End of Year message
With 2019 coming to a close I thought I would provide everyone a brief recap of our year.
Our 28th Annual Open juried exhibition held at the Federation Gallery in May 2019 was a huge success. Of the 68 paintings accepted into the exhibition, 9 of them sold. Joan Larson juried the exhibition and was at the gallery to hand out the awards. Roberta Combs as the Exhibition Coordinator, and her team went over and above to liaise with Federation Gallery to arrange the exhibition and served double duty as the Promotions coordinator to gather goodies for the awards and silent auction.
In June we launched our new website giving us an updated look using current technology. The site has the latest security features and being created with WordPress, is very easy to update and maintain. The member directories profile our members https://www.pastelartists.ca/exhibition-galleries/ and the exhibition galleries https://www.pastelartists.ca/exhibition-galleries/ showcase the talent that is present in our shows. We also used the website to conduct our AGM voting which worked very well.
Our annual Members’ only online exhibition was also very successfully processed on the new website. The submission and payment process were streamlined which lead to a record number of submissions! Clarence Porter had his work cut out for him in jurying the show and awards. If you haven’t already done so, be sure to check out the exhibition at https://www.pastelartists.ca/2019-12-online-show/
Planning also started for our 29th Annual Open juried exhibition. Denise Nonomura and Heather Laws have secured the gallery at Neilson Park Creative Center in Mississauga, ON for the month of June 2020. We will need some volunteers to help them out so please be sure to check the News Updates email and be willing to help out where you can!
The Neilson Park Creative Center will also be the venue for our much anticipated ICAN 2020. Instructors have submitted proposals and we hope to announce the schedule by late February 2020. Volunteers will be necessary to make the conference a success. Details as to where you can volunteer will be communicated early in the new year. We hope everyone considers attending the conference whether you live close to the venue or not.
This will be a fabulous opportunity to attend workshops and demos by premiere Canadian artists & instructors. Information about the conference will be communicated by News Updates but you will also find all the information on this page https://www.pastelartists.ca/ican/ when it becomes available.
And we close out 2019 by announcing clarifications around out signature status process as well as announcing our newest signature status: Eminent Pastelist (MPAC-EP). This status is conferred on members who have faithfully entered our exhibitions over the years and whose work has been recognized by the different jurors for awards. We will be announcing our first 4 Eminent Pastelists in early 2020.
To all our members a Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year and hope everyone gets all the time they want, to devote to their creativity and art.
PAC President – Kathy Hildebrandt