Expressions... Newsletter October 2016 Editor: Beverly Post-Schmeler Important Events Medical Centre July 22nd Nov 11th Heat Wave New Executive Board 2016/2017 OFAA held it s Annual General Meeting October 25, 2016 and the members elected their new Executive board. St. Pauls TBA Opera House Aug 29th Nov 28th Waiting White Lion Tea House Sept 7th Dec 7th New Beginnings Monthly Meetings 7:00 p.m. at OMAH Presenters: Oct 25th AGM Nov 29th Kal Honey Dec 6th Christmas Pot Luck In this Issue Culture Days Starry Night Paverpol What s on your Easel Presidents Messages Artists Helping Artists Artists Names in Lights Left to Right Bottom Row Molly Farquharson (Secretary), Robyn Rennie (President) Teresa Trainer (Past-President) Susan Rudoler (Treasurer) Back row Anne Knegt (Communications) Jesse Strong (Social Media/Installations) Mike Bailey (CO Vice President) Catherine Taylor (Social Media) Patricia Beecham (Membership) Beverly Post-Schmeler (Newsletter) Absent from Photo Elaine Bremer (CO Vice-President) OFAAJIJI A reminder to send your art items for sale to bpschmelerfinart@gmail.com. Your listing will be up for three months unless sold. Send a photo (s) of what you want to sell, giveaway or trade along with a description and price to Bev. We have sold items so it is being seen! Postings are also copied to our Facebook page. Your Webpage on www.orilliafineartsassociation.com Many faces are still not on our webpage. Please email a mini-bio and a few photos to Cat Taylor artbycatherinesim@gmail.com. June Potluck Thank you to Pam Johnston for offering up her home in June for our special annual potluck. Photos were taken but my server crashed and all photos were lost unfortunately. If anyone has a few please send to bpschmelerfineart@gmail.com and I ll post them in our next issue.
A Message from our Out-Going President End of Term Report The emphasis during 2016 was to continue our tradition of excellence in the field of Visual Arts in Orillia and region. The OFAA Executive Board met once a month to plan ahead, select and invite speakers and organize exhibits, projects and events with the objective of enjoying each other s art, maximizing the exposure of everyone s talent and encouraging membership participation. We worked as a team to make the best decisions by consensus leading OFAA to continue serving the community as a vibrant and dynamic art group. OFAA deeply appreciates the services rendered by Board Members Shimera Dione, Past-President who coordinated the monthly speakers, Robyn Rennie, Vice-President, Susan Rudoler, Treasurer, Pat Beecham who took care of membership and also performed the secretarial duties for the past few months, Jesse Strong who coordinated OFAA s exhibits together with Helen Bradley, Tony Shaw and Gwen Riley, Anne Knegt who distributed information in a timely manner and Catherine Sim, our webmaster A very special mention goes to Beverly Post-Schmeler who s generosity and commitment goes beyond the call of duty. She is our Newsletter editor and this year also volunteered to follow the members mandate to celebrate OFAA s 20th Anniversary by producing three issues of a Calendar showcasing almost 100 original pieces of original art. She coordinated to perfection the art submissions and the input from photographers Mike Bailey and Jesse Strong who also volunteered their skills and talent. Bev s, Mike s and Jesse s commitment to excellence makes us all very proud. Additionally we are very grateful to Pam Johnstone who organized OFAA s dinners at Christmas and in June and to Tony and Barb Shaw and Judith Sophie who served us delicious refreshments at every monthly meeting. During the past year OFAA members exhibited over 200 pieces of art in OFAA s three exclusive venues: The Green Room at the Orillia Opera House, The Couchiching Family Health Team Medical Centre and the White Lion Tea House. Additionally 28 members exhibited 110 items at the Orillia Museum of Art and History during Starry Night and 13 pieces were sold. In 2017 we will continue exhibiting our work in the City and hope to add a new exhibiting venue at St Paul s Centre. M. Teresa Trainer 2016 OFAA President
Expressions Page 3 Congratulations Artists! Paintings sold privately and at Starry Night. Meditation by Marion Leyland Mandela & Fish By Catherine Taylor Peace by Marion Leyland Breakthrough by Beverly Pearl When We Were Young by Ruby by Shimera Dione Antoinette Shaw Study 2 & 3 Please send a photo to bpostschmeler@gmail.com when you sell your work and we ll put your name up in lights!
Expressions Page 4 Artwork sold from June September 2016 Congratulations to all of our artists who sold work at Starry Night 2016! Study #1 Antoinette Shaw Hydrangeas by Marion Leyland Study #4 Antoinette Shaw Fall by Helen-Kupari-Kolby Moonlit Sail by B. Post-Schmeler Sailors Delight by Wanda Elgar Sold Other than Starry Night Anne Knegt 1. Summer Sault 2. November Sky 3.Playtime
Expressions Page 5 Artwork sold from June September 2016 Congratulations to our artists who sold work! Tulips 1 Robyn Rennie Tulips II Robyn Rennie Mapping the Unconscious Simcoe Storm Robyn Rennie Julie Grimaldi Tangible Time
Expressions Page 6 Artist s Helping Artist s and all that stuff! By B. Post-Schmeler. Summer is a crazy time for artists as there is so much going on locally, within Simcoe County and beyond.i spent most of mine running from show to show (or so it seemed) with in-between respites at the cottage to recharge while still working full time :) I took a week course in July at Fleming Art College in Haliburton for the 2nd year in a row with my Babs (Betty, Anne, Sandy and myself) and loved it. Marianne Broome is an excellent artist and teacher. I would definitely take a course with her again. The time spent away with the ladies was the best part though. Meeting up after a long day painting or in Betty s case painting with a sewing machine, and just relaxing with a glass of wine and loads of laughter. A special time I cherish. The course was Abstracting the Landscape. It is about taking out all the extras and concentrating on the shapes and blocking them in. Minimizing. It reminded me of Lawren S. Harris s work in the Group of Seven. He minimized so much at the end that he was essentially painting icebergs and water and not much else, but the effect was incredible which is why he was a master. He is one of my favorite artists along with Franklin Carmichael. I appreciated how Marianne s guidance led me to create a new style, one which I intend to work with more. From his bio, Harris was so passionate about the North Shore and fascinated by the theosophical concept of nature, he returned annually for the next seven years. There he developed the style he is best known for. Harris s paintings in the early 1920 s were characterized by rich, decorative colours that were applied thick, in painterly impasto. He painted landscapes around Toronto, Georgian Bay and Algoma. During the 1920s, Harris' works became more abstract and simplified, especially his stark landscapes of the Canadian north and Arctic. He also stopped signing and dating his works so that people would judge his works on their own merit and not by the artist or when they were painted. Afternoon, Sun Lake Superior 1924 by Lawren Harris The Red Canoe by B. Post-Schmeler
Expressions Members Names in Lights What s on your easel? Page 7 At every monthly meeting a name will be drawn to select an artist who will be featured in our newsletter September - Bethany Scott I was first introduced to ceramics by my grandfather who was a potter. He immigrated to Canada from the Netherlands, and worked in construction + farmed. I remember he had the large rugged looking hands of a hard worker. It was the same with his pottery. It was rustic + wobbly but it had a great spirit to it. In 2007, I attended Emily Carr University for painting. In my second year I took my first ceramics class. The first time I touched the clay I knew that this was going to be my discipline + craft. My Opa passed away a few years ago but I keep his coveralls in my studio as a reminder that craftsmanship is not just something that is taught, it is also a spirit that is passed down.. I moved to Orillia in 2012. I have to admit, I did not like Orillia when I first moved here. It was a bit of a culture shock after living in Vancouver where the rat race never stops. I had a hard time settling into a quieter life. It was not until I started going to the YMCA, volunteering at the library + getting involved with OFAA that I began to uncover what a great community is present in Orillia. I realize that you have to engage in the community if you want a sense of community. Now I am happy to be part of Orillia + call this place home. Pottery, like so many handmade artistic processes has an almost impossible task of competing with cheap manufactured goods. Because of the functional aspect to Ceramics it has always remained slightly outside of the 'Fine Art' domain. Countries such as Korea, China + Japan, place a higher value on Ceramics as an art-form than we do in North America. Anyone interested in ceramics should try to learn the trade from a living craftsman now. I think you will find that the ceramic community is very much about sharing knowledge. Of course, every potter has their trade secrets, you will never get the recipe to a favourite glaze, but ceramics is a discipline you cannot learn from Youtube. In my experience the potters I worked with were extremely generous with their time + knowledge. Once the knowledge of the craft is gone it is gone. My process is simple. I have never been attracted to bright colours or overworked forms. I love simplicity. I think simplicity is elegance. I want each piece to be something practical. Something you can use all your life + something you never get tired of looking at. To achieve this, I try to find the essence of a bowl or a cup. I am inspired by forms in nature. Some of the most elegant forms in nature, such as an acorn, a snail shell, or a mallard duck are so concise + simple in their design. I try to use the same approach in my work. I edit down the forms until I cannot take anything else away without losing the essence. Then I know the piece is finished.
Expressions Members Names in Lights What s on your easel? Page 8 At every monthly meeting a name will be drawn to select an artist who will be featured in our newsletter August Shimera Dione
Expressions OFAA EVENTS Page 9 Fun with Paverpol at our September OFAA General Meeting Photos taken and provided by Beverly Post-Schmeler Culture Days at ST. Paul s Photos taken and provided by Mike Bailey
Expressions HIGHLIGHTS Page 10 Starry Night 2016! The Orillia Fine Arts Association showcased over 100 works of art and sold 13 pieces August 20th. The room was laid out beautifully and artistically thanks to President Teresa Trainer and Installations Chair Jesse Strong. The Miniatures Table was a huge success. Special Congrats to Tony Shaw who sold 5 pieces! Thank you to our photo contributors: for Starry Night Sandra Bushell and Beverly Post-Schmeler