From the President

Gillian Govan

Hi everyone,

Congratulations on a great exhibition…. What is a great exhibition? Does it depend on sales? I have been involved in quite a few of our exhibitions over the years. Three years ago we sold 19 works. Last year only 4 this year 8. But is that the bench mark for a good exhibition? I was at the exhibition quite a lot and listened to the comments from both exhibitors and visitors. The main negative comment was that people were there on business and too busy to look at art. Most looking at their phones instead!

Generally, sculptors enjoyed the experience of being there, meeting other sculptors, learning about different materials and techniques and displaying their work in a great environment. Exhibitors got a real buzz from being in the city and being involved.

As for visitors I did not hear a bad word about the exhibition and the praise for the quality and diversity was overwhelming. People love to look at good art and they were not disappointed. They don’t necessarily want the works in their homes or can afford to have them but that does not mean the exhibition was lacking in any way.

Management of Bourke Place were most satisfied and complimentary about the display and organisation and I think you will agree the opening night was a great success.

This was a great opportunity for the ASV to encourage and reward emerging sculptors. We are always pleased to see new work by new artists and in many cases new members.

I understand that it is an anticlimax if you don’t sell or receive a reward but hope you are satisfied to have been involved and produced great works that have been seen by many people.

Congratulations to all those who received awards and sold works.

We hope you will enter again next year and members who did not enter this year may have been inspired to do so.

Thanks to Yvonne Monik and all who helped to make this exhibition a success including our generous sponsors.

We are always happy to receive feedback and if you have any new ideas and are prepared to implement them please feel free to contact Yvonne or me.

In the meantime, there are more exciting events with the Tesselaar Tulip farm exhibition starting soon, and Herring Island Summer Arts Festival starting in January. Thanks to Monica Mauer, Elnaz Nourizadeh and Beata Dorain for putting their hands up to help with the organising of this exhibition.

We hope that others will be interested enough in the continuing success of the Association to also help.

In the meantime, I look forward to seeing you at our activities and studio visits.

Happy sculpting.

Gillian