Expressions 2021 Review

COVID may have beaten us last year, but Expressions made a strong comeback this year! It was held over Friday 22 to Sunday 24 October in the Callan Centre, at St Patrick’s College in Shorncliffe.

The Expressions Committee worked hard to bring the exhibition to fruition and it wouldn’t have happened without the initial support of St Partrick’s College, for generously hosting us - Thank You! We are very grateful for the facilities the College made available to us and we had many visitors comment on how great the space was to hold an exhibition. “It really gives you the space you need to be able to view artwork properly!”

We also have a HUGE Thank You to give to our sponsors - our local State Member of Parliament and 2 local government Councillors, and all the small businesses who have been hit so hard in the last 18 months, who still stepped up and provided sponsorship for prizes for our Awards. We encourage all our readers to please support the businesses shown in our Sponsorship banner below.

Thank You also goes to the 61 artists who entered 123 pieces into our judged section of the exhibition, particularly to our first-timers who were hesitant. How great does it now feel to have had your art as part of an exhibition?! Thank you everyone for creating such interesting and beautiful pieces. It was so lovely to walk around the exhibition and see so many different types of art and the degree of quality shown. This was evident in how difficult it was for the judges, Jackie Gasson and Dianne Hodge, who did a remarkable job to make a final decision on the works.

Which brings me to the Award Winners…

Our Opening Night was held on Friday 22 October, at 6pm and attendees were quick to purchase pieces… our sales tables were kept busy right up to 7pm when the awards ceremony commenced. Thank you to all the artists, their family and friends, our local government Councillors, Jared Cassidy and Sandy Landers, and the art lovers for attending. It was great to see so many people enjoying the arts.

Congratulations to all winning artists, there certainly were many fine pieces of art on show:

Painting First Place: David Cross - Nundle Terrain
Painting Highly Commended: Mark Hourigan - Not always bad news
Pottery Hand Built First Place: Clare Houston - Cascade
Pottery Hand Built Highly Commended: Ann Gillespie - 3 tubes
Rowley Drysdale Quixotica Wheel Thrown First Place: Clare Houston - Crackle set
Pottery Wheel Thrown Highly Commended: Liz Hardcastle and Andrew Richards - Bird Dreaming with Proteas
Shorncliffe Pottery Club Inc Encouragement Award: Heather McQuade, Saint in the time of COVID
Pettit Pottery Encouragement Award: Ann Gillespie - Large Vase
Sculpture First Place: Paul Kateley - Steely Steed
Sculpture Highly Commended: Blaire Garland and Russell Solomon - Female Avatar 1
Mixed Media First Place: Grace Cross - In a Monastry Garden
Mixed Media Highly Commended: Noreen Flood - Cloud Reflections
Photography First Place: Linda Neil - Detritus: Fantastical tales of mulch
Photography Highly Commended: Linda Brant - Morning at the River
Overall Encouragement Award: Amanda Gardner - Making and Unmaking Series #2
People’s Choice Award: Wendy Cook - Are You Listening To Me?

Thank you to everyone who came along to view and support the Exhibition and the artists by purchasing pieces, and also to all those who donated a gold coin (or more) on entry which generated $240 to go towards maintenance of the Club’s shed.

Lastly, I would like to give a huge thanks to - Ann Gillespie, Clare Houston, Linda Rosenthal, Heddy Shears, Jean Smith, Jenny Kingdom and Margaret Pettit for all your help in organising this event. It looked like a Mt Everest task ahead of us when we first started but we got there in the end; and to the club members who volunteered their time along side us to do shifts at the exhibition - Carmela Anile, Gabriel Knauth, Ken Bull, Rebecca Mason, Sarah Schulz and Susanne Vincent.

Members volunteering their time truely is the backbone of our Club.

Thank you,
Tamara Vitale, SPCInc President

photos from the exhibition below by Paul O’Neil and Dianne Hodge