"21" by Vincent Sell -- Best Emerging Art award in the Slow Summer exhibition

After the success of its Slow Summer art contest and exhibition in the Botanic Gardens, Taste Orange has teamed up with leading art groups and artists to put on a bigger, more ambitious Orange and regional Art Fair for the annual Frost Fest in August.

At this early stage, planning is already under way for the fair’s main elements — a large art exhibition and contest in one of Orange’s big community venues, including an art market with food and wine stalls and music, and an Art Trail which will lead visitors to local artist’s studios and an outdoors exhibition of sculptures on the edge of the city.

Taste Orange’s CEO, Rhonda Sear launching the planning at a meeting this week with key groups of the local art scene, including the Orange Art Society, Colour City Creatives, Studio 15, The Rogue Sculptors and acclaimed Orange artist, Loretta Blake and her daughter Larissa.

It was an opportunity for the artists to discuss and stress again the need for more recognition and prominence of their work in Orange – the need for events which will get their artworks in front of the local and regional buying public.

What was missing in Orange, the meeting was told by one delegate, was “a consistency of display of local art” to local people and visitors. Orange, he said, needs to follow up on the “wake up call” on local creativity and talent which was sounded at the Regional Art Gallery’s “100 Mile” exhibition last year.

Larissa Blake, who’s just recently returned to Orange to get married and re-settle, also made the point that “people travelling don’t want to see art in a hall – they want an art experience.”

Other delegates spoke of Grafton and Dubbo and their solid support of local artists and exhibitions, and described Orange as “dragging its feet” on local arts promotion.

So the plan for Frost Fest is to try to bring all these elements together in an exhibition, contest, art market and Art Trail under the umbrella of the Frost Fest Art Fair, with the painters exhibiting in town and The Rogue Sculptors and others presenting their work at an open exhibition at Loretta Blake’s Pinnacle Road property.

Rhonda Sear has set the theme for the Art Fair and the whole Frost Fest as “Fire and Ice.” As with the Slow Summer contest and exhibition, themed as “Water – Giving Life to Life,” artists will be required to submit paintings that creatively interpret or reflect the “Fire and Ice” theme.

Invitations and entry forms for artists will be going out in the coming weeks, in which time Taste Orange and the art committees will be organising a city location for the fair itself.

The contest and exhibition will be open to all artists in the Orange, Cabonne and Blayney areas, and galleries in those districts will be invited to join the Frost Fest branding with exhibitions of their own.

Artists who want to get in an early expression of interest can email their contact details to Orange Arts Now at derek@cwpn.com.au, attention  “Frost Fest Art Fair.”

WORKSHOPS GALORE AT THE ORANGE ART SOCIETY

One of the problems the Orange Art Society has to contend with is its location in the almost nondescript Cultural Centre at the rear of the car park at Woolworths.

It’s been noticed more than once that the car park clientele are almost entirely harried shoppers, and they’re generally so intent on the groceries they’re after that they miss the society’s gallery and its signs completely. The constant swirl of traffic and delivery trucks doesn’t make things any easier, either.

But the society not only has an ongoing, permanent exhibition of members’ art in its gallery – spiced with new images as their creators finish them – but offers a remarkable agenda of art classes for adults and children that covers not just all art mediums but every day of the week, including Saturdays.

That’s in addition to weekend workshops, which are usually presented by well-known regional artists, and other society exhibitions tied in with local Orange events.

Regular classes that are available include Life Drawing on Monday nights; All Mediums tuition on Tuesday mornings at 9.30 to 12.30; Oils on Tuesday evenings at 7.30 to 9.30; Watercolours Tuesday evenings 6.30 to 8.30.

Then there are Watercolour or Acrylic classes Wednesday mornings 9.30 to 12.30 and Wednesday afternoons 1.30 to 4.00; Junior’s Classes (12 to 18 years) Wednesday afternoons at 3.30 to 5.00; Oils again on Thursday mornings 9.30 to 1.30; Any Medium tuition on Fridays 9.30 to 3.30; Saturday Morning children’s classes; and on the last Saturday of each month another Any Medium class from 12 noon to 4.00.

The contact for the Saturday children’s classes is Lois Jones on  6361 8277.

As for workshops, a regular one is conducted every last Saturday of the month from 12.20pm by Sandra Wenban, tel: 6365 1130.

Among the upcoming classes is a two-day workshop on March 17 and 18 tutored by Barry and Lucy McCann. The fee is $150 for the weekend and includes morning and afternoon teas and a Sunday lunch.

The Art Society’s next dedicated exhibitions will be for the Garden Expo on the National Field Days site on March 24 and 25 and the Orange Show and Food Week festival in April.

RIVER BANK GALLERY’S SEVENTH YEAR – EXHIBITIONS AND CLASSES

David and Catherine at the River Bank Gallery

You’ve probably seen our Orange Arts Now feature on David Isbester’s very successful River Bank Gallery in Canowindra – if not, you can take a look at it on the Arts Now archive.

In this, its seventh year of operation, the gallery’s presenting another big schedule of exhibitions and classes.

First up, the popular People’s Choice exhibitions, starting with Smalls opening night on Saturday April 7. David says canvasses can now be purchased at the gallery, and artworks must be completed and submitted by Wednesday April 4.

In May, there’ll be a fundraiser exhibition opening for the “Don’t be a Witness, Get into Fitness” campaign on Saturday May 5, with entry forms and artworks due on Thursday May 3. The theme of the exhibition will be open with two sizes of canvas to choose from.

The 2012 Talls opening night is set down for the end of August, and the exact dates will be confirmed closer to the event.

The gallery’s next exhibition features local artist Carissa Ramsay and her works entitled “Waking Up the Innocent.” The show will open on Saturday March 3 at 7pm.

Upcoming classes include Felting on April 28 and 29; Oil Painting on April 21 and 22; and Life Drawing on May 19 and 20. For information and bookings contact Catherine O’Brien on 6344 2778.

LYN BUTCHART WATERCOLOUR WORKSHOP IN MANILDRA

Lyn Butchart's "Pelicans" -- "vibrant textural and ethereal nature"

The award winning watercolour artist Lyn Butchart will be conducting a workshop at the Manildra Amusu Theatre on March 17 and 18.

Lyn, who was born in Manildra of Aboriginal, Irish and Swedish descent, is a self-taught artist with more than 25 years of tutoring experience.

She’s developed a very unique individual style, inspired by the “vibrant textural and ethereal spirit of nature,” in contemporary and abstract images, and is renowned for intricate underwater themes. Her work involves extremely large images on paper incorporating strong vibrant colours.

Lyn’s work is held in private and corporate collections worldwide and has featured in many solo and group exhibitions. She lives and works in Grafton and conducts regional art workshops all over Australia.

Her two-day workshop in Manildra is from 9am to 5pm each day and costs $80 per day. For those who don’t have their own materials, paper can be provided at minimal cost at the workshop or at Raw Canvas at 105 Peisley Street, Orange. For bookings contact Lyn Butchart on 6643 2642 or Joan Stevenson on 0418 452 902.

AUTUMN ART SCHOOL FEATURES SIX TOP LOCAL ARTISTS

Joy Engelman and Aida Pottinger -- Colour City Creatives

Abstract artist Joy Engelman and five other noted Orange region artists will be conducting weekend workshops at the Autumn Art School sponsored by Raw Canvas on March 24 and 25.

The classes, running from 9.30pm to 4.30pm on Saturday and 9am to 4pm on Sunday, will be held in Kenna Hall on Hill Street, Orange next to St Joseph’s church.

Joining Joy Engelman will be John Wilson, traditional oils; Ross Kurtz, contemporary acrylics; Wanda Driscoll, mixed media bold and free; Robert Keen, drawing basics and pastels; and Judy Kurtz, beginning in oils.

Each course costs $125 a day or $230 for the weekend, with a $100 per day or $195 weekend concession. The fee includes morning and afternoon tea and light lunch. Students are advised to bring their own materials or buy on the day.

As you’ll see in our Arts Now feature at http://www.orangenewsnow.com.au/art-news-now-the-passion-and-genius-of-colour-city-creatives/ Joy Engelman is a founding member along with Aida Pottinger of the new Colour City Creatives arts co-op which is already thriving in Orange’s old railway barracks on Peisley Street.

“LOOSENING UP” YOUR PAINTING AND DRAWING SKILLS

Aida Pottinger will be running workshops on the intriguing subject “Loosen up your approach to painting and drawing” starting March 5 in the Colour City Creative (CCCInc) studios in the Old Barracks in Peisley Street (between the railway lines at the north Peisley rail bridge).

Aida says the cost has yet to be finalised, but “I’m thinking of a short course, say six weeks, for $120 — plus you will have to be a member of CCCInc, which will cost you $25 for the year.

“Getting your confidence back to start drawing or painting is sometimes the only thing stopping your creativity,” Aida says.

“In these workshops we’ll be approaching the mark making process in different ways with lots of different mediums. “You’ll need to start with a stable floor easel and drawing board, or some kind of stand to support your artwork, otherwise you’ll be on the floor.”

And she warns: “We will not be using pencils or small paintbrushes.”

Aida gives a list of paints, paper, containers and brushes – “toilet brushes, sticks, twigs, feathers, sponges, be inventive” – that participants will need to bring with them, and more details can be found on the Colour City Creatives blogsite at www.cccartspace.blogspot.com.

You can sign up for the course by emailing Aida on aida.pottinger@bigpond.com.

INSPIRED PAINTING AND SCULPTURE AT JAYES GALLERY

Painter Julie Williams and sculptor Hui Selwood have teamed their talents in a joint exhibition, “Beyond the Great Divide,” which runs from February 25 to March 25 at Jayes Gallery in Molong.

Says Jayes: “[This] opening show for 2012 is a strong and inspired collection, with references from Brancusi and Giacometti in strong sculptural totemic forms to interpretations of the landscape around Hill End” – where Julie Williams and Hui Selwood live and work.

“Julie works by applying heavily contrasted layers of paint with the fine lines of ghostly heritage buildings that evoke a deep response in the viewer.

“Against these, the works of Hui Selwood stand as totemic forms that imply the presence of souls among the ruins.”

The exhibition runs Wednesday to Sunday, 10 am to 4pm, over the four weeks. More details at www.jayes.com.au.

COMING UP NEXT WEEK ON ARTS NOW – The Rogue Sculptors: Bringing Sculpture In From the Cold In the Central West.