Are you casting a shadow?

All artists are invited to submit a Call for Entry form to enter the 2012 Fall Art Show and Sale. Don’t delay! The deadline is Friday September 7.

The theme is “Casting Shadows“, and is open to literal or figurative interpretation. Having a specific theme each year encourages new works, allows for more creativity and co-ordination with other elements in the show, and  increases audience appeal. Every effort is made to choose a theme which is accessible to various artistic media and styles.

The Oliver Community Arts Council believes that anyone who “casts a shadow” is an artist! Show us your hidden talents! Don’t keep them in the shadows.  Choose your favourite category and enter to win, sell, or simply impress your friends. You deserve your artistic moment in the spotlight!

New works will be accepted in seven categories:  Watercolour Paintings, Oil Paintings, Acrylic Paintings, Fibre Arts,  Three Dimensional, Photography, Other Media (mixed media, encaustic, pen and ink, etc), and Emergin Artists (under 18 years).

Print off your form by clicking this link:

2012 FASS Entry Form

or by visiting the “Forms” page under the top banner.

Poster photo: Kathy Birtwistle
Poster Design: Leza Macdonald

Lake-to-Lake Studio Tour this Summer

Wondering what to do to please yourself—-or your guests—in the sunny summer days ahead? A visit to an artist’s studio can make a great outing, paired with a day of wine touring or just savouring the spectacular landscape we enjoy here in the South Okanagan.

A group of 12 local artists, including encaustic artist Thea Haubrich, a member of the Oliver Community Arts Council,  have teamed up to offer a Studio Tour. They will open their studios to the public from May till October. Taking their cue from the successful self-guided studio tour offered last year by artists on the Naramata Bench, the South Okanagan “Lake-to-Lake” artists are extending the possibilities for everyone to explore art in the place where it is created. (And, by the way, the “Art on the Naramata Bench” Studio Tour is up and running again this year, so with the addition of this new Tour Route, there are studios lined up all the way from Naramata to Vaseux Lake, just waiting for you to come in and say hello!)

In the new “Lake-to-Lake” Studio Tour Route, the twelve artists offer a journey along the ‘Corkscrew Drive Wine Trail’, which takes you from Penticton along hauntingly lovely Skaha Lake via Eastside Road and the Oliver Ranch Road, to Vaseux Lake.

Studio visits are an unusual and colourful way to meet the artists and their work ‘on home ground’. You can meet the artists, see how they use their tools and work-space — and witness for yourself the work behind the works!

You’ll encounter artists working in a wide variety of media. Besides Thea’s work in hot beeswax, there are painters, a potter, a sculptor, a photographer, one working with gourds and another encaustic artist! They are all keen to welcome you and happy to share with you how they do what they do.

To get you started: you’ll find brochures at your nearest visitors’ centre, wineries, hotels/motels, bookstores, local libraries and galleries. You can also download the brochure and tour map from http://bit.ly/jC39sp The tour map (part of Google maps) lists all participating artists, their locations, contact information, and links to websites.

It’s simple to plan your tour. Decide which studios you’d like to see, check the hours of opening, and set out. As you travel the route, watch for the Studio Tour signs telling you that the artist is “In” (or call ahead). Visiting an artist in the special atmosphere of a working studio is a wonderful way to explore the Valley’s treasures. Enjoy your valley touring, and expand your art collection through personal connections with the artists.

In other news, Haubrich has recently won the competition for the cover art in Okanagan Art Work magazine’s fifth anniversary issue (May 2011).  Go to this link for more information and to see her winning submission: http://www.s2sartworks.com/MayCoverArt.html

To top it off, she won second place as well! Congratulations Thea!

More about Thea Haubrich’s encaustic art can be found at these sites:

Web: http://www.encaustic.ca
Online store: http://www.encaustic.ca/shop/html/
Fine Art: http://www.theahaubrich.com
Blog: http://encausticcanada.wordpress.com/