Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Christmas Party Meeting...


Join us at the Christmas Party meeting!!! Bring your art to show off and books to swap.
Everyone welcome, bring your best friend or spouse or both.
Snacks, desserts and beverages will be served.
Wednesday December 2nd at 7pm at the Centre Charles Emile Claude,
146 Chevrier Ave (Former Nativity School)
For more info call: 613-935-8078

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Juried Show Results!

Following are the results of the Juried Art Show, now on exhibit at the Cornwall Public Library. Click on the pics below to see them larger.

Watercolour
First Place: Jane MacMillan “Palm Peace”
Second Place: Anita Huygen “ Angel Eyes”
Honourable Mention: Rose Denoyers “Somewhere Different”
Honourable Mention: Deb Leger “Heads Up”












Oils
First Place: Elsie Gallinger “The Quiet Place”
Second Place : Emily MacLeod “Sunroom Geranium Study”
Honourable Mention: Rose Desnoyers “Moody River”
Honourable Mention: Myrtle Ainslie “Chipmunk”



















Acrylics
First Place: Hennie Marsh “Natural Order”
Second Place: Jacqueline Milner “Icy Haven”
Honourable Mention: Sandra Taylor-Hedges “The Gathering”
Honourable Mention: Sharon Magee “Contentment”
Honourable Mention: Hennie Marsh “ Red Sky”


















Mixed Media
First Place: Libby Cameron "Good Day’s Work”
Second Place: Patricia Lewis “Eagle”
Honourable Mention: Hye Kyung-Yu “Light”
Honourable Mention: Hilary Thain “I am Woman”
Honourable Mention: Phyllis Major “King Fisher”

















Photography
First Place: Stu-art Thompson “Orchid Magic”
Second Place: Patricia Fish “Homme Racine”
Honourable Mention: Gilles Ruest " Canal House"
Honourable Mention: Jacqueline Milner “ Sign of the Times”
















Pastels
First Place: Myrtle Ainslie “Clematis”
Second Place : Myrtle Ainslie “Bufflehead Duck”
Honourable Mention: Micheline Tanguay “No Fishing”
Honourable Mention: Libby Cameron “Dignity”




Deb

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Charlene Bennett's Exhibition & Vernisage

Art Exhibition and Opening: Charlene Bennett

Charlene H. Bennett is currently exhibiting her latest works

@ the French Cultural Centre"
Les trois p'tits points "
280 Industrial Blvd
Alexandria K0C 1A0613 525 3393

Titled: IN MEMORY OF MOM : honoring my french heritage.
Contemporary portraitures of nude models rendered in pastels & landscape paintings.

VERNISSAGE: Wine & cheese on Sunday Oct. 18 @ 2-4 p.m
@ www.centreculturelalexandria.ca
see evenements/expositions
A map is also available @ site.


Good luck, Charlene!
Deb

Sunday, October 4, 2009

FYI

an interesting tidbit - the Mayor of Cornwall, Bob Kilger, has a 2010 Focus Art Calender! Hopefully, it's hanging in his office - I dropped it off on Friday.

Just so you all know, he's supporting us.

Deb

an invitation from Anne Barkley

From Anne:

I have a painting in the Ottawa Watercolour show (below). I think you will find it an interesting show and venue, so I hope you have a chance to visit. This is a water media show, so there is a variety of work.

You are cordially invited to attend the opening reception of the 60th Juried Exhibition
in watermedia of the

Ottawa Watercolour Society

Sunday, October 4th, 2009
2:00 to 4:00 pm

at Saint Brigid’s
Centre for the Arts and Humanities,
314 St. Patrick Street,
Ottawa, On
(side door entrance on Cumberland street)

Come and celebrate the 60th OWS exhibition with the artists who will be present during the reception

The exhibition is open
October 3rd to October 11th 2009

Viewing hours:
Saturday and Sunday: 2 pm to 4 pm
Monday to Wednesday: 4 pm to 7 pm

Information:
Tel.: 613-224-4409
http://www.owswatercolour.com/

Thursday, September 24, 2009

An invitation from Jacqueline Milner,

I will be participating in The Annual Canvas in Colours Art Show & Sale this Sunday, September 27th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Richelieu Park, 300 des Pères-Blancs Ave., Ottawa. Come and experience nature's reflection in the enchanted heritage forest of Richelieu Park and discover some of the Regions talented artists. I couldn't ask for a better venue than a 'heritage forest'. Do drop by to say hello. The show will be outdoors if sunny and in the visitor centre if raining. For more information call 613-580-2424 ext. 28464

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Calendar Sales at the Mall - Standard Freeholder article

There's a great article in the Standard Freeholder about our calendar! If you missed the article, you can click here and read it online.

Kudos go to D'Arcy for an awesome job of producing such a great calendar!!

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Focus Art's 5th Annual Juried Art Show

Focus Art's 5th Annual Juried Art Show is coming fast! This year's show will be held at the Cornwall Public Library with exhibition dates of Oct. 5 to Oct. 30, 2009. There is over $500.00 in prizes with winners in each category!

Important Dates to remember:

Oct. 1 - 4:00 to 8:00 pm
Oct. 2 - 12:00 to 4:00 pm
Oct. 3 - 9:00 to 12:00 noon

Oct. 3 - 1:00 Public juried selection (Open to public)

Oct. 3 - Pickup of unselected pieces at the end of the jury selection OR
Oct. 4 - 1:00 to 3:00 pm

Oct. 7 - 6:30 to 8:00 pm Opening Ceremony for the Show

A few rules to follow:

  • Submissions MUST be original work by the artist. (No copies or prints.)
  • Must be clean, dry and wired for hanging.
  • Open to artists 18 years or older within an area of 100 km of Cornwall, Ontario.
  • Maximum of 3 pieces.
  • An entry may not be withdrawn once it has been accepted.
  • Nonrefundable entry fee for artwork is $20.oo for members. $30.00 for non-members.
  • Sales will be handled by the artist with a 10% commission payable to Focus Art.
  • Although the library is supervised, entries are at your risk for loss or damage.
If you need an entry form, please contact the group.

Deb




Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Make a Pochade Box for Plein Air Painting

Do you do any plein air painting? Here's a really inexpensive pochade box made out of a wood cigar box. Fawzan Barrage gives instructions in the video below.

Zan is the Founder of the Ontario Plein Air Society (OPAS).

Deb


Jacqueline Milner and Sandra Taylor-Hedges are at the CRAG

You can click on the pic for a larger version.....

Monday, August 24, 2009

Selling Focus Art Calendars at Cornwall Square

If you check your email-box, you should have a schedule of time slots where help is needed at Cornwall Square to sell calendars. Here's a note from D'Arcy, Focus Art's President;


Hi Everyone

Here we go again, I am looking for volunteers to help sell the calendars at Cornwall Square. We will be on the second floor in front of the food court for the first two Friday/Saturdays and at the bottom of the escalator for the last Friday/Saturday. Again, we should have at least two people there at all times, more would be better.

They will give us a table but we need to bring our own chairs etc. We are also allowed to have some of our people working on something while we are there so anyone who would like to do that, please let me know.

A lot of members took time to help during the show, we put on a terrific exhibition and had a lot of fun doing it, now it is time to reap the rewards for all that hard work. The public loved us so the potential for sales is terrific, all we need to do is just be there to take advantage of this venue again. Please check your schedules and do what you can to be involved and help make this another great success for Focus Art.

Thanks

D'Arcy
It is with sadness that I bring you the news today that I'm no longer going to be the Secretary of Focus Art. I have submitted my resignation a few days ago and it was effective immediately (at that time).

I will, however, continue caring for this blog. So, if you have any art news that can be shared here, please write to me at focusartblog@yahoo.ca

If you'd like to receive updates in your mailbox on the day that new posts are made, please use the subscription box and don't forget to reply to the confirmation email to activate your subscription!

See you soon,

Deb

Monday, August 17, 2009

'The Circle of Life'

An invitation from Jacqueline Milner;

Regional Visual Artist & Photographer Jacqueline Milner and Regional Dancer, Choreographer and Teacher Amanda Marini have joined forces to present a special collaborative performing art piece entitled 'The Circle of Life'. This presentation pays homage to Birth, Death and Rebirth. Join us this Wednesday, August 19 at the Band Shell by the Civic Complex at 7 p.m. or in lovely Downtown Cornwall for 3 special performances at the Farmer's Market, Saturday, August 22nd at 9:30 a.m., 10 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. This is a family friendly Event.

The event Wednesday will feature an array of performing Artist's from Cornwall & Area. The Farmer's Market features yummy local produce. Come share the tastes and sounds of the Season.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Adele Constantineau at the St. Andrews Library

News from Adele:

"Adele Constantineau is again exhibiting a few of her paintings at the St Andrews library in the Heritage building behind the school. It is a liberating exercise for her as she does not easily expose her work outside of family and friends."
















Deb

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Tony Moffit - helping artists sell their art and break into galleries

There are many, many fantastic informational art blogs 'out there' in cyberspace but one in particular that is really worth reading to is Tony Moffit's Art World! (Click on his name for a link that'll take you right there.) His mandate is "helping artists sell their art and break into galleries". He writes very thought-provoking posts. Especially read the reader's comments after each article!

Deb

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Call for Canadian Artist's Work

Courtesy of Pat Fish,

Purchase of Art Works by Canadian Artists for the Canada Council Art Bank Collection

Deadline Oct 15, 2009 (Postmarked)

http://www.artbank.ca/The+Collection/Purchase+Program+Information/

Gillian Horgan is the August Featured Artist at the Library

Gillian Horgan of Williamstown is the latest artist to be in Cornwall Public Library's Featured Artist window. Gillian's work is there for the month of August so drop by to see her beautiful work.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Candice Nixon in the 2009 Women's Art Festival in Kingston













This is Candice's third year participating in this festival. For more info, go to http://www.womensartfestivalkingston.ca/ . Click on the above image for a larger version.

There are other Cornwall artists there as well but until I know their names, I can't tell you. ;-)

Deb

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Serenity Studio Artists in Cornwall Living!

Focus Art members Tracy-Lynn Chisholm, Anne Wylemans, MiSun Hunter and Emily MacLeod are shown in the Seaway News photo as they check out the latest edition of Cornwall Living, of which they (and Serenity Studio) are featured on the cover and in an article inside. If you haven't read the article, you can go here to Seaway New's website and read it. You can get a copy of Cornwall Living by dropping by the offices of Seaway News at 29 Second Street East. Below is a screenshot of the cover photo also showing Rick Shaver.

Congratulations to Serenity Studio and the great artists who show there!

Deb

Monday, June 22, 2009

Planning Meeting

Next week is the planning meeting for next year's activities and general meetings. Please take a moment and make a wish list of things you would like to be considered, ideas for; guest speakers, technical advice, business planning, web sight planning, workshops, appraisals, mat cutting, group activities, etc. Let us know so we can try and fit some of all of it in next years plan.

You can write to any board member with your suggestions and thoughts.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Beauty and the Beast Show at The Abbey

Emily MacLeod is in the Beauty and the Beast Show, along with several other artists, at The Abbey in Glen Nevis! The Vernisage is Saturday, June 27.

For more info, click on the pic below to see a full size invitation.


Just for the record, Jacqueline Milner, another Focus Art member also shows at The Abbey.

Friday, June 5, 2009

New Art Festival in Ottawa

There are several of our artists participating in The New Art Festival in Ottawa this weekend! Candice Nixon, Gillian Horgan and MiSun Kim-Hunter were all juried into this must-see event that takes place in the Glebe. There are also several other Cornwall / area artists participating as well: Peter Leclair, Cynthia Gatien.

For more information and a map, go to http://www.artinfoboy.org/




Friday, May 22, 2009

Help Wanted

Position Opening for Website Administrator of Bio Pages on Focus Art Website..

Focus Art needs someone who will input info onto the bio pages of the website. This is not a demanding job. The setup work is done ; members forward their bio to you as well as 4 images. It may require a little interaction with the members but new members purchasing a bio page are few and far between.

Qualification : a basic ability to follow a template on the computer
a willingness to help members get their info on the web.

Interested parties please respond before May 30th, 2009.

Please contact Rose at rosedesn@cogeco.ca if you're interested.

Be a part of the action.

Deb's Note: You MUST be a member of Focus Art!

Farmer's Market

Focus Art have been invited to participate in the Cornwall Farmers Market which is located in George Assaly Laneway Pitt St between 2nd & 3rd Streets. The season began May 16th and runs to Oct 31.

The market is open every Sat. morning from 8am. To 1.pm..

1 stall (10x10) = $25.00/day or $100.00/month paid to Farmer's Market in advance.
1 stall (10x20) = $40.00/day or $160.00/month paid to farmer's Market in advance.

Artists interested could double up and this would defray the costs It appears to be a very good venue, and the committee for Farmers Market are committed to make this an annual event, so far the advertising has been exceptional.

There is a one time membership fee of $35.00 which Focus Art could take on with the understanding that our banner and advertizing material be displayed. Before we commit to this we must have assurances from at least 10 artists in Focus Art that they are definitely interested this venue.

If you are interested contact me, Pat Campbell at patcamp@live.com before next weekend..

Deb's Note: You can click here to see a short news video on the Market and get an idea of the stalls.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Someone Else We Need to Thank ....

There is someone in Focus Art who does an incredible amount of work behind the scenes. She works incredibly hard for us and most of us have never even seen her! The lady I'm talking about is D'Arcy's wife, Sherry.

Thanks for all you do for us Sherry!


What Happened at the May 6 Meeting?

D’Arcy opened the meeting at 7:15, welcoming the crowd of members and new people. He introduced Karen Burns, who was given two great rounds of applause by everyone. Karen is the reason we were at Cornwall Square and she told us that they had received "a ton" of good responses from the public about our exhibition and Calendar Show. (Photo to the left shows D'Arcy speaking to our hero, Karen, after the show.)

Cornwall Square has been very generous to Focus Art members - giving us this venue free of charge, advertising in the papers free of charge, advertising on the radio free of charge and advertising on their billboard outside free of charge. They provided the chairs and tables for the General Meeting, free of charge, and they’ve done everything to make Focus Art's stay there a fantastic experience. Focus Art and it’s members cannot thank Cornwall Square enough.

Many thanks to Tim Horton’s of the Square for supplying us with coffee and timbits at no charge for the meeting.

The expected closing will be on Saturday (May 9) instead of Sunday, as Sunday is Mother’s Day. So, all artwork must be picked up on Saturday, May 9, 2009 before 5:30. D’Arcy says that anything left afterwards becomes his and he will not apologize for taking it home. ;-)

It was also discussed briefly that during upcoming school holidays, when kids are running around - such as March Break, etc, we could create some workshops at the Square in which would involve children making art with us. There is good potential for other exercises.

Certificates were handed out to the artists of the Twelve Chosen Calendar Paintings as each artist stood and presented their artwork to the group - and also posed for a photograph to be taken by Adele, who was the official photographer of the event. (Even though D’Arcy assured Deb that she wouldn’t have to do this beforehand when questioned about the "standing and presenting" part of his email notice. But she *did* survive the ordeal.) Brunhilde and Jane were absent.

Sales of the calendars will be in September and will be held at Cornwall Square.

Bernie Carriere gave an excellent talk on photography. Bernie is a fairly new member and teaches both philosophy and photography at the Cornwall Public Library. Call the Library in August if you’re interested in attending the classes in September. Currently, they are being held free of charge.

Bernie explained many of the basic guidelines in photography. Breaking the rules makes a great photograph but you have to know the rules to break. Another thought Bernie shared was that what you have in your head is more important that what’s in your hands. He also explained lenses, telephotos vs. zooms, and cleaning them, as well as the three most important accessories you can buy for your camera - tripod, polarizing filter and a lens shade. Many thanks to Bernie for the very interesting talk! If you’d like to learn more about using your camera, take Bernie’s classes in September!

The 50 / 50 draw was won by Micheline Tanguay, who took home $36.00.

After the meeting, Bonnie Baker of Seaway Custom Framing provided quite a few brushes, mats and markers for everyone to take as samples. Thanks very much, Bonnie! Bonnie is also a new member to Focus Art. (Seaway Custom Frames is located at 14705 County Rd. 2, Ingleside. If you'd like Bonnie's telephone number, contact me.)

Next meeting will be held as usual at the Centre Charles-Emile Claude on Chevrier.

Below are several shots of the winners receiving their certificates and presenting their paintings to the group.

See you soon,

Deb










































Update on Family Art Day at the Park

Family Art Day @ the Park: Sunday July 26 1-4p.m.
to be held @ Lamoureux Park around the bandshell .

As the featured attraction, Focus Art Association members will be the main contributor for this new city event. It will be advertised in tourist literature, etc. Therefore, if we have enough artists who respond to this email invitation by May 18th , then Focus Art will approach the city coordinator for the go ahead. Possibly other groups could follow; The chess group has shown interest in participating.

Let's make ART visible again in Cornwall!

Artists are invited to set up their own individual space to interact with children with their given medium of choice. This is an interactive set-up not a display of art wares only. Each participating artist must comply to this venue to be engaged with the children visiting their set-up table. The same rules regarding vending apply here as @ the Square. No sales on the premises.

Please contact Charlene for further info or to sign up. *** Include your name and a brief description of your activity. If participation is/not satisfactory in numbers an email will be sent on May 21 following the executive meeting of May 20th.

*** If you don't have Charlene's address, contact Deb for it. It's not being posted here to save Charlene from being spammed.

Deb

Saturday, May 2, 2009

The Twelve Chosen

The results for the 12 chosen artworks to appear on the 2010 were supposed to be revealed at the May 6 meeting but the local newspaper, Standard Freeholder, wanted to publish them. Since we don't often get exposure from them, the names were released.

I have 12 very low quality shots that I've cropped from shots I took at the show. I'm warning you now that they are not good quality, but if you want great quality, buy the calendar! It'll be on sale in the fall. Cornwall Square has already agreed to let us set up a table and sell them in the mall.

If I can get small shots of each from the official photographer, I will replace these. (And to be fair, I did not include the shot I have on file of my own, but rather kept it as a cropped one - same as the others. Is that not noble or what???)
Congratulations to the 12 public-voter-chosen pieces of art. Actually, it's congratulations to everyone who exhibited - the walls were filled with very fine art! All of which was shown to a very many people!!

Here, in numerical order, are the calendar pieces;













































































































































































Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Cornwall Square Show

The Cornwall Square Show is coming together beautifully. I was there today to drop off my paintings and again tonight to make sure there were enough volunteers. It is looking great! Larger paintings and all formats are making for an even better show than the Calendar Show. (And I wouldn't have thought that possible!)

There is awesome work there! Go see it! Add your's to it if you haven't put anything in yet.

Volunteers are needed urgently. It's only four hours for each time slot and we're flexible. Let's not let this fade out (which is going to happen if we don't get more volunteers) - let's keep it alive. Members are urged to volunteer to make this a success!

During the Calendar Show, we had over 2,2o0 people go through. (More if you include the non-voters.) A few hours of volunteer time is a small price to pay for this kind of exposure to your work.

Contact D'Arcy and let him know when you are available. See your email box for the schedule.

I'll post pics tomorrow of the show.

Deb

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Another Show! Starting Immediately!

It is official, Cornwall Square loves us! The public’s response has been so positive that Focus Art has been invited to return to the same locale at Cornwall Square and exhibit from April 29th to May 9th.

This will be different from the first exhibit because it will not be limited to "landscape" format (as was needed for the Calendar). It will allow all our members to exhibit a broader range of work - anything, any format.

Until we know how many people can put something in (and you all should!), it is limited to 2 medium size paintings/works or 1 big painting/work. D'Arcy would like to see everyone put something in, especially the members that did not exhibit during the calendar show. It is also strongly suggested that you put in different work than was exhibited in the Calendar Show. This will make the show different and more interesting for guests coming back for more eye candy.

We plan to have some of our members actually working on their art at the Square, so the public can see our new artwork and we can show them what we can do. All members have another chance to really promote their work, so don't miss this opportunity!

This is a members only "Open" exhibit.

Deb (with excerpts from D'Arcy's group announcements)

Calendar Show Winner

In D'Arcy's words,

Focus Art is pleased to report on the overwhelming response from the public at our most recent exhibit held in the Cornwall Square. The "Public’s Choice" of the 12 best works of Focus Art’s members for our 2010 calendar brought in a total of 2,207 votes and we thank everyone sincerely for participating.

Mrs. Claire Lacroix, from Alexandria, was the winner of an original watercolour painting by Alan Bain. This was the first time we have opened this exhibit and choice of artworks to the public and we have received high praise and great encouragement for doing it.

We must share these accolades with the staff of Cornwall Square, without their support none of this would have been possible. We would like to thank: Chris Savard, General Manager, for authorizing the use of the space; Karen Burns, Marketing Director, for arranging all lease details and operations with personnel; Kim Villeneuve for administrative support and Mall Security for their assistance.

Following is a photo of (left) Alan Bain, artist of the watercolour, (centre) Claire Lacroix, winner of the watercolour and (right) D'Arcy Thorpe, president of Focus Art.
Deb


Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Calendar Show!

The Calendar Show is into its fourth day and is a very resounding success! If (as a member), you didn't put any artwork into the show show, you are missing a fantastic amount of exposure to the community!

Saturday was the first day open to the public and 454 ballots were filled in. Sunday's totals have been reported as 177 ballots. (I'll put Monday's totals here as soon as I receive them from D'Arcy.)

Speaking as one of the volunteers who worked Sunday, there was an incredible amount of people who enjoyed the display. Many didn't even know we had an art group in Cornwall and many didn't realize the display was all local talent. But everyone who voted enjoyed the process of chooosing their twelve favourites and helping to decide on the content of our next calendar. Rose, Adele, Bernie Lauzon, myself and Bernie Carriere (who graciously 'rolled up his sleeves' on-the-spot and filled in) all had a great time talking to so many people about art.

By allowing us the use of this large store, Cornwall Square has given us a great opportunity and we owe them many thanks!

Deb


Here's a few shots of the setup;