Diary 2008

The Merrie Merrie Month of May

Friday 16th
New Signature Selections at the home of Ilona Petzer at 2, Uitsig, Nelspruit.
Please deliver your work, together with your forms, by 4pm. Selections will take place at 4:30pm.
Forms will be snail-mailed shortly so please look for them in the post.

Saturday 17th

Photography for Artists with Dave Gardner (Associate of the Johannesburg Photographic Society and winner of several photographic awards).

Learn (amongst other things) to compose your photos, how to take best advantage of the light, and also how to photograph your own paintings.

Venue to be announced later. Plan for an early start! Light is all important.

Congratulations to Isobel, Dave's wife, on having achieved her Associateship of the WSSA at the 79th Open.

Saturday & Sunday 24th & 25th May - Angela Eidelman

Yes we know this is a bare week before the Uplands Festival Exhibition, but these are the only dates that we could get Angela. Angela's workshop last year was so popular and successful, with creativity flowing non-stop, that everyone demanded her return.

The great thing is that this will be in good time for inniBOS and if you're very quick to get framing done, maybe even for Uplands! Angela's workshops always result in finished paintings and sale-able ones at that!

Course fee will depend on numbers, but we estimate R290 for members and R360 for non-members. Non-members remember you can become an introductory member for only R100!

30th/31st May - Uplands Festival Art Exhibition

Uplands are planning to have a really upmarket and beautifully presented exhibition at this lovely school. There will be a grand opening of the exhibition. There will be a separate arts & crafts fair next to the main art exhibition, and lots of good signage.

WSSA members are entitled to two free stands each from our stock of exhibition stands.

Winsor & Newton/Faber Castell will be supplying two hampers - one will be the prize for Best Watercolour on Show and one for Best Painting on Show.

We will be organising a team for setting up stands and taking down stands. Please let Yvonne know if you are available - yvonnea@soft.co.za

We will also need volunteers to man the stands during the exhibition - probably three or four hour shifts - please contact Liz McQueen on angus@lantic.net

June

June 7th - Head Office Workshop focusing on making art with Tonal Values

Our new National Chairperson of the WSSA is Alma Vorster FWSSA. Alma is a popular and sought after workshop teacher, and we are lucky to be able to tear her away from her branch and national duties to come to Lowveld and inspire us to paint yet more paintings for inniBOS and the next Open.

This will be a one-day workshop embracing creative use of tonal values, and to cover costs there will be a cost of R75 for members and R120 for non-members.

PLUS!! Detlev Friemelt of Schweickderts Art will be giving a hugely interesting presentation on paper and will bring supplies for anyone needing paper.


June 25th - 29th: inniBos

This is a wonderful opportunity for artists to get their work viewed by tens of thousands of visitors to this up and coming Cultural Festival.

Ilona Petzer is organising a wonderful art meander, using a Bossewa which people can use to travel from exhibition to exhibition. The WSSA has been invited to have a national exhibition of Open stadards.

You will receive an invitation to exhibit. Three paintings may be submitted. Note that you can submit three paintings that have never been shown on an Open exhibition, and that if any are not selected, you can substitute paintings that have been selected previously. Don't understand? Phone Barbara to discuss.

Our thanks to Ashley & Radmore, agents for Winsor & Newton and Faber Castel amongst others, for offering to arrange demonstrations by Richard Rennie for inniBos at our WSSA exhibition.

You will receive more news of this by snail mail so keep your eye open for your mail.

July

Whew! Now that the exhibition run is over (until the next Open!), we can focus on the eagerly awaited Don Andrews workshops. As a run up to the Figures workshops, we think it will be a good idea for us to have another three-open-days workshop during which we focus on how to draw the figure.

We will not be hiring models, but will each take a shot at being the model for periods of 5 minutes and also of 15 minutes.

There will be a nominal cost to cover the costs of getting in a large supply of butcher paper, and you will need to bring good soft pencils, charcoal (Jenelco in White River have packs ranging from R13 to R17 a packet), some black Indian ink, a drawing pen, and a small bottle of Jik or other bleach. You will also need a water container, an old paintbrush (bristle will do, one smaller and one medium) and some paper towels. Bring your own table too please.

There will be instruction on how to draw the figure, followed by lots of practise and fun ways of drawing & painting gestures.

August

Johannesburg Don Andrews Landscapes August 5th to 9th

Nelspruit Don Andrews Figures August 14th to 18th

You will receive a letter in due course as to what supplies you will need.


September 19th & 20th - Follow Up after Don Andrews

We will hold two open days of painting what we learned from Don Andrews. More to be announced later.

November

November 7th & 8th (Friday & Saturday): Eugene Hurter watercolours & oils

Eugene will do a workshop in watercolours but we may also ask him to do demos and focused instruction in oils. This will be decided later in the year when members have had a chance to review how things go during the year.

Uplands Festival

The 2008 Uplands Festival will be even nicer than 2007. The visual arts exhibition will be hosted by Bushmills and lovely drinkies can be expected!

In addition, there are two super prizes to be presented for the best watercolour on show and the best painting (all mediums) on show. These are art hampers, sponsored by Winsor & Newton.

The exhibition is to be housed in classrooms and possibly the new science block, adjacent the tea garden and central to beer tent, arts & crafts, and the food hall.

Visit the Uplands College website for more information at www.uplands-festival.co.za

inniBOS Festival

If you have not received your application form by now please contact Ilona Petzer.

You have the opportunity as a member of the WSSA to submit 3 paintings as digital photos to the selection for the WSSA National exhibition at inniBOS. See your appplication form, being sent out to-morrow April 24th.

You also have the opportunity as a local Lowveld artist to submit paintings for the arts meander snaking through Nelspruit and White River. More information on this from Ilona. The applciation form is also being sent out by April 25th.

This is a great opportunity to exhibit for good sales - over 90,000 people are expected to attend this popular festival and they're all lovers of the arts!