We have started back at the Windsor Park Pavillon [WPP], and our first official, hands-on art Open Art session took place October 5.Autumn Programme This will be based on Open Studio sessions, and we have four hours to set up and paint each Tuesday session supplemented with the occasional short demonstrations. Patricia, is our Programme Director, and was pulled together programme based on the advice received from the 28 members who responded to her poll.
Hours: 12:30 to 4:30 pm
We know some members are not be able to attend for medical and/or mobility reasons, and others may be uncomfortable with attending given the public health situation. So, we do plan to have an option using Zoom for those members that are unable to attend.
Details will be forthcoming from Patricia.
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Public Health RegulationsAs outlined in last month's newsletter, the current public health regulations [PHRs] continue to apply when meeting at WPP. So, until we hear otherwise,- Members must wear a mask and present a BC COVID passport upon arrival
- Masks must be worn upon arrival until you sit down. If you later decide to stand up and move around you are free to do so but you must wear your mask
- No refreshments will be available therefore BYOC
- Limit of fifty people in our space
- Weather permitting, windows and doors will be open so bring a woolly
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Government House ShowThe Government House Exhibition starts in November, and an opening reception will be held in 2022.
Please bring your painting to the WPP, ready to hang, on November 2.
PLEASE NOTE: no late submissions can be accepted. If you're unable to attend on November 2, please contact Ruth (email below) in advance to make pick-up arrangements.
Other questions?
Please contact Ruth at Ruthbeninger@gmail.com
Phone 519-584-2802 |
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VSC 2022 Art Show Slated March 21 to 27 in the GNS Junior School. More information will be forthcoming on these activities. Volunteers sought to help make all these activities come together in the manner the Victoria Sketch Club prefers. |
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| President Gollner recently reached out to Glenlyon Norfolk House School about the possibility of working with students there, and received the following message from the school's art teacher...
Good afternoon Joseph (ed's note: Larry!)
It is wonderful to hear from you and I hope you and your family are well.
We are very excited with the prospect of renewing our connection with the Victoria Sketch Club!! I've discussed with our principal, Crystal Shea, your kind offer of having a member come for a visit to talk about their work and demonstrate their creative talents. We agree that it would be a fantastic opportunity for our students and the current health protocols allow for guests to enter the classrooms provided they complete a daily health check and wear a mask.
We are also delighted with the invitation to include a small selection of our students' artwork in the VSC Annual exhibition. This has been a highlight for many young artists and we are very grateful for this opportunity.
Joseph, thank you very much for all of your support for our arts programme over the years. Our students benefit so much from learning from artists in our community and we sincerely appreciate all of your efforts to inspire their creativity. I look forward to meeting Ms. Beninger and continuing these valuable connections with the Victoria Sketch Club.
Best regards,
Nancy Fletcher
Art Teacher GNS Junior School
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Autumn activities COVID-style at Windsor ParkMembers are back in the WPP for 'regular but different' Tuesday sketch club gatherings. |
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 | Joan Eldridge (1926-2021)Sketch club members were saddened to hear of the passing of Joan Eldridge earlier this month on October 12. A native of Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, Joan was a longtime member of the Victoria Sketch Club, and was secretary in the mid-'90s. Christine Gollner was president at that time and says, "Joan was a good friend to all; her friendship, helping hand and beautiful paintings will be fondly remembered and certainly missed by all at the VSC"
To leave a condolence message for the family or to see what others have written, please see Joan's obituary. |
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Joan Head's exhibit with the PWP Fine Arts Exhibition VSC member Joan Head currently has an exhibit with the PWD, as part of a 3-month rotating exhibit. "Art is part of my life! Diagnosed with PD in 2019, painting has made me embrace the challenges and my fight to paint well with every stroke."
While this exhibit is limited to PWP members, you can follow Joan's news via her instagram page or on Facebook (@paintingsbyjoanhead) |
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History Corner
by John Lover |
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In 1909 the formation of the Island Arts Club was welcome news for a number of British lower middle class educated women with arts school training, who had emigrated to Vancouver Island around the turn of the 19th century. Amongst this group was Margaret Kitto, who, although like the others a typical traditionalist watercolour painter, was the most professional. She was also destined to make a distinct contribution to this newly formed organization in other significant ways.
One of a family of six children, Margaret Elizabeth Kitto was born in Islington. London, England in 1873, where her father was a book publisher. She studied art before coming to Victoria with her family in 1891.
Kitto was a member of the Sketching Club (1900-1909) in which, along with Josephine Crease, she led sketching parties to local scenes. She was a charter member of the Island Arts Club, later the Island Arts and Crafts Society, serving on the executive committee 1911-1917, as second vice president 1918-1919 and vice-president in 1925.
From 1922, as a painter and sculptor she operated the Deco Art Studio with fellow artist Lillian Sweeney, producing various art and craft creations for sale. She became well-known for her watercolour paintings of local scenes, reproduced on cards. Kitto, unusually for a local woman artist at this time, was able to secure a modest living from these sales, supplemented by teaching at the Sacred Heart Convent School, the Western Art Studio and evening courses organized by the school board.
 Among her pupils at the Western Art Studio in the early 1920s, was Edythe Hembroff-Schleicher, later to be friend, painting colleague and biographer of Emily Carr. In a 1981 publication Edythe recalled Margaret affectionately as “a warm, out-going, frail person, who was able to pass on her infectious enthusiasm for painting to her many young charges.”
Although involved in mural painting and decoration, ceramics and textiles, Kitto operated primarily in watercolour, and she was specially known in this media for depictions of Mount Baker and vibrant local scenes of sun-yellow broom. Her work can be found in the collections of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (AGGV), the BC Provincial Archives and in archive locations in Quebec and Ontario.
More recently, she featured in a 2016 exhibition, Water + Pigment and Paper, at the AGGV. (at right: The Lions, by Margaret Kitto)
The Society spent fifteen years working on Margaret Kitto’s original and persistent idea of establishing a permanent art gallery in Victoria. Her dedication to this notion seemed to have reached fruition when the Canadian Pacific Railway provided accommodation attached to the Crystal Garden in 1925, sadly the same year as Margaret's passing. She was interred in the Ross Bay Cemetery. |
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Hand of Man MuseumLocated at the Museum of Natural History, Cultural Arts and Conservation
6759 Considine Ave, Duncan, BC Amongst the signs along the side of the Island Highway just south of Duncan you may have noticed one for the Hand of Man Museum. After passing the sign many times, curiosity sent us to visit the museum this past summer. The Museum is east of Duncan in Maple Bay, part way down the hill not far before reaching the water. Turn left from the main road onto Considine Avenue to find a school building that has been remade into an unusual and unexpected museum.
If you consult the museum’s website, you will find a short video that introduces the museum quite comprehensively and takes you on a tour along the hallways and into and out of the old re-purposed classrooms, school auditorium, office, and gymnasium. Clearly this establishment is not striving to be a commercial tourist draw, as it keeps a modest profile. In fact, there is no admittance charge; however, a donation jar invites a contribution. The museum is open every day of the year from 10:00 to 5:00. The museum was set up by private owner and collector Jim Shockey, an adventurer, photographer, and writer who has travelled the world widely, amassing a large and varied ethnographic collection of artifacts and curios. Really, anything that caught and interested his eyes seems to have been added to his trove: dinosaur bones, Canadian Indigenous items, books, household antiques, natural history, taxidermy, carpets, to just begin an inventory. After decades of gathering his treasures and keeping them in storage, but eager to share them with others, he opened his museum in 2018. He notes that nearly everything in the collection is “handmade, touched by man, or caused by man,” which explains his choice of the name for the museum. The school building that has become his museum is the former Maple Bay Elementary School that his children once attended. In the picture below you see Mr. Shockey in one of his galleries showing an array of mounted items and display cases. As you can see in the photograph, there are not many identifying labels in sight, but when one enters the museum one is given an iPad to carry around with items in the collection identified along with some descriptive information. Many of the things I just gazed at and conjectured their origins and purpose. I don’t recall what the carving of the recli ning red figure represented but there were lots of examples of these and indeed lots of examples of many items such as the gloves mounted on the wall. Unlike many museums that make carefully curated selections of items, Mr. Shockey exhibits copious examples. In fact, many of the displays and installations overflow with his garnered treasures, almost overwhelming at times. Certainly, you won’t be left without opportunities for learning! Throughout the museum there are many paintings, a selection of which is shown in the picture below. Mr. Shockey has not acquired, nor arranged in particular genres, his artwork, but has gathered them into exuberant displays, throughout the museum. One display is seen in the picture below, occupying a corner nook in one of the galleries.  It takes about an hour to walk through all the galleries even for just a cursory view. Since our peregrinations abroad are suspended during this COVID period, I wondered if a trip here might assuage some travel urges, and, at the very least, inspiration or reference photographs might be found for Sketch Club members seeking an unusual subject for a painting or sketch. One cannot imagine a museum without a gift shop and, indeed, the Hand of Man Museum has one. In it there is an assortment of collectibles, some that I think are genuine items, perhaps overflow from the collection, some reproductions, various curiosities, as well as items for youngsters. Some amongst you might even be attracted to some odd things to add to your décor or to inspire a novel still-life. The Hand of Man Museum is comparatively unknown and does not promote itself energetically, but is a rich resource of culture, natural history, and exploration quite near at hand. I do intend to return from time to time to focus on certain areas of the collection. Offering to take along curious grandchildren would probably be a popular suggestion. Certainly, I was left with refreshed awe for the variety and craftmanship of items that people throughout the world have created. -- Janice Graham Photo credits: Hand of Man website ; Janice Graham |
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 | | Victor Lotto submitted this fun pic of three exhausted VSC presidents from about 10 years ago when the group exhibited at the Sunrise Assisted Living! |
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Artist of the WeekIf you would like to be VSC's Artist of the Week and be featured on our social media channels, here's your big chance! If you've got any questions, feel free to contact Vicky Turner.
Here is what we'll need you to do:- Attach 3 of your art photos to an email which you will send to victoriasketchclub@gmail.com
- Subject line should read: Artist of The Week
- Include a 2-3 line artist statement
- Be a social media superstar
A Mother Daughter Exhibit Mary and Laura team up!
Mary's bio
I have always been a leisure painter, but waited until I took early retirement from a teaching career to take serious training at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. My style has gone through several changes since then, but over the last few years I’ve settled on a semi-abstracted depiction of more simplistic imagery, using strong lines and bold colours.
For inspiration I draw on my environment, whether domestic or imaginative. My palette has remained consistent through the years; my chosen media both acrylic and water-soluble oils on canvas. My husband Jim has provided me with canvas and framing services, and my daughter and photographic partner Laura has taken photos of my work, and provided invaluable services with her computer skills. I am very grateful to both of them.
Laura's bio
https://sandytoeproductions.ca
I am a settler of British descent who is grateful to live, work, love, and play on the unceded lands of the Lekwungen speaking peoples, the Songhees and Esquimalt nations. Through my work I aim to capture details ~ the relationships of people and nature, of movement and light, of environment and colour. By looking closer at our surroundings, we can gain a new understanding and wonder of the world around us, the huge impacts we have on it and our place in it.
Raised on a health mix of CBC, Opera, and the Beatles, I find fanciful things just about everywhere I look ~ every detail has a story and can lead ones imagination to soar. Honoured to have exhibited both as a solo artist and in joint shows, selections of my work hangs in private collections across Canada and the United States. This is my fifth joint exhibit with my talented mother, painter Mary Brackenbury. I have been taking photographs since I was given my first camera almost forty years ago and feel blessed by the voice it gives me. I raise my hands in thanks to my children who allow me to doddle behind on our adventures and for work which sends me to mysterious places full of stories.
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