Cambridge Art Society president Lynn Waters won Best Dry Media for her painting, ‘The Kea’s Spectacular Plumage’.
This month’s Art Alive Expo mounted by the Cambridge Society of Arts saw several of the society’s 90 members exhibiting for the first time.
Glenda Davis won both the Supreme Award, and the Best Oil Painting for her work entitled Land Lady. Photo: Viv Posselt
Jenny Cave won Best Watercolour for her painting of ‘Westport Beach’.
The exhibition was held across three days in the Cambridge Town Hall.
Society president Lynn Waters said she was very proud of the quality of work in the display and grateful for the support given by Cambridge. She said while sales were down slightly on previous years, members generally find the event inspires them on their journey as artists.
Judging the exhibition was Waikato Society of Arts’ artist Caroline Peacocke, who described her task as an honour and a creative responsibility. She told those present at the opening night that she was used to having her own work judged and that she did not take the task lightly.
Exhibition judge Caroline Peacocke speaking to guests at the opening, pictured with, from left, Best 3D winner Leah Woutersen, Liz Stolwyk and Cambridge Arts Society president Lynn Waters.
Clive Gilson from Hamilton East’s Welcome Swallow Gallery speaking at the opening. He awarded the Welcome Swallow Choice Award to Joanna Holmes for her mixed media painting entitled ‘Interesting, he said’, and subsequently purchased it for his gallery. Photo: Viv Possselt
“The recognitions awarded may be a reflection of what appeals to me and be influenced by my background. Your opinion and what appeals to you may well be different,” she said, adding that those different tastes and perspectives are what means we don’t all end up fighting to buy the same work.
Also at the opening was Clive Gilson of Welcome Swallow Gallery in Hamilton East. He presented the Welcome Swallow Choice Award to Joanna Holmes for her mixed media work entitled ‘Interesting, he said’, and went on to purchase it for his gallery.
Liz Stolwyk, a longtime supporter of the town’s art scene, opened the exhibition in what was her last official function as Waipā deputy mayor. She praised the Cambridge Arts Society’s input to the town from the time it started in the early 1960s and said this was a particularly meaningful exhibition because of the number of first-time exhibitors involved.
“There are pieces here done by people whom I know but had no idea they were artists,” she said.
The categories presented were oil/acrylic, dry media, mixed media, watercolour and 3D.
Glenda Davis’ painting ‘Land Lady’ won both the Supreme Award, and the Best Oil Painting.
Other winners were: Best Watercolour – Jenny Cave for Westport Beach, Best Dry Media – Lynn Waters with The Kea’s Spectacular Plumage, Best Mixed Media – Annette May Wright for Circus, Best 3D -Leah Woutersen for The Happy Couple, Best Acrylic Painting – Noleen Sommerville for Tuesday’s Child and Hot Shots Printmaking Award – Diana Clark for Joan of Arc Statue – Paris.
Noleen Sommerville with ‘Tuesday’s Child’, which won Best Acrylic Painting and a Hot Shots Award.
Joanna Holmes
Cambridge Art Society president Lynn Waters won Best Dry Media for her painting, The Kea’s Spectacular Plumage. Photo: Viv Posselt
