Hanging Art: Drudgery or Fun?

We're in the middle of a two-month show of our art at the Lighthouse ArtCenter. The Wellington Art Society is one of five artist groups that is displaying their art in the show called "Art of Association." Ten of our artists submitted art and were chosen for this show. When the day came to deliver our art, the Lighthouse asked us if we could stay and actually hang our art. Four of us carpooled up there, so after dropping off our art, we went out to lunch. By the time we got back to the Lighthouse, all the art had been propped against the walls where it should be hung. Well, that made it easy. So we got to work.

How Odd is Your Art?

There aren't that many co-op galleries in Palm Beach County -- why is that? One of the more well-known ones is Clay Glass Metal Stone Gallery in Lake Worth. Located on Lake Avenue downtown, this gallery offers space for 21 artists. What's really exciting about this gallery, is they focus on 3D art. Often the 3D artists get neglected in public displays since they generally focus on wall-hung art. The gallery has become a magnet for artistic souls every first and third Friday evening, when they hold a reception that is open to the public.

In addition to the art on display by the co-op artists, they also occasionally hold shows and attract other artists to display their work. Right now, we're in the middle of a show called "The Oddity of the Artist." How odd is your art? Well, Adrianne Hetherington, one of our artists, shows you just how odd. This piece is called "Chair with Points and Balls," and is for sale at $6,000. The gallery actually had to add a sign to it stating "Please Do No Sit." Really? People try to sit on this? (If you can't see in this photo, let me just tell you that yes, those are nails on that seat.) Adrianne actually won an award for this piece.

Wellington Community Center Art

For years we have display our members' art at the Wellington Community Center. On the main floor, you can see art in their Card Room. This is also the building where we hold our monthly meetings. By the way, we don't hold meetings in June, July, and August, so our next meeting will be Wednesday, September 12.

Here is the art that is on display in the Card Room right now.

Graffiti Comes to Wellington

In my last post, I told you about our end of the year dinner we held at Graffito Restaurant in Wellington. The restaurant has quite a few examples of graffiti art throughout the room. We decided to do our own art to bring and show off for the night. This was a stretch for our group. I'd venture to say that none of us had tried our hand at graffiti before. Some even admitted that they had to Google the word to see a definition and some examples. While we may not be ready for a public wall near you, we did challenge ourselves to try something new.

Suzanne Redmond brought this piece to honor our group.

A Fun Night Out at our Annual Dinner

On May 31, we gathered at Graffito Restaurant in Wellington to celebrate the end of a busy, but fun year. Suzanne Redmond, as she reflected on her last year as President, gave out awards and gifts of appreciation to many of our members.

The first award of the night was given to the members who have held a solo artist show at Whole Foods Market in Wellington. This show began just this year, and we have had a new artist every three months. These artists must apply for this show. They must be Wellington Art Society members, and be able to submit at least 12 paintings for display. The minimum size is 16" x 20", and since some of the spaces are large, 2 - 3 paintings may fit together.

Suzanne gave framed photos as mementos to many of the members. Here she is on the right with Whole Foods artists Linda Rovolis, Kathy Morlock, and Joanne Baker MacLeod. (Nancy Tilles is not pictured.)

WAS Art at City Hall

We've had a long, great relationship with the City of Wellington. We were formed in Wellington over 30 years ago, and have had many art shows and public exhibits there. Our members have displayed their art in local buildings through their Art in Public Places program, and for the last few years, we've held an annual two-day art show at their outdoor Amphitheater. A year and a half ago, they opened up their new City Hall. We are pleased to announce that we now have an agreement with the City of Wellington to display our members' art in their new building. We hung the first show in April, and the art will remain for four months before we choose new art for a new rotation. On May 22, we had a small reception so the artists could see their work.

These first were done by Richard Halterman. They are digitally composed photographs that are printed on canvas. Each is 30" x 30". Left to right, they are: "On the Lam," "Slice of Life," and "Name that Tune."

Palms West Hospital Mural

To continue my update on our art that we've donated to Palms West Hospital in Loxahatchee, I'd like to show you photos of the mural that many of our members created in 2010. The mural still looks great, like it was just completed yesterday.

More Palms West Hospital Art

Recently, I wrote about the artwork that some of our members did for the Children's Cancer Infusion Room at Palms West Hospital. These donated works of art will remain in this room to cheer up the kids who receive chemotherapy for many hours at a time.

We've long had a great relationship with Palms West, and we've donated paintings in the past. While I was there to take photos of the art in the treatment room, I walked around and found a few more paintings in other areas. It seems we donated some other paintings before I even became a member of the Art Society. I think this was around 2008. The paintings still look great, and the hospital is taking good care of them. Here's a few of them:

This first one is by Arlene Brand.

Can You Step Out of Your Box?

Our May art challenge asked our members to "Step Out of the Box" and create a work of art interpreting that theme. As usual, a few of our members rose to the challenge and created some interesting art.

Jean Talbott worked with collage to make this piece.

Amazing Chalk Artist: Charlie Smith

For our final meeting before we break for the summer, we invited WAS member Charlie Smith to present us with his chalk artist demonstration that he puts to music.

Speaking of Scholarships

In my last post, I told you about the scholarships that we just awarded to four talented high school seniors. We've been awarding scholarships for a few years now, and every once in awhile, we hear about one of our past winners. Last year, we awarded a scholarship to Flannery Winchester, who was a student at Dreyfoos School of the Arts and is now attending Maryland Institute College of Art. Much to my surprise, while I was attending the Pace Art Show at the ArtsGarage in Delray Beach, I saw that Flannery's art was on display. Here are a few photos from the show.

Wellington Art Society Awards Scholarships

The Wellington Art Society recently awarded four scholarships to local high school seniors who wish to continue their art studies at college. The art society is in its 30^th year and we are thrilled to continue our mission of promoting art in Palm Beach County and supporting local students. We are an organization with over 80 members, both artists and art-lovers. Our talented members are painters, watercolorists, sculptors, photographers, jewelry designers, collage artists, wood turners, wood sculptors, chalk artists. We are constantly impressed by the talent displayed by high school students when they apply for our scholarships. We recently invited these students to our May membership meeting, and we met them and their parents. They each brought a few pieces of art to share.