February 2020

February 2020
Contact Information:

Secretary   victoriasketchclub@gmail.com

VSC website   www.victoriasketchclub.ca 
 
Facebook  
 https://www.facebook.com/victoriasketchclub/
Victoria Sketch Club News
Archive Team Update
The VSC Archive Team, (John Lover, Myra Baynton and Val Lawton) has been working to cull, organize existing material, and collect new documents and photographs that tell the story of the VSC over the years. We recently met with a representative of the Provincial Archives to determine how to prepare materials for storage, now and in the future. These materials will be used for internal and external research purposes.

Here is a brief outcome of our meeting:
  1. The files will be stored in a box(es) in the locker at WPP
  2. The Provincial Archives will take the materials every 5 years.  They are interested only in original documents containing information that is not available elsewhere. (eg. not newspaper clippings, online biographies or other information that can be accessed through research of other venues/sources).  
  3. The documents are to be organized in chronological order and cover the following Club functions:
  • VSC MEMBERSHIP  
Biographies of current and past artist members.  Includes ‘Notables’ such as Carr, Harrison, Shadbolt etc. Privacy issues will be addressed.
  • ADMINISTRATION
Constitution; grants received; minutes; meetings (Annual, Extraordinary); Presidents’ reports; Executive Committee Annual Reports; Annual Financial statements.
  • COMMUNICATION
Communication about the activities of the Club.  For example: The Newsletters typically contain information about the weekly program, the venue for the Paint-Out and individual members’ shows; the History Book is also a valuable source.
  • EXHIBITIONS
Records of the Annual Show (or other Club exhibitions).  This should include participating members, examples of posters, invitations and other relevant information. 
  • MISCELLANEOUS
A catch-all file that contains relevant, interesting artifacts that don’t fit in the above categories.  This should be kept relatively small.

REQUEST TO VSC MEMBERSHIP:
  1. We are interested in acquiring any materials that fit the above categories, particularly from the years 2002 – 2008 and 2010 – 2019. Hard copies or electronic materials are appropriate. Please bring the documents (or data sticks) to VSC (or email them) and give them to Myra, John or Val.
Thank you from the Archives team!
Winter schedule 
March 2020 

Time: 12:30 pm to 4:30 pm
Location: Windsor Park Pavilion
 
Mar 3 Character / portraiture with model Amanda Carew
Mar 10 Bring Your Own 
Mar 17 - 22   VSC 111th Show at Glenlyon School ­-- see news updates below
Mar 24 NO SESSION Windsor Park Pavilion not available
Mar 31 Art Appreciation with Mary Brackenbury 
 
Thank you!
Nirmala Greenwell, Program Director
Indoor convenors: Ruth Beninger, Joan Head, Niramon Prudatron and Vicki Turner

 
Scenes from February 4
Liz Milton and her card-playing pals made for a wonderful and very sketchable Bridge Foursome!
Scenes from February 11
Today members worked on varnishing, glazing and working on their paintings.
Scenes from February 18
This week was figure sketching, and VSC members were pleased to welcome model Keith for the session.
Scenes from February 25
Old Pharmacy Bottles! Glass, especially old glass, presents interesting opportunities for rendering reflection and refraction. Members were requested to "bring your own’’ bottle to contribute to the settings such as old pharmacy or blue bottles they may have on hand, or found in antiques or thrift shops. Cloth and branches were be added to provide a variety of options for linear quality. 
History Corner
by John Lover
The period leading up to our annual exhibition is inevitably one of furious activity, stress and – as our history shows – some controversy. 

Hanging committees are typically under pressure from members bidding for the more favourable placements or seeking special consideration such as the grouping of their pictures.
But one particular event stands out. According to a piece in the Victoria Daily Colonist, dated August 18 1957, “the biggest boner in Victoria Art history was pulled back in the 1930s by members of the Island Arts and Crafts Society – they hid Emily Carr paintings behind a door at one of their exhibitions."

It is assumed that the hanging committee at that time felt that these avant-garde pictures had little merit, at least in the eyes of those more predisposed to genteel English watercolours than bold totems or sensuous trees and skies. Perhaps the committee felt themselves justified in protecting the sensitivities of a culturally conservative Victoria public.

The committee may well have been mindful of the warning issued by past Society president, Dr, Edward Hassell, artistically a diehard conservative, but otherwise a well-respected resident medical officer at the Royal Jubilee Hospital. In his diagnosis, the good Doctor expressed the fear that Emily had suffered “an attack of Neo- or Post-impressionism,” a virus imported from her time in Paris which would leave her permanently squint-eyed.

In 2005, a Times-Colonist reporter good-humouredly reported that our Club still wears the philistine image of this slight like a paint-spattered smock. Indeed, by the turn of the century, War Canoes, a work of the now iconic Emily Carr had sold for $1,018,750 at the Heffel Fine Art Auction House in Toronto, and a record $1,121,250 was bid on a forest scene titled Quiet 
But perhaps we should show some mercy to those hapless hangers. The scale of this vindication would have astonished even the likes of Uhthoff, Maynard and Shadbolt, Carr’s staunchest contemporary admirers in the Society.
VSC 2020 Art Show News
We are very pleased that the Honourable Janet Austin, Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia will be in attendance to open our 111th show, on Tuesday, March 17 at 7 pm.

Show Details Summary:
When:
March 17 - 22, 2020
Wed - Saturday: 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Sunday, March 22: 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Where:
Glenlyon Norfolk School, 1701 Beach Drive
Day by Day:
Friday, March 13: setup
Monday, March 16: painting intake
Tuesday March 17, 7:00 pm: Opening Night! Members arrive 6 - 6:30 with refreshments and wearing name tags
Tuesday, March 17 to Sunday, March 22: SHOW TIME!
Sunday, March 22, from 5 PM: members pick up paintings / metal stands
Sunday March 22, 4 pm: show closes
March 22, 6:00 PM: members' after party, at the Lawn Bowling Club, Carnarvon Park
Monday, March 23 (till 8:30 AM): show breakdown
 
A BIG thank-You to those who've volunteered!
Questions? Please contact Agnes at agnesoosterhof@hotmail.com
This year's invitation
Members News
Ground Zero Printmaking Studio (GZPS) presents ‘Beyond the Archive’ 30th Anniversary Show February 29th to April 4th at the Victoria Arts Council Gallery. The exhibit is a reflection on the past 30 years, with new work from GZPS artists inspired by the studio archived prints.
Go here for more detail.

Imagine Artworks Collective

See the work of VSC artists Anne Bowen, Sharon Wareing and Maureen Ness at the ongoing group art show at the Marriott Delta Ocean Pointe Spa, 100 Harbour Road. Go here for details.
Maureen Ness – Artist in Residence
March 1 to May 31, 2020
Artist onsite Thursdays, 10 am to 2 pm
Non-Union Club members are welcome to visit the show when Maureen is onsite.
Theme: Westcoast of Vancouver Island Waves to Shore
The Union Club of British Columbia
805 Gordon Street, Victoria
The Chapel Gallery at 600 Richmond Avenue presents Victoria artist Neil McClelland’s tondo paintings whose work evokes a sense of reflection, solitude and silence within an imagined escape into nature. 
The Federation of Canadian Artists presents Looking In * Looking Out
Fisgard Gallery, 537 Fisgard Street,
Victoria
April 21 - 26, 2020
For more info, go to here
Quotes to Inspire
compiled by Virginia Hutzuliak
“The most vital part is the initial design... strong design, not weak.
Good drawing, otherwise you'll have trouble all the way through. Take the time to consider all the various moves.“
-- David Blackwood
                             
"Logic and intellect can take an artist to the dance,
but intuition and creativity are the dance itself."
-- Unknown
 
"Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication."
-- Leonardo da Vinci
                                                
Do you have news to share? Are you an artist in residence or participating in a show or workshop?
Forward your news along with relevant pictures to the newsletter editor.

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