President's Letter for March 2014

Hi All,


What a success! The Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show Sculpture Exhibition was brilliant yet again due to the hard work and commitment of Mark Cowie. I am sure all the exhibiting sculptors join me in expressing our appreciation. Congratulations to all participating sculptors especially to those who won prizes and sold works. Well done.

Dates for Your Diary

ASV meetings are being held in the Ashburton Baptist Church Meeting Rooms, enter from the Marquis Street car park Melway 60D9

• 5 April. A4Art Australia opens on Herring Island. See more: www.herringislandfestival.org.au
 
• 9 April We often skip the monthly meeting in April. However it is worth running this year so that we can give a report on the progress (and the lack of progress) on our website - bring all your questions and comments - we will attempt to explain what we have been up to in all this time and where we hope to be by the time the 2014 Annual Exhibition is held
 
• 14 May - watch this space it will be amazing!

 

• The Annual and Awards Exhibition 2014 23 August to 13 September
  The Annual and Awards Exhibition 2014 will be at 120 Collins St (St Michael’s Church) we need coordinator & committee. No venue hire charge & no commission except for the ASV. Opening on the Friday following setup.
   
   

The March Meeting

Just a small group gathered at Ashburton for the monthly meeting but it was interesting and informative and good to meet new members.

Gillian Govan read a short review of the last executive meeting informing members of our comfortable financial status, Membership was discussed with the membership secretary, and progress with the website and the Annual exhibition was reported followed by vigorous discussion on sponsorship and prize money, funding the website and publicity for the ASV in general and the Annual exhibition in particular.

Most of the members present brought along some work or photographs of work finished or in progress. There were also some useful and interesting hints and tips exchanged.

The Annual and Awards Exhibition 2014 23 August to 13 September

The Annual and Awards Exhibition 2014 will be at 120 Collins St (St Michael’s Church) we need coordinator & committee. No venue hire charge & no commission except for the ASV. Opening on the Friday following setup.

The ASV Website

All arts groups and not-for-profits spend energy defining what they want from a website and how to achieve it. We have been doing this since 1998.

The website is our main permanent asset. We do not maintain premises – when our exhibitions are over we would cease to exist in the public eye. We would have nothing but catalogues (with no images) to show potential sponsors and donors and nothing to indicate to prospective members what sort of work they might consider exhibiting in our shows. We would suffer even more from corporate amnesia.

Tweets and Alerts

Here's a random collection of stuff that came in over the month:

Things to do and See

As the heading suggests - exhibitions to see or to enter... enjoy!

Wrapping Up MIF&GS 2014

 

Mark - did he really sleep there?

Mark Cowie puts in an amazing effort organising MIFGS - we think we are tired just getting our work up to scratch and into the exhibiton - but we don’t know the half of it! Here is Mark’s latest email to exhibitors - just as a demonstration of his professional attitude to caring for our work.

"I would like to thank you all for being a part of a most successful exhibition, which just happens to be Australia’s second largest outdoor sculpture exhibition. The level of interest displayed by the tens of thousands of viewers of the 90 sculptures was extraordinary. At the close of the exhibition almost 25% (22) of all works had been sold, creating sales of over $25,000...............

The level of interest in the exhibition resulted in more than 8,800 votes for the People’s Choice Award being lodged over the five days, which was an excellent effort given some of the inclement weather early in the week and some spaces in the sitting roster. The extent and spread of the voting across the entire range of sculptures is testimony to the level of engagement you created for the viewers.

Alastair Mason's "Chook Chaser"

I am pleased to announce the recipient of this year’s $500 People’s Choice Award – sponsored by the International Management Group - is Alastair Mason for his work, ‘Chook Chaser’. Congratulations Alastair. ....Completing the top five people’s choices were: Pimpisa Tinpalit’s ‘The Strangers #1’, Todd Stuart’s ‘Shhh ... Don’t Tell Anyone’, Lawrence Marshall’s ‘Wake-up Call’ and Nicole Allen’s ‘Off The Face Of It’.

As I have previously commented, the diversity of your individual expression and the collective creativity of the exhibition have been inspiring and an absolute pleasure to curate. I have thoroughly enjoyed the spirit and energy that has been generated while interacting with you all.

I wish you every success in your sculptural practice and creative pursuits over the forthcoming year and the Association looks forward to your continued support of and participation in the ASV MIFGS Sculpture Exhibition in 2015."

 

Read on to see the rest of the prize winners here