openCANVAS

openCANVAS definitely put on a great show! ‘Art By Association’ open night was a HUGE success. We had about 80+ people turn up for the open night.

Artists such as myself, Penny Rankin-Smith, Stephen Webb, David Hayward, Sandy Chockman, Hillary Latta, Mai and Mysteree. The beginning of the exhibition starts out as so. People encounter my previous years ‘Dreamtime’ works.

Walking through the creation, we are drawn into a contrasting series of titled ‘The Saving Faces of God’. Half way through the night, I brought people out from the back hall to the front, to explain the work, it symbols and it’s deeper meanings.

To finish off my works, I led people to the right of my ‘Saving Faces of God’ artworks to see the resurrection works. A few years ago, when I previously exhibited the ‘Saving Faces of God’ series, I painted these two works.

I painted each one in a day and then on Resurrection Sunday, painted red across the forehead of the artwork on the right, titled ‘The House of God: Judgment Has Passed’ (Right). I left the mark on for this exhibition. The portrait on the left is titled ‘The Gardener’ (Left).

Enough about me! This exhibition was about artists and their artwork. To the left of my central works was Penny Rankin-Smith’s works. She captures great line, shape and form. This was her work on the night. (See below.)

Penny’s artwork surrounded her breathtaking central sculpture. The fragile approach to the central sculpture heightens the viewers senses of Christ’s delicate last few hours on earth. This highly emotive piece was the topic of many conversations on the night.

Leading into the backroom, we walk through the colourful artworks and poetry of children that Sandy put up. These are the artworks and poems of the Manado children from Indonesia. As an art teacher involved in the Manly-Manado project, Sandy exhibited the children’s work in ‘Art By Association’ as an art teacher involved in the Manly-Manado project, Sandy exhibited the children’s work in ‘Art By Association’. She invited the minister over from Manado to speak on what he witnessed over the last few years in the developing community which was devastated by the tsunamis in 2005.

In the next room – you were dazzled by the amazing works of Stephen Webb. (Furthest figure, standing on the left.)

From a distance – you would think these are very detailed works. They are. But when you get closer to the works – you can see how he used various techniques to give the illusion of detail to his works. I was very proud to hear him speak. His personal stories bring deeper meaning to his work. Overall his work seems to capture a nostalgic feel of our beautiful city of Sydney.

As you step away from his works, you couldn’t help but notice the vibrant, festive works of Hilary Latta. Her series of 8 swamp-works gave the entire exhibition an amazing energy.

Further along she had kissing emus and various bugs happily smiling at the viewers. Her works are still for sale.

On the wall opposite were the poems from people from authorSPHERE such as Warren Eggleton, Leonie Flemmins and Frank Farvis (framed in the long coloured strips of paper). The element of poetry helped expand the variety of artistic expression in the exhibition and were well received.

To the right of the thoughtful and quirky poems was the comical works of David Hayward (aka Naked Pastor). People were highly entertained by his comical and thoughtful views on contemporary Christianity. His work bought a spirit of unity that bought down the barriers between different beliefs. When you heard laughter and excitable chatter, you knew that people were enjoying Hayward’s cartoons. David Hayward is a Christian artist that produces thought provoking comics, by exploring issues in Christianity. To see more of his work, check out http://www.nakedpastor.com/.

Finally, as you walk into the back room, you’re longing to walk to the end to examine Mistery’s three phat cats staring at you as you enter. Mistery is a street artist who does amazing street art. Both Tim W. and Mitery did some amazing street art for the Manly Art Festival in connection with our exhibition, ‘Art By Association’ at various times throughout the following weeks. But back to Mistery’s cats.

Your eyes just lock. These highly gangsta felines just scream at you with their attitude from across the room. As you can see below, these dominant artworks just heighten the sense of theater within the AT*hub space.

Thanks everyone for contributing to a wonderful night! The exhibition ‘Art By Association’, part of the Manly Arts Festival, was a huge success. It’s up to ALL you guys to make the art scene happen. We ALL need your support to see art, music, drama, dance, writing and other freedom’s of human expression take place in Manly. After all – this is what artists make: community.

Can’t wait to start openCANVAS soon! See you there!

Calling all painters! Calling all sculptors! Calling all drawers and postmodernists!

The openCANVAS is on at the MVC 4 West Promenade Manly. Painters, sculptists and such meet up to work on artworks or installations to present their works to the community. It is a great opportunity for artists to engage with one another, working with concepts, ideas, resources, contacts and scripts to help put on creative and interactive events within the community.

Online, the openCANVAS will provide interesting resources to further people’s skills, styles, methods, techniques and resources as they further delve into the area of their choice. Keep an eye out for articles to post up on openCANVAS.

See you next meeting!