ASV Recent Activities

Herring Island Summer Arts Festival 2010
As I write, Patrick Culshaw, our Treasurer, is processing the 4 sales of work at Herring Island. Sales are not the whole measure of success of an exhibition – but as the selling sculptors will tell you – they are a big help. The successful sculptors were Valda Cuming “Bird Perching” and “Fish Mobile”, Jim Howson “Seed #1” and Richard Kloester “Peanut”.

The rest of us achieved in many ways – all the visitors to the gallery enjoyed the exhibition, the location and the company of the sitting and demonstrating artists – we did provide a full and enriching cultural experience.

The exhibitors are the exhibition team: not only did they provide excellent work but they assisted one another with delivery and collection of work, with sitting and demonstrations, with setting up the show, undertaking all the functions of the opening event, with invitations to friends, family and acquaintance and with maintaining the gallery in presentable order. Personally I enjoy the hands-on nature of exhibiting at Herring Island. Not only do we get to chat with one another whilst sitting the show, but we meet some fascinating visitors and get to contribute to people's appreciation of the arts and of Herring Island.

2010 was the first time that the selection committee has had to reject any number of works – we set the entry deadline for prior to Christmas so that people wouldn't forget about the show over the summer break – it worked and we had to cut the show down from well over 50 entries to our 46 work exhibition – we usually calculate the show on 40 pieces. Thanks go to Mark Cowie for helping with this – not an easy task but the aim was to put together the best overall show. Mind you some people made it easy to reject a work by putting in entries of work they had shown at Herring Island before – long live our online recording system – it helps people check their previous history.

We tried a couple of extensions to our usual repertoire of reporting and recording of the exhibition: as well as the images recorded on the web site we have a Youtube movie of the show on the HISAF news website: http://hisafnews.blogspot.com and we added artists' comments to the catalogue. Most of the response to these changes was positive – it remains to be seen whether they make any difference to the perceived standard of presentation of the exhibition or to people's enjoyment of it. I don't know if the catalogue notes can be included on the new web site or indeed if this is desirable – we shall see what transpires there.

Thanks go again to the Herring Island Summer Arts Festival committee – the ASV gains a great deal from the collaboration between the arts groups and the festival itself is gaining in reputation and fame every year – congratulations to all the exhibitors on their work and their contribution.

Jenny Rickards
ASV- HISAF coordinator

Monica in full flight.......... Jenny at the hard yakka