Art Group ready for their 2012 exhibition

December 28th, 2011

The annual three-week exhibition of the Motueka Art Group will open at the Chanel Art Centre on Tuesday January 3rd, offering another wide range of paintings and other works my local amateur and professional artists.

The event which has now been running for 20 years has proved popular with Motuekans and visitors alike. Viewers can not only browse the works but also purchase paintings for prices ranging from tens of dollars upward. All paintings are produced by members of the Motueka Art Group.

The group began way back in about 1968 when Joyce McMurtry began teaching students during the day at Plein Air Sessions rather than during evenings at the High School. During the next 18 years she probably taught in excess of 800 students. Some of these are still members of the group! During this time the exhibition idea was born. Originally she was the main focus of the exhibition but as her students improved, they too exhibited their art.

The Anglican Church was a venue for some time but then along came the opportunity to use "the Stone Church". The Chanel Arts Centre is now home to the Music Society and the present day Art Group is indebted to their generosity in allowing us to use the building to hold the Annual Art Group Exhibition.

This takes place in January each year for about 3-4 weeks. (Read our report of last year's exhibition.) The Group has about 45 members and most have work they can exhibit and sell. Usually there are about 200 paintings of which about 40% may sell during the period of the exhibition.

The day before the exhibition is open to the public the works are all hung and in the evening there is a preview for invited guests, family and friends. This coming year David Armstrong is the guest speaker at the opening of the exhibition.

The opening will be held on Tuesday 3rd January at 7pm and the group cordially invites anyone interested to come along and share a drink and light refreshments, take the opportunity to view the art and buy a raffle ticket to win some wine or a voucher towards a painting.

One of the event's organisers, Marian Painter, says the Art Group wishes every Motueka Online browser Season's Greetings.

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