OPEN STUDIO & EXHIBITION 2023

People’s Choice Awards

Proudly sponsored by Bendigo Bank and Senior Art

WINNER

Flinders Street Station

OIL PAINTING BY JOHN YOUNG

SECOND

Bee Family

WATERCOLOUR BY JOAN DENNER

THIRD

Looking Ahead

PASTEL PAINTING BY LIZ TURNER

A Weekend Feast of Art

2023 Open Studio & Exhibition

Our 2023 Open Studio & Exhibition proved to be a very popular event. Throughout the weekend the studios were buzzing with visitors, members and public alike.

We received lots of positive feedback on the high quality of members’ exhibited artwork. Several visitors were so impressed they’ve decided to pursue their own artistic journey by becoming members!

Lots of people lingered longer in the Cat Café while enjoying a catch up with friends, a free cuppa with bickies or a slice of ever-popular sticky bun, compliments of our intrepid tea ladies, Carolyn Kill and Faye McCrystal. Thanks to Nic Kirkman for the display of quirky cats that enlivened the café walls.

The People’s Choice Award was a big hit with visitors who took the job of voting for their favourite artwork very seriously, and I’m sure you’ll agree they chose wisely. Congratulations to John Young, Joan Denner and Liz Turner.

The Textile Group did a rip roaring trade and garnered many compliments with their diverse display of textile art, alive with expressive texture, colour and shape. Sales soared.

Tutor Maxine Pritchard and her Upstart kids treated us to a brilliant display of creativity in the small studio. So many visitors commented on the high standard of the kids’ work, and lots of the young artists, with parents and grandparents in tow, came along and toured the entire show.

Veronica Cunningham, our Class Secretary, put on a children’s art activity in the resource room with some delightful results.

The large exhibition of high quality paintings by our members and tutors looked fabulous. Thank you to the volunteers who hung this exhibition, ably led by Nic Kirkman and Jacqui Simpson. This year our exhibition included a lovely display of glass artwork by PAS Secretary Lis de Deugd.

Over the weekend we ran two art demos continuously and many visitors paused to watch the artists at work and have a chat. Thanks to demo artists Nic Kirkman, Su Fishpool, Paula Petersen, Rob Meredith, Jacqui Simpson, Joan Boucher, Di Hume, Elizabeth Hickey, Margot O’Neil, Meredith Forster and Liz Turner.

Thanks to the PAS committee and all our exhibitors and volunteer workers for their many contributions to making this such a successful event.

PAS extends a big thank you to Bendigo Bank for their generous sponsorship of our 2023 Open Studio & Exhibition. Thanks also to Bendigo Bank and Senior Art for contributing to our People’s Choice Award prizes.

Leoni Jenkin, Coordinator

Open Studio - Cat Cafe. Paintings of mischievous stylized cats by Nic Kirkman.
Open Studio Tea Ladies - Faye McCrystal and Carolyn Kill
Open Studio - artwork on display
Open Studio - artwork on display
"Moody In Merimbula" by Dennis Hull - Oil painting of stormy see breaking over dark brown foreground rocks. Tinges of pink in the stormy grey clouds.
"My Confidante" by Carol Hamilton - Watercolour painting of an Asian woman in traditional dress kneeling on a deep red cushion before a white cat sitting on a matching cushion.
Open Studio Textile Arts Display
Jan Taber - Hand dyed silk with abstract patterns in pinks, greens and blues.
"The Boat Sheds at Lindisfarne" by Ruth Quinn - Textiles. Seascape with boat shaped boat sheds and a boat in foreground.
PAS President Ruth Quinn on Office Duty
Who Are You? Watercolour painting by Pat Neilson of a puffin bird looking quizzically at the viewer
"Unity" by Sabine Boes - abstract acrylic painting on canvas - oval shapes in shades of blue outlined in white
Paula Petersen - Pastel Demo - artist painting a waterfall pastel with 2 ladies watching.
"Fractured Flowers" by Jann Hill - Watercolour - abstracted, textured yellow flowers on blue-green background.
"The Lizard And Its Pet" by Linda Roach - Acrylic on Canvas. Painting of a young dark-haired person with a brightly coloured lizard on their shoulder.
"Still Life With Orange" by Michael Lehey - Oil painting of a bowl of oranges, with a partly peeled orange in front. A glass bottle with green foliage sits adjacent.
Open Studio - Children's Art Display. Collection of paintings on canvas and decorated skateboard tops.
"Running Free" - oil painting by Anna Birch of white horses galloping in water.
"Rough Seas Ahead" by Jillian Schneider - Textiles. Highly textured semi-abstract depiction of layered waves in alternating blues turquoisesand rust colours. Tiny shells are sewn into the fabric.
Rob Meredith - Pastel Demo. Two men looking at a pastel painting resting on an easel. Pastel portraits and an abstract acrylic painting by Su Fishpool in the background.
"Bee Family" by JoanDenner - Watercolour - Second Place - People's Choice Award
"Northern Territory Scene" by Marilyn Townsend -Textiles. Vividly coloured foreground of vegetation and rocks in oranges, magentas, browns and greens, against a deep blue sky.
Janis Taber processing textile art sales in the office.
Rob Meredith - Pastel painting of tulip farm showing rows of garden beds with brightly coloured tulips.
"Olivers Hill" by Mary Hennekam - Oil painting of people playing in the shallows of Frankston beach with Oliver's Hill in the background. White yacht sails in the distance.
Margot O'Neill - Beginning her oil painting demo
"Looking Ahead" by Liz Turner - Pastel, 3rd place winner, People's Choice Award. Head and shoulder portrait of young Australian Indigenous girl.
Glass Artworks by Lis de Deugd - decorated plates, sculpture, framed multi-layer image of a tree, framed glass image of a school of swimming fish, nudes on a glass circle suspended in a black frame.
"Along The Bough" by Patricia Grange - Oil painting of apricot roses and foliage.
"Kimberley Boabs" by Chris Wright - Acrylic painting of boab trees in grassland with red rocky escarpments in the background and a bright blue sky.
Open Studio - Children's Art Display. Collection of paintings on canvas and decorated skateboard tops.
Open Studio - Children's Art Display. Collection of decorated skateboard tops.
Studio whiteboard - Nic's invitation to express yourself with art.
"Suddenly It's Spring" by Janis Taber - Ink on Yupo paper - brightly coloured bunch of flowers in pinks, purples and oranges.
"Colours of the Bush" by Paula Peterson - Mixed Media - red, yellow, pink and white native Australian flowers against a foliage and blue sky backdrop.
Open Studio Exhibition - people looking at paintings hung on screens.
"Flinders Street Station" by JohnYoung - Oil - winner People's Choice Award. Black line drawing, partly coloured of the station entrance with people on the pavement in front.
Open Studio - Meredith Forster portrait demo
Meredith Forster - Portrait Demo. Drawing of a young girl's face in purple with an old framed black and white reference photograph of two young girls adjacent.
Open Studio - Cats Cafe
"Humming Bird and Hibiscus" by Valerie Dunsmore - Watercolour painting in botanical style of a pink hibiscus flower and a humming bird in flight.
"Funky Fruits 1" by Kathleen Bolster - brightly coloured mixed media painting of abstracted bowl and fruit on a blue platter.
Open Studio front desk - Vernonica Cunningham on duty
"Life's A Hoot" by Veronica Cunningham - Oil on Canvas. Painting of an owl perched on a branch.
"Foreshore, Spring" by Fran James - Textiles. Squares of fabric with semi-abstract botanical textures in earth colours, arranged on a black textured background, decorated with dried wood, fabric wattle birds and a nest.
"Footprints In Time No1" by Ruth MacLeod - Digital image in black frame of lace, traces of landscape and text.
"Evening On the Outcrop" by Jacqui Simpson - Acrylic painting of stylized trees with cyan foliage against a hill strew with rocks and a soft pink sky.
Open Studio textile art display. Stylized brightly coloured fabric birds with very long legs and a framed textile piece featuring coloured butterflies on a leafy background.
Open Studio - textile artworks display - hand dyed felt and fabric scarves and bags.
"Cherries in Glass'" by Marilyn Davis - Oil painting of dark red cherries in a wine glass.
"Lamarr, A Beautiful Genius" by Jessie Belle van Loon - Acrylic head and shoulder portrait of a young woman in evening dress with a white fur collar.
"Crystal Grotto" by Eileen Curd - Acrylic on Canvas. Underwater fantasy scene with stylized fish, sea plants and mermaid.