The Sidney Fine Art Show was voted as #1 Indoor Event in a People’s Choice survey conducted earlier this year, and the show’s organizing committee, along with its many volunteers, are striving to live up to that honour again with our 15th annual event this month.
The coordinating committee is very active, and includes several enthusiastic and hardworking newcomers along with some long-time members who have taken great pride in helping to produce the event every year. The committee members are all volunteers, and this makes the Sidney Fine Art Show unique for a show this size.
Businesses on the Saanich Peninsula have been extremely supportive over the years, acting as sponsors and offering expert help with a variety of tasks related to the production of the show. They have also offered a number of draw prizes, to be awarded several times daily through the course of the show, to some of our many thousands of attendees.
Our jurors this year are again extremely well qualified, and the organizers are excited to be working with them. Michelle Jacques, Chief Curator of the Greater Victoria Art Gallery, will be joined by returning juror Harold Allanson, an accomplished watercolour artist whose works appear in collections around the world. The third member of the panel is Mike Svob, also a highly acclaimed artist who is past president and Senior Member of the Federation of Canadian Artists.
One of our past jurors, Anne Hudec, has been a great supporter of the show and has been involved as an artist, a patron or a juror every year. This year she is returning once again, this time as a volunteer. Anne is a well-known, well respected artist in our community and we are delighted to have her with us again.
Other artists return each year, and besides offering wonderful, varied art, many also give hours of their time as volunteers during adjudication and for the show itself. One of those is Sandy Bligh, who has acted as show designer for a number of years. Sandy uses the pieces selected by the jurors and arranges them in the Bodine Hall so that each one shows to its best advantage, and complements the pieces around it. The result is an art installation itself.
Saturday night is one of the most popular times to attend, as people can meet and talk with many of their favourite artists, who attend to share what inspires them, what they do, and a bit about how they do it. Artist demos also take place in the lobby at various times throughout show weekend, so visitors can see art in action.
This year the show, in partnership with Mary Winspear Centre, has been able to replace the lighting system with LED lamps, which will show the art to better advantage and offers more energy efficiency.
All of these factors are crucial to the ongoing success of the show, and hence to the support we can offer to the ArtSea Community Arts Council which funds a variety of programs throughout the community.
Come and check us out, and spend a bit of time exploring Sidney and its various attractions.
The Sidney Fine Art Show takes place at the Mary Winspear Centre, 2243 Beacon Avenue, October 13 and 14 from 9 a.m. to
9 p.m. and October 15 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $7 per day or $12 for a three-day pass. For more information, visit
www.sidneyfinearts.ca.
Artwork: “Sore Hip, Sore Leg, Long Day” by Harold Allanson.
