The Rotary Club of Castlemaine’s 34th annual Art Show Exhibition and Sale drew fantastic crowds over the long weekend.
This year there were over 450 exhibits displayed by 140 artists and in a fantastic result for our local artists 76 pieces sold totalling more than $31,000.
The show was officially opened with a sparkling evening last Thursday night at the Town Hall where the winners of the various categories were announced.
It may have been cold outside but the atmosphere inside was warm and the food bountiful.
Art Show judges Naomi Cass and David Frazer have did an amazing job selecting winners from such a talented field.
Rotary Castlemaine president Grant Thomas thanked the judges, art show coordinators Robert Cordy and Judy Kinnersley, curator Catherine Tait, all the volunteers and of course their generous sponsors which helped to make the event a success.
Winners were as follows:
Major Art Prize 2D (Belle Property) $1500 – Les Thornton, ‘Castlemaine Health’.
Best 3D Work (Belle Property) $500 – Beverley Tyack, ‘Jewellery Tree-Gold’.
Best Oil or Acrylic 2D (Pyrenees Quarry) $250 – Karen Holland, ‘Hanging in There’.
Best Water Colour 2D (Gunangara) $250 – John Lam, ‘Morning Light’.
Best Photographic Work (Maltby Property) $250 – Andy Idrans, ‘Chaos and Calm’.
Best Work on Paper (Castlemaine Office Supplies) $250 – Leah Mow-Yoffee, ‘Little Raven Sings Under the Silver Wattle’.
Across the weekend visitors to the exhibition were invited to cast a vote for the People’s Choice proudly sponsored by Parson’s Motor and Body Shop ($150). The winner was Adam Weston for his magnificent eagle which stood in pride of place near the Town Hall stage.
Adam said he was really delighted with the response to his work.
“This particular piece took around 150 hours to complete. I was thrilled with the reaction it received and delighted it sold,” he said.
The local artist works as a security guard and said his artistic pursuits began tinkering in the shed where his business ‘Ambience of Nature’ Sculptures was born.
“It has been slowly building through word of mouth, but it was great to receive this wider recognition,” he said.
The popular annual raffle was also drawn Monday. The winners were 1st Anita Cappy, 2nd Lachie Fortune, 3rd Cassandra Davey and 4th Matthew Driscoll.
The club thanks all the artists for their support and all those who turned out to enjoy the incredible talent on show across the weekend.
As a Rotary Project, all staff were volunteers but there were some expenses, so the final fundraising tally from entry fees and the raffle is still being finalised.
