WHERE ARTISTS MAKE THE MOST MONEY

Where do artists make the most money? Where do artists sell out? Where was there over a million in sales in 11 days?? Surprise!!! THE CALGARY STAMPEDE!

Our first stop was the WESTERN ART SHOW halls D and E BMO Center.

Take a look at these booths.Wonderful art and displays! We visited on the last Thurs of the Art Show and found over $500,000 worth of art had already sold with 3 more days left. ( we added up the red dots and some booths didn't even display them so we asked!) Most artists were in the $15,000-20,000 range with the largest around $75,000.

We talked to many artists that usually had a representative stand in for them at art shows ( so they could stay home and paint), but came to the Stampede because of the the excitement and fun of meeting very dedicated art collectors. The art lovers were from all over Canada, US and many from central Europe.

 The booths were professional and each had it's own flavor. Many had chairs or couches with coffee tables to make it easy to see how the art would look in your home. Some artists shared booths to give an airy look, not to crowded. Everyone had exceptional lighting.

 The sculpture was beyond belief! We didn't add any sales of 3 dimensional art, so that $500,000 was only 'flat art' or paintings. There were many more 1,000's worth that sold in statues!!!

 The center was open and there was a wine bar. Unlike the Capital Ex it was open to all ages, not really even roped off. There were living statues, speed artists ( painting in less than 5 mins) a huge sand sculpture of galloping horse being done on location

Most works were representational, alot were horse, western scenery, historical native, wild animals, farm and ranch. BUT there were many unique variations- wood cut, collage, wild colors, semi abstracted or hyper realistic animals and scenery. Even photographs!!

 Yes the scenery is actually a painting....very well done!

 Almost finished Sand sculpture.
Next year is the 100th anniversary of the Calgary Stampede! I can hardly wait.

Children's Summer Art Camp/ Creativity

It is official...the first Art Camp of the summer is underway!
I love having time with creative little persons! They get so excited and truely are fearless.
It's also a great reason to get some painting done if I make it in early. This summer's theme is creativity...let's try something different! We will be glazing and doing palette knife paintings. I just started my first painting ( not practise) and lovng the results. If anything can loosen us up it will be painting with a knife! I'm mixing gel medium and molding paste together, then adding color. I'm collecting a basket full of utentsils to use to spread this super fast drying goop. Do you know of any really good palette knife painters???
I am also trying out a new camera- a Lumix from Panasonic...so far so good. NOW I have to go read the manual. It's online so my head may be nodding soon. I think I'm gonna love the 14x zoom......

KIDS ART MURAL!

.We had a hot sunny day, with lots of mosquitoes! BUT......what talented  young artists! We prepared a canvas for the kids to paint on and were one of five activities for Kidsday at Art in the Garden.
Ava and Sydney were our young volunteers and they were fantastic. Many thanks to Marg, Jeannette and Debbie for all the help.

Art in the Garden Display

Jeannette Sommers Artist in the Garden

Our set up

Pearl Der and Nolan Crouse, Mayor of St. Albert

Pearl Der and Lisa Harding

Opera in the Garden!! Madame Butterfly

Penny Frazier Creative Director

Fascinating Fascinator!!

ART EXPERIMENTS and YOUNG VOLUNTEERS!

Summer is sooo much fun...in the Adult classes we are going to try a bit of glazing and palette knife work!!
This afternoon I started a piece for practise and used only a palette knife to mix gel into some acrylic and paint!. The scene is the Italian coast with all the pastel building of stone. Perfect for the knife.
The Liquin Light is poured into small glass jars ready for the students....glazing is by far one of my most favorite techniques. Because glazing is so intuitive I will have to analyse what I do.  I hope it makes sense to everyone!
The Art in the Garden is still in full swing. Everyone is thankful for the sunny weather and hopefully there will be a mad rush of folks heading to First Choice Nursery. I 'll be back on Sat July 02 for the Kids Art Event. I have two adult volunteers (Marg O and Debbie) and two children- Ava, only 8!! and Sydney, 11 yrs old!! I am thanking their parents in advance...it is incredible to have such young persons start volunteering! Well done parents!! Well done kids!! ;D

Hidden Talent Fine Art School Students with Laura Watmough ~ Art in the ...

This is a wonderful testimonial video by Pearl Der, Jeannette Sommers and Lisa Harding, current artists at Hidden Talent. To tour our art studio please call Laura at 780-419-2055 I'd love to show you around and answer all your questions!

Jeanette Sommers ~ Hidden Talent Fine Art School ~ Art in the Garden 2011

Enjoy Jeannette Sommers 'automotive oils' as she pays tribute to the stories and memories of the automobile! Jeannette's artwork is available at Spot Light Gallery. For an appointment call 780-419-2055

Laura Watmough ~ Spot Light Gallery ~ Art in the Garden 2011

This is a one take, one edit tour of Spot Light Gallery and some of my artworks. These videos were made as part of the promotion for Art in the Garden Gala. this summer we are opened by appointment only. Call 780 419-2055 to book a unique art tour!

Pearl Der ~ Hidden Talent Fine Art School ~ Art in the Garden 2011

Enjoy Pearl Der's wonderful art! Pearl will be participating in the 'ART IN THE GARDEN' Gala and Meet the Artists Day ( July 09). Art works are available at Spot Light Gallery, 780-419-2055.

Art Preview June 2011

This is a few of the incredible paintings that are being work on at Hidden Talent this spring. (Try as I might, I can not get them to line up!!) Hope you enjoy this preview...

FREE ART MATERIAL WORKSHOP AND SAMPLES!

Hidden Talent students at the free Winsor Newton art materials workshop

Hidden Talents newest workshop was a huge sucess! JIM BERGESEN direct from New York came to a packed house of over 50 students. Jim is a member of the WINSOR NEWTON ARTISTS OUTREACH PROGRAM and travelled to Alberta  to educate us about Winsor Newton products, color mixing, methods of application, mediums and other techniques. Many thanks to John at Delta Art for arranging this visit. ( There is a rumor that other art school actually charged $20-25 for this workshop.The workshop was worth it, but it's even better when it is FREE!)

At Hidden Talent we supply 'in class' oil paints for our students. The best student grade paint, hands down is Winton oils! Our studio palette is 18 colors.Sure, we could get by with alot less but the range of mixing is fantastic. Many students upgrade to the professional Winsor Newton oils with ease.
Other things we learned today: Loved the impasto (oleopasto) that makes paint thick and extends the color! Davy's grey is a great way to darken a color without losing to much chroma. There is a greenish black that is just beautiful that Joan discovered awhile ago. Bugs really do make a great color (carmine) and so does cow urine ( transparent yellow). Love the liquin light for glazing. All of us were gifted with two tubes of professional WN paint, an oil brush, colorchart, and white paint info. Jim, come back to Edmonton soon! We really enjoyed your wonderful humor and informative teaching style! Many thankto Marg O for the lovely tray of goodies....loved the sugar cookies!

SHARING THE PASSION FOR ART!

Anita Heit and Pearl Der brought their wonderful artistic skills and passion to Ecole Poburan for a special 'CELEBRATE THE ARTS' evening.( Thursday May 12, 2011)
Anita and Pearl arranged an impressive display in the library and had many students and parents come by and paint on a mural and ask questions about art and Hidden Talent Art School. Their own  fantastic artworks inspired and delighted all the parents and students. Thanks for sharing your time and artistic talent!

It is a wonderful thing to donate time and energy to show  and encourage others to give art a try! Congratulations to Jenny Benke, the organizer for a great turn out and impressive show of local talent.  Also performing was Lewis Lavoie ( one of our favorite artists!) who painted on location and donated the work for a charity auction.

ART FUND RAISING THE 'RIGHT' WAY

Hats off to the Allied Arts Council in Spruce Grove!
I gladly forked over (pun intended) $60 for tickets and $55 for a silent auction item....
They auctioned off DESSERTS made by the artists in their group ( those creative types can do marvelous things with icing!!!), auctioned off artwork done by dignitaries ( and mentored by club members) and DISPLAYED artworks for sale by the same club members..
They had a roast beef buffet in a large church hall that accommodated over 100 ft of desserts ( I counted the 8 ft tables! There were approx 75 desserts. The serving dishes were part of the dessert as well.)
The artists were celebrated as creative cooks, none of their artworks were 'on sale', people tried to outbid each other for many of the goodies ( some pies were priced over $75!!!) and it was a fun community based event with a few jokes headed the mayor's way.
All in all, the WORK  was done by the artists, but they never were humiliated or embarrassed into having their ART be the sacrificial goat for a fund raiser.
Come on people! There are tons of creative ways to have us part with our hard earned cash without having it hurt!! Don't make money on the backs of artists! Make money using our creative skills!!

HOW TO RAISE FUNDS THE WRONG WAY!!!

How do you raise money for non profit artists groups or galleries without doing it on the backs of artists?Most artists don't make the financial news so to ask them to donate their paintings is a bit like asking them if they want to hurt now or later.I have avoided particiaping in our local art auction because it is an embarrassing and publically humiliating situation to have to sell my art works for a fraction of what they were worth and previously shown. The art work is a 100% donation. I was suppose to be happy with a ticket to the event! It was terrible to sit there and wonder if my art would reach it's real value or be so undersold I really didn't want to meet the purchaser. I was supposed to be happy with the publicity! but it was not good publicity.
WELLLLL, the result was that I have had patrons who told me that they hoped this particular painting would be in next years auction so they could get it cheap!!! Needless to say I didn't participate again!! I was ruining my reputation, my value and making my art a cheap bargain! and all for a 'good cause'!!
There were repercussions of course: cultural bigwigs would not give me the time of day because I was not donating, and I probably will not be considered for certain events/ exhibitions because of my perceived lack of local support.
I have no problem with raising funds for my local art auction/public gallery. It's just that they took the artists out of the equation and relegated us to 'source of funds'. How sad to raise money for the awareness of art/art programs by sacrificing the artist.A fund raiser should not be an event to get art at bargain prices...in fact, real true benefactors would be willing to pay MORE than the worth of the art to gladly give to the charity. One side is 'what's in it for me?', the other is 'what can I give back to my community?'NEXT: HOW TO FUNDRAISE THE RIGHT WAY