products

We have added Staedtler pigment liner pens to our range. These fine-art fibre-tip pens range in size from 0.05mm to 0.8mm and are priced at $5.70 each. As they contain pigment they are light-fast.

Hint

“Artists have many wonderful tools to work with, but few come with instructions” (Artists Magazine March 2008). It pays to check out what equipment is available to you – not only are there a number of tools around that make your artwork easier to construct, but they may also save you money in the long run!

For example, palette knives, when used to mix paint not only make it easier, but they can save on paint. If you use your brush to mix paint, chances are you are forcing paint up into the ferrule. In the case of acrylic paints in particular, as the paints dry they will force the fibres in the brush head to “blow-out” leaving you with a fragmented splayed brush, which is difficult to paint with and shortens the life of the brush. A palette or painting knife on the other hand, is easily wiped clean with a rag or tissue, preventing contamination of paints you are dipping into, negating the need to continually clean your brush and causing no damage to the knife.

Another example of an artist’s tool which makes life easier is the colour shapers or blenders. Colour shapers allow the user to:·  

  Colour Shapers

These silicone tipped tools come in a variety of head shapes, and make it relatively straight-forward to manipulate your media in places and ways that are hard to achieve with a brush. Both soft and firm blenders are available, to suit your choice of media. I would usually choose soft tips for pastels, but firm tips for oils or acrylics. Again, being silicone tipped, they are easily cleaned and can be used many, many times. When using them to work oils or acrylics, simply wash clean with water. If acrylic paint has dried on, merely peel it off. Because the tips are non-absorbent, working wet-on-wet is easier. If you use acrylic retarder medium, you can create more textures because you have more time to work. And finally choose a larger colour shaper than you think you will need, because unlike a brush, they do not spread out under pressure.

Next time you are visiting the store, why not ask what tools are available to help you. And save yourself inconvenience and money in the long term.

Information

If you find the information presented here in the newsletter and on the website of help to you, please feel free to take time out when you visit the store to browse through our informational folders on the testing benches and canvas corner as well as the small collection of books in our reading area. If you have a particular topic you would like to know about, we are happy for you to ask – we may already have a Help Sheet available, or we may be able to prepare something especially for you. Do check out the Help Sheets that we have on our website too http://www.impressionsnelson.co.nz/art-help-sheets.htm as these will be added to from time-to-time.

Unleashed Art & Design Expo

September 2008The organisers are looking for emerging or established - Artists, Jewellers, Crafts people, Sculptors and Photographers to exhibit and sell their work at the Unleashed Art & Design Expo Sep 6th Registration forms available from nelsonart.co.nz or call Mary-Ann on 027 415 4709

Art Workshops for Beginners

Local artist Marilyn Andrews is offering art workshops for beginners on Thursdays 12 noon – 3pm (other times by arrangement). Using one of her vibrant styles she will teach you basic sketching, colour theory, composition and painting in acrylic. The price $70.00 includes lunch, instruction and all materials (includes 1 canvas to take home). Just bring yourself and a friend. Spaces are limited – maximum of 2 people per session. Contact Marilyn at info@marilynandrewsart.co.nz or phone her at 03 548 9400 / 027 652 2793. To have a look at Marilyn’s style of painting, go to her website at www.marilynandrewsart.co.nz .

That sees us to the end of another newsletter. Keep warm and keep painting!

Best wishes from all at Impressions

.Glenys & the Team