Little over half a year ago I became a member of the Tauranga Society of Artists. Tauranga is a relatively big city only an hour's drive away from where we live. It is a great group with drawing/painting sessions every weekday, special workshops on the weekend at least once a month, and then 2 big exhibitions yearly. I participated in the last Art Expo that was held in Tauranga a month ago, and it was the first time that I exhibited my work in New Zealand. It is an understatement to say that I was very excited, and it turned out to be a great experience. I met a lot of the other artists and members that I haven't had the opportunity to meet before, and it was great to be able to 'talk shop' with other artists!
The exhibition, or Art Expo ran for 4 days. Thursday 28th of October to Sunday 1st of November. The setup day, Extreme Art awards, and opening night was on Wednesday the 27th of October. 106 artists participated with over 600 works of art. It is a big expo, so it is held in the gymnastics hall of a college.
I participated in the Extreme Art Awards, and my little painting of a native Kingfisher became runner-up. What an honour to be chosen from so many great works of art. It was very interesting to hear the reasoning behind the judge's decision on why he chose the paintings he did for the Award and the merits.
There are many members who worked very hard to organize everything for this expo, and they did a fantastic job. I was there all day on set-up day to help hang paintings and labels and so on, and that was almost more fun than the actual exhibition.
On the first day of the expo, I was one of the artists who did live art at the event. So I sat there almost the whole day and painted at a table. It was fun, and I talked to a lot of lovely people. Most of the people who stopped and chatted with me were bird lovers too, and I got many compliments about my work. That always boosts one's confidence, doesn't it?
Every artist was allowed to hang 5 works of art, plus 4 tiny works of art. I had 2 bigger and 3 smaller oil paintings, and then 4 small watercolours for the tiny art category. I was so lucky to sell 4 of my artworks, and I can't tell you how good that felt for my first time exhibiting my work here in New Zealand! Here you can see 'my' wall at the exhibition.
In my next post, I will share pictures from my studio, so stay tuned for that!
Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful day wherever you are!
Jenny