SCULPERE NEWSLETTER March 2014Association of Sculptors of VictoriaABN 99 298 227 922

We cooperate as an association to advance the practice of sculpture and the reputation and appreciation of sculpture and sculptors in the community. This is regardless of whether or not we make a living from sculpture

and regardless of our preferred style or medium. To this end we support artists’ moral rights; we advocate a professional attitude to the production and presentation of work and encourage the artistic and intellectual

stimulation of interaction amongst artists of all persuasions.

President’s letterHi All,

What a success! The Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show Sculpture Exhibition was brilliant yet again due to the hard work and commitment of Mark Cowie. I am sure all the exhibiting sculptors join me in expressing our appreciation. Congratulations to all participating sculptors especially to those who won prizes and sold works. Well done.

At the moment the committee is going through a very difficult process of deciding whether to spend a considerable sum on the ASV website. I understand that there are many varying opinions about the purpose of the site and all members have varying degrees of understanding and perception of its application. We don’t want to make major decision such as this without being absolutely transparent so we are asking you to come to the next meeting to listen to our proposal, ask questions and have your say.

An explanation follows in this newsletter.

Happy Sculpting

Gillian Govan President

PS The high resolution images from the flower show will be available to purchase at $10.00 per sculpture. E: jennyrickards@sculptorsvictoria.asn.au

In this issueLetter from the President ............. ....1Dates for your Diary ........................... 1The March Meeting ............................ 1MIFGS 2014 ..................................... 1, 3The ASV website ................................. 2Tweets and Alerts ............................... 2Melbourne Prize for Urban Sculpture 2014 .................................... 2ASV Annual Exhibition ..................... 2ASV Office bearers ........................ 4

Dates for Your DiaryASV meetings are being held in the Ashburton Baptist Church Meeting

Rooms, enter from the Marquis Street carpark Melway 60D9

• 5 April. A4Art Australia opens on Herring Island. See more:

www.herringislandfestival.org.au

• 9 April We often skip the monthly meeting in April. However it is worth running this year so that we can give a report on the progress (and the lack of progress) on our website - bring all your questions and comments - we will attempt to explain what we have been up to in all this time and where we hope to be by the time the 2014 Annual Exhibition is held

• 14 May - watch this space it will be amazing!

The March MeetingJust a small group gathered at Ashburton for the monthly meeting but it was interesting and informative and good to meet new members.

Gillian Govan read a short review of the last executive meeting informing members of our comfortable financial status, Membership was discussed with the membership secretary, and progress with the website and the Annual exhibition was reported followed by vigorous discussion on sponsorship and prize money, funding the website and publicity for the ASV in general and the Annual exhibition in particular.

Most of the members present brought along some work or photographs of work finished or in progress. There were also some useful and interesting hints and tips exchanged.

Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show 2014Mark Cowie puts in an amazing effort organising MIFGS - we think we are tired just getting our work up to scratch and into the exhibiton - but we don’t know the half of it! Here is Mark’s latest email to exhibitors - just as a demonstration of his professional attitude to caring for our work.“I would like to thank you all for being a part of a most successful exhibition, which just happens to be Australia’s second largest outdoor sculpture exhibition. The level of interest displayed by the tens of thousands of viewers of the 90 sculptures was extraordinary. At the close of the exhibition almost 25% (22) of all works had been sold, creating sales of over $25,000...............

The level of interest in the exhibition resulted in more than 8,800 votes for the People’s Choice Award being lodged over the five days, which was an excellent effort given some of the inclement weather early in the week and some spaces in the sitting roster. The extent and spread of the voting across the entire range of sculptures is testimony to the level of engagement you created for the viewers.

I am pleased to announce the recipient of this year’s $500 People’s Choice Award – sponsored by the

Mark at th

e end of th

e show

◊@ArtsLawOz’snewsletterisnowfree! Check out http://www.artslaw.com.au/news/

◊thegraceperiodforthePersonalProperty Securties Register finished on 31 January for more information check http://www.ppsr.gov.au

◊LorneSculptureFestivalsentthislink via their Twitter feed http://www.abc.net.au/arts/stories/s3960294.htm

◊NotethattheASVisnowTweeting from @Sculptors_Vic and we have a Facebook page - the link to which will be forthcoming shortly. During the Flower Show we gained a number of followers to our feed with links to our news page articles and images sent from the site.

◊newsofaSydneyforeshoreexhibition here http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-09/sculpture-at-sawmillers-opens-on-sydney-foreshore/5308334

◊Illuminationisthedefiningelement of #LakeLightSculpture #Easter #Jindabyne https://twitter.com/LakeLightSculpt/status/442859435946303488/photo/1

Expressions of Interest are now open for the

Melbourne Prize for Urban Sculpture 2014.

more information can be found at www.melbourneprize.org - registration of interest now open - for Victorian residents only.

Tweets and Alerts

The Annual and Awards Exhibition 2014

23 August to 13 SeptemberThe Annual and Awards Exhibition 2014 will be at 120 Collins St (St Michael’s Church) we need coordinator&committee.Novenuehire charge & no commission except for the ASV. Opening on the Friday following setup.

The ASV WebsiteAll arts groups and not-for-profits spend energy defining what they want from a website and how to achieve it. We have been doing this since 1998.

The website is our main permanent asset. We do not maintain premises – when our exhibitions are over we would cease to exist in the public eye. We would have nothing but catalogues (with no images) to show potential sponsors and donors and nothing to indicate to prospective members what sort of work they might consider exhibiting in our shows. We would suffer even more from corporate amnesia.

The proposal for the 2003 website was that the database could be constructed (custom built as there were no modular systems around at the time) that would link exhibition records to individual sculptor records and thus automatically update sculptor profile pages as exhibitions were recorded. This removed any need for sculptors to invest in pages constructed for them on the ASV website. So the initial group of $100 contributors are the only ones who made extra contributions to the site – the rest of the sculptors are recorded on the site on the automatic system and any more individual recording is done on their personal sites to which we now include a link.

The site was designed such that whilst exhibition records were always intact sculptor profile pages were only visible if a sculptor was a financial member. The principle of the site worked well for us but the content management script became increasingly more difficult with time.

We were advised that website designers would prefer to start again building a new site rather than fix up someone else’s work. The recommendations I received from Paula at Paradigm4 were that we should seek a large company so that we would have continuity of service even if one person dropped out, and that translation to a modular system (such as Joomla) would cost a bit but make the long term management of the site easier. She also suggested we might be paying around $10,000 for a redesign and data transfer. The committee fainted and then “shot the messenger”. As it turns out we have spent around $8,000 and not got a site that works for us.

So, since our current website designer is unable to continue with us we have been interviewing another designer recommended as able to handle the work. And we are up against the level of shock at the cost of work. What we are planning is a system that not only records exhibitions but also maintains records of sculptors’ contributions to those exhibitions – a simple cross referencing that, once it is in place, will be simple to manage. Consider it as the ASV record of exhibitions and sculptor profile pages at $100 to $150 per sculptor – a flexible system that should be easy to maintain and also easy to update as the Expression Engine system evolves.

At this point, as Gillian put it in her president’s letter, we need to bring the membership up to date and to improve the transparency of the process - so members are invited to attend the meeting of April 9 at the Ashburton Meeting Rooms.

Do we want a website? We said yes in 1998

↓Should the website record both exhibitions and sculptor profile

pages?

No–thenwhatdo you want?

Yes – then get on with it

We have spent far too much time stuck over making decisions on the website and this means that we are unable to move on with any other project. And our “publicity capital” is declining as the website fails to provide the records of a dynamic and active organisation.

If you are planning to attend the meeting please contact Gillian Govan or Jenny Rickards regarding receiving further more detailed documentation so that you are better informed.

Jenny RickardsASV Website Contact

International Management Group ‑ is Alastair Mason for his work, ‘Chook Chaser’. Congratulations Alastair. ....Completing the top five people’s choices were: Pimpisa Tinpalit’s ‘The Strangers #1’, Todd Stuart’s ‘Shhh ... Don’t Tell Anyone’, Lawrence Marshall’s ‘Wake‑up Call’ and Nicole Allen’s

‘Off The Face Of It’.

As I have previously commented, the diversity of your individual expression and the collective creativity of the exhibition have been inspiring and an absolute pleasure to curate. I have thoroughly enjoyed the spirit and energy that has been generated while interacting with you all.

I wish you every success in your sculptural practice and creative pursuits over the forthcoming year and the Association looks forward to your continued support of and participation in the ASV MIFGS Sculpture Exhibition in 2015.”

The Prize Presentation went well. Instead of a red carpet the sculptors graced the plastic temporary footpath of the Central Boulevard of the Carlton Gardens. The mood was happy as would be expected of a well received exhibiton - we had made 9 sales by the close of business of the first day of the exhibition. The guest viewing of the exhibition took place after 4pm on Wednesday 26th March at the Gardens and then we all moved on to the East Imperial Restaurant to celebrate and to hear our Judge, Rod Sanders give his verdict on the prizes.

The exhibition is in three sections:

Carved Work - work in marble, timber, limestone and alabaster was shown. Carving generally takes the longest and is a more difficult skill - and this is reflected in the fact that there are twelve works in the section.

Our judge’s choice here was for First Prize Jenny Whiteside’s “Amber” - a work in alabaster

Second in this section Rod placed Carmel Ritchie’s limestone work “Flowers”

One Highly Commended award was given for this section to Kevin Free for his limestone work “Torso”

The second section is devoted to formed work where the sculpture is modelled in a softer material and then fired or cast or coated as the material requires. There is a huge range of work shown from bronze to mosaic with a similar diversity of techniques and ideas.

First prize in this section was given to Aleida Wright for her “Musicians” - a work in raku fired clay. As a musician himself Rod was interested to know what these three would be

playing next.

Second prize went to Kay Steventon for her fairy tale “The Frog Prince”

again a unique work in raku fired clay.

There were two Highly Commended awards made in this section: Todd Stuart’s “Shhh.... Don’t Tell Anyone” and silicone bronze and stainless steel and Graham Duell’s “Elder” in fired terracotta clay.

The third section is devoted to assembled or fabricated work - here the artist can indulge in scale at a price unobtainable

in other techniques - and can incorporate recycled materials and found objects to their heart’s content.

First Prize in this section went to Mark Cowie for his “Somewhere Out in the Universe”. This work is made from mild steel and red gum.

Second Prize was awarded to Todd Stuart for his polished stainless steel “Organic Pebble”.

Rod Sanders awarded three High Commendations in this section:

to Lawrence Marshall for his cutlery “Wake Up Call”, to Alastair Mason for his recycled metal work “Chook Chaser” and to Rudi Jass for his Cosmos #2 in Corten and stainless steel.

Acknowledgements are owed to our curator Mark Cowie, to the support of IMG - the organisers of the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, the

committee of the Association of Sculptors of Victoria and the volunteers who worked to make it happen, to Bulleen Art and Garden who sponsor prizes and have this year and for the past few years supported the demonstration events and the People’s Choice Award. Also Art Services for sponsoring prize money and the presentation event. This year we employed a professional photographer - who supplied images of the show which will be posted on the main ASV website shortly.

Alastair Mason “Chook Chaser”

Jenny Whiteside “Amber”

Carmel Ritchie “Flowers”

Aleida Wright “Musicians”

Kay Steventon “The Frog Prince”

Mark Cowie “Somewhere Out in the Universe”

Todd Stuart “Organic Pebble”

Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show 2014 continued from page 1

ASV Committee

President

Gillian Govan 9579 1221

Vice President

Michael Meszaros

bh 9853 9610

Treasurer

John Ride 9499 2928

Secretary and Public Officer

John Bishop 9885 2660

Committee Members

Geoff Williams bh 9670 0824

Carmel Ritchie

ASV Coordinators

Monthly Activities:

Position vacant - can you help?

Membership:

Robert Kendi

membership@sculptorsvictoria.asn.au

Web Site Contact and Newsletter:

Jenny Rickards 9836 2738

Exhibitions:

Kinross Art Centre:

Monica Mauer Jan 9723 9072

Bronwyn Culshaw

Herring Island:

Jenny Rickards 9836 2738

MIFGS:

Mark Cowie 5348 5696

Tesselaar Sculpture Prize:

Mark Cowie 5348 5696

Publicity:

Ken Free

publicity@sculptorsvictoria.asn.au

Interstate Sculpture GroupsNewSouthWaleswww.sculptorssociety.com

Queensland www.sculptorsqld.org.au

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Montalto Sculpture Prize 2014The exhibition will be open daily until 27 April 2014.

2014FINALISTS:JamesParrett•JanLearmonth•SendenBlackwood•JonathanLeahey•PhilipCooper•BenCarroll•CathieAlexander•RichardTipping•AdamStone•AndrewBryant•RohSingh•TheWingedCollective•DonBarrett•IanBracegirdle•MarcusTatton•FrankVeldze/SuzanneDonisthorpe•PhilPrice•RobertHague•RalphDriessen•JoannaRhodes•PatrickDelbosc•TerryBatt•GregJohns

Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2014 Call for artist submissions now open!

We are pleased to write to you introducing the 18th annual Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi in Sydney, Australia, which is being held from 23 October - 9November2014.Lastyearanestimated500,000peopleattendedthe

exhibition over 18 days and 20% of the outdoor works sold.As we begin the call for artist submissions for our 2014 Bondi exhibition, we are writing with the hope that will be able to inform your contacts, members

and/or students about the exhibition.For more information and to apply, please download our Application Form

and Terms & Conditions. These documents can also be downloaded from our website: www.sculpturebythesea.com

Please note that the deadline for all submissions is 6pm, Thursday 1 May 2014.

And this one really is worth a look!http://www.artshub.com.au/news-article/bits-and-blogs/design/weaving-

sculpture-in-the-sky-198528

Gillian’s exhibition commences April 2nd, with Paintings displayed for 1 month and Sculptures for 2 months. Commission will be donated to Cancer Council Victoria to support Breast Cancer and Prostate Cancer. A meet the

artist afternoon will be held on Sunday 13th April 2-5pm