There is a section at Art Melbourne 10, devoted to unsigned. unrepresented artists. It is called ‘Off The Wall’. The purpose of this memorial award is to provide a showcase for up and coming unsigned artists. There are 10 artists chosen from various discipline’s.
I had a last minute lament at not having any current paintings after Wavelengths to enter, when my husband suggest I re-read the conditions. I may only have to send photo’s of work done, not necessarily avaliable for sale. He was right. As long as the picture’s were indicitive of your style, you could enter them. Well, there was a day and a half to get a submission out. Aran printed out the jpegs of my paintings. He took some time and care to make sure the colors were right and cropped them at the border line. The photographs of the latest series were only photographed, the day they were being picked up by courier. I grabbed my digital camera and took shots of them against my outside wall. (the first exhibition, ‘Messages from the Soul ‘was photographed professionally for the site and catalogue reference) It was an experience. It’s so real! There they were! They looked great on that shiny paper. I really had a new burst of love, when I saw them reproduced like that! Everything catalogued and labelled with dimensions and mediums, dated etc..
Long story short, I didn’t get into the showcase this year. The OTW Art Melbourne Finalists are; Alan Young, Aly Aitken, Chloe Vallance, Christopher Harman, Claude Jones, David-Ashley, Kerr Kallie, Turner Kate, Streeter Paul, White Xero Corp! Congratulations!
I googled each of these artists and was suprised at how many different accolades they had all achieved, study undertaken all over the world. It was an interesting morning and I think I learnt quite a lot. I look forward to going to the show and having a look at what the OTW has done curatorially and see the artists work in person. I love this time of year. The Art Fairs!!!
It was an interesting process. In just over 2 weeks how the notion of something can grow and change so quickly. A ride!
I literally didn’t have time to think about anything more than, the steps to the check list to make the deadline. I was excited at having made the submission but actually managed to put it out of my mind, for the most part. I did wash my brushes and make up 6 new canvas’ in case I needed to have them in a hurry, but I didn’t really think I had enough experience to date to be chosen. It seemed remiss though not to try.
It seems to me, there are plenty of creative souls out there, making and appreciating art. People who’s lives are made up of what they love doing! This is good news! I am looking forward to learning more about other artist’s and their practice over the next couple of months and hopefully my own. I now have 6 beautifully prepared canvas 750cm x 1000cm to paint on! Keep you posted!