Splash® + Ceramicus 2019

Saturday 2 November - Sun 17 November 2019, open 10 - 5 daily
The NZ Academy of Fine Arts, 1 Queens Wharf, Wellington

• SPLASH AWARDS
• MIN KIM GUEST ARTIST
• SHARING THE GALLERY
• VISITORS' COMMENTS

From the Committee

After Kimbra Taylor’s popular and successful Watercolour Portraits workshop, the focus became Splash + Ceramicus 2019, our joint exhibition with the Wellington Potters’ Association where over 300 watercolours and 130 ceramic pieces were on show.

This year we had less time to set the exhibition up but a solid effort from the team, aided by two hangers provided by the Academy, resulted in our having the show hung in two days, ready for the opening – a most enjoyable evening of art, music, food and wine.

Guest artist Min Kim’s vibrant, colourful paintings provided a stunning centrepiece. Min’s demonstration on the first Saturday of the show attracted a large, appreciative audience.

Several of our regular visitors declared that the standard was the highest yet. A number of artists were exhibiting with us for the first time, notable among them Don McAra, Vicky Wang, Bianca Scrimgeour, Susie Millichamp, Kasia Wiercinska, Raewyn Harris, young Christchurch artist Caroline Kelly, who took out one of the five Merit Awards, and Emily Bergman, who won the award for Best Painting by a Junior Artist.

The combination of watercolours and ceramics again proved a popular drawcard. Splash + Ceramicus has firmly established itself as one of the highlights of the Wellington Visual Arts Calendar. As usual, the show was very well attended, attracting 4,000 visitors over its 16 day season. At a time when people have commented that the art market is difficult we managed to sell 67 paintings with a total value of $38,928 – a very successful outcome.

Thanks are due to you, the artists – we hope you will continue to send us your best work; to Alfred Memelink and Inga Clemens for their work on publicity; to Sue Wild for organising the troops; to members who travelled to Wellington to help our hard-working team of locals: Bernadette and Chris Parsons from Mercer who helped with layout and hanging, Judy Prictor from Rotorua who took a turn minding, Michael and Judy Barker from Te Aroha and Pete James from Blenheim who toiled on courier packing, and to all those others who volunteered their services to assist with the set up and pack out, demonstrating and minding. We’re grateful for your help – we couldn’t do it without you.

Committee, Watercolour New Zealand Inc.

VIEW a small selection of over 300 paintings from the SPLASH-2019.

AWARDS

Supreme Award Winner

"The Salt Marsh Meadow and Mont Saint Michel" by Roger Daniell

Read more about the painting

We are delighted that Roger has won this award. He was president of the society from 1991–93 when it was the Wellington Society of Watercolour Artists. He has contributed paintings to the Splash exhibition each year.

Congratulations, Roger!

Merit Awards

• The Letter by Caroline Kelly
• Karamea Lagoon by Adrienne Pavelka
• A Man and His Cat by Jacky Pearson
• Tui Resonance by Kimbra Taylor
• Wild Things by Michael Barker

People Choice Awards

The French Art Shop has once again been very generous in supporting this award. A total of 1076 visitors completed voting slips. Thanks to John Toft for taking the time to count the votes. Children, as well as adults, take pleasure in deciding which two paintings they like best. This makes the award especially important. Artists pay attention to the subjects and styles of the works chosen by the people.

• The Letter by Caroline Kelly (83 votes) – featured in the merit awards.
• A Hint of the Hive by Dianne Taylor (61 votes)
• A Man and His Cat by Jacky Pearson (55 votes) – featured in the merit awards.
• Karamea Lagoon by Adrienne Pavelka (50 votes) – featured in the merit awards.
• Tui Resonance by Kimbra Taylor (50 votes) – featured in the merit awards.

The Gordon Harris Award For Innovation in Watercolour

Red Sail by Gordon Knight

Patron’s Awards For Small Works

• Poppy by Pavithra Devadatta
• Bev Painted Earnestly by Jane Smith
• Ice Cream Sundae City by Kit Ong

Gordon Harris Award For Best Painting by a Junior Artist (Under 18 years)

Dutch Sunset by Emily Bergman

DEMONSTRATIONS:

Sat Nov 2 - Min Kim

Sun Nov 3 - Adrienne Pavelka

Sat Nov 9 - Phil Dickson

Sun Nov 10 - Vivian Manthel-French

Sat Nov 16 - Helen Wilson and John McDonnell

Sun Nov 17 - Jacky Pearson

Min Kim - Guest Artist for Splash 2019

Min Kim, Guest Artist for Splash 2019

Min was born in 1971 in South Korea, the daughter of painter Kevin Kim. From early childhood she drew and painted, then studied at the Jung Ang Fine Art University. She next worked as an interior designer and illustrator in South Korea.

Min first visited New Zealand in 1998 as a backpacker. She spent 45 days travelling from Cape Reinga to Dunedin, fell in love with the country and decided to immigrate. Min settled in Christchurch in 1999 and became a full-time artist.

In 2007, Min moved to Italy to further her art studies in Florence, where she lived and studied for 3 years. Her time in Italy, experiencing its historical wealth, vibrant colours and unique atmosphere touched her deeply.

Min has won a number of awards for her work including second prize in 2007 in the Salon International (USA) Art Awards where she was also a finalist in 2008–2012. She won the French Art Shop People’s Choice Award in Splash 2013 and the Watercolour New Zealand Supreme Award in 2018.

Min is the owner of Christchurch’s Bryce Gallery. She has two passions, painting and travelling, which she has combined for most of her professional life as an artist.

Min Kim has been a wonderful guest artist for Splash 2019. She sent a display of ten paintings which made such an inviting spectacle that people passing the Gallery were drawn in to investigate. The subjects varied: birds, musicians, Italian scenes and more, all in glorious colours. Here, we follow her painting demonstration before an engrossed crowd.

Min Kim describes her technique: “I have visited Wellington many times for exhibitions and workshops. Whenever
I am reminded of Wellington, I think of this building first. This Victorian style building, Old Bank Arcade, always holds my attention. In this painting I tried to capture the vibrant energy of Wellington through active brush work and fresh colours.

Working on an easel helps coordinate the movement of my paint and the time it takes each layer to dry. I use wet-into-wet paint application and dry brush strokes however a lot of work is done at a point somewhere in-between. I try to not move the paint too much once I have placed it onto the paper as this looks the brightest once dry. Another method I use is lifting the paint out with a brush or rag in areas for a softer glowing effect. This often helps highlights and focal points in the painting.

I use the brand Migello Gold and Shinhan Watercolor from South Korea which I have used since I studied art from a young age. This brand is special to my paintings as I feel they are strongly pigmented giving my paintings a recognizable depth of colour. I favour complementary colours and variety in tone to help make compositions pleasing to the eye. I have painted since I was 5 years old, learning from my father who was a professional artist. So … my watercolour love has spanned more than 35 years. I enjoy my mistakes more now and look forward to happy accidents in painting rather than worry or plan.”

Thank you Min, we all enjoyed having you at Splash.

Sharing The Gallery

By Sue Wild

Splash and Ceramicus share the beautiful Academy Gallery. Splash, the exhibition of watercolours, cohabits with Ceramicus, the exhibition of ceramic arts by Wellington Potters’ Association. It’s a perfect partnership. Each enhances the other. Each would be lost without the other. Visitors have double the visual pleasure. The two societies share the rental of the venue. We share a sales table at the exhibition entrance and our minders enjoy chatting about their disciplines and media.
And so, I was party to an unusual sale.

A Ceramicus Tale

A slender stylish young woman wished to make a purchase. I followed her down the gallery to find it was a ceramic that had caught her eye – a lovely table light in human body shape. The creator, Karla Marie, happened to be there to make the sale herself. The buyer was taking the piece overseas. She explained that she is
Ukranian, living in Bahrain. Then, much to our delight, we discovered that she is world champion belly dancer, Kataryna Siham with 12,700 followers on Instagram. As well as the purchase, Kataryna suggested that Karla might create a similar piece based on her dancing body shape.

Karla splits the body shape in half to highlight the potter’s hollowing-out process which reduces the likelihood of breakage during firing. The joiners are sterling silver jewellers’ wire. An LED light is recessed into the New Zealand native pine stand. Congratulations on your international sale, Karla.

The Technique of a Master

Phil Dickson has been a revered artist member of Watercolour New Zealand “for ever”. He is always in the first echelon of workers for an exhibition set-up, demonstrates his painting style during the show, takes a slot or three on the minding roster and is there on pack-down day working with the team. For Splash 2019, he developed a new appliance of the sort that only a master can invent. You may think removing the hanging nails is simple, but there are specific requirements aimed at minimising damage to the wall and the remediation effort: the nails must be removed at the angle they were nailed in; there should be no hammer dents; nails should not fall on the floor where they will damage the surface under foot traffic. Phil invented an all-in-one solution, pictured here. He may be applying for a patent.

Some comments from the visitors

~"Splash was just amazing! Thanks for organising and running such a professional and beautiful show, I have been several times this year. The standard is so high and there is such variety on offer. Watercolour NZ are amazing and I will definitely be coming back next year, hopefully entering something, if I can!!!" Rob James
~ Fabulous!
~ "This exhibition celebrates the BEST in watercolour painting i.e a display of the media in all its glory within the context of contemporary and more traditional art. Many thanks!" Mary Atkinson
~What a great event! a great reason to return to your beautiful country.( Chris Hobel, Australia)
~"Amazingly realistic! I saw this watercolours at Splash exhibition 2019 and couldn't believe my eyes, it was stunning. It would have been easier for me to believe if it were a photo or even an an oil painting but a watercolour.....wow!" Jones Das about "The Onions" by Svetlana Orinko
~"My favourite Dianne Taylor - I loved the moment you captured." Nicci
~"Stunning Adrienne Pavelka as always" Christine Toner
~ Appreciate being able to see the opening. All credit to those who set out the hanging of the paintings. Outstanding!! Sue Currie

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Preparing for the Splash

Grumpy Old Organisers

Because of the timing of this year’s show – the set up takes place immediately after an exhibition which closes on the Monday of Labour Weekend – we will have less time to complete the layout
and hang the paintings. Consequently your entry form must include the titles of your paintings and their prices. “To be announced” is not acceptable. Completing the layout, hanging and cataloguing is a stressful undertaking, performed under tight time constraints. It is your responsibility to get yourself organised ahead of time to make our job as easy as possible. Don’t leave it till the last minute. Be warned: we will not be altering titles or changing prices. You need to get it right on your entry form.

Layout of the show is a major task, designed to attract viewers to each and every area of the gallery, with special attractions being placed accordingly. The layout team places paintings by subject, colour, style, size and sometimes framing. Each year we hear a few artists grumbling that their paintings aren’t hung in the prime position they feel they deserve. It’s worth noting that often these paintings, or ones alongside them, end up selling. Sales happen in all corners.

Small Paintings

These proved popular with buyers last year. In an effort to make things easier to understand, this year there is a maximum frame size for small paintings of 8” x 10” (20 x 25cm). This is a standard frame size. Ready-made frames in this size are sold by retail chains (eg. Briscoes). However, these ready-made frames usually come with a hardboard backing board, which is not acid free.

You must replace this with acid free foam board, available from most art supply shops. It is one of the terms and conditions of the exhibition that work is to be framed to a professional standard.
You owe it to potential purchasers of your paintings to offer them a work that will not deteriorate over time.

Advice on framing and courier boxes

See the article on framing and more instructions on frames, mounts and backing.

Each year the volunteer team has to cope with inadequate, crumbling courier boxes. Buy a box suitable for transporting paintings – Google it! – or make your own (see article by Sue Wild on How to build your own courier box).

Copyright

You cannot submit a painting that is a copy of another artist’s work.

Watercolour New Zealand offers a smorgasbord of classes. Our members learn and paint during our classes and at workshops run by other organisations. So, what can be submitted for exhibition?
The entry states: “Work must be original. No reproduction or art class work is accepted.” So, you should not submit a painting that you have done which follows a tutor‘s demonstration, whether you paint it in class or at home. This includes paintings that are modified versions of the tutor‘s original. That particular work is copyright to the tutor, who may intend to use it for a finished gallery work. Nor can you submit a painting which has been done copying an online tutorial. You can, and of course should, take the techniques and style that you have learnt and use your own sketches, photographs and composition to create an original painting. Sign and submit!

Please note also, paintings that are reproductions of professional photographs or artworks published in books and magazines will be disallowed by the selectors.

By the way, when you sell a painting, you do not automatically sell the copyright. The copyright remains yours unless you explicitly agree to relinquish it. However if you receive a commission
for a painting, the customer owns the copyright.

Volunteers needed

We depend on volunteers for all aspects of the exhibition. If you can help with any part of it: receiving, set up, hanging, minding or pack up then please get in touch with us. We look forward to seeing you at the show.

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Previous Splash® Exhibitions

Splash 2018 was held from 16 November to 1 December 2018 at The NZ Academy of Fine Arts Gallery