For My Artist Friends: 2018 Was A Good Year For You!

 

 found on Artist Quote of the Day Facebook page
 

This is the time of year when artists like to look back and recap all of their successes in both business and in paint that occurred in the previous twelve months. Rightly so, it's a hard gig and when things go well success is powerful motivation to continue. I have reflected and recapped on the blog in the past and I thought about doing it this year because it really was a pretty awesome year for me, but the catch is, I get tired of talking about myself. Offline and in my everyday life I am quite an introverted person. I push my shy limits daily in order to get my art out into the world.

As a result, I am fatigued. You could say, I am a bit Nicki'd out.

To combat this I decided to recap 2018 in a different way and I feel refreshingly proud and excited when I think about the things I am about to write, sooooo...

...here are some of the 2018 accomplishments and successes of my local friends and colleagues!

1) My studio roommate, Bridget Aitken, is now represented by Nouveau Gallery in Regina

2) Craig Berry is teaching classes for the Community Arts program at the University of Saskatchewan (lucky students!)

3) Four of my friends in the painting group Men Who Paint ( Cam Forrester, Ken Van Rees, Paul Trottier and Greg Hargarten) went on an epic plein air painting trip to Germany culminating in a month-long exhibition of their work at the Kuntsmuseum in Schwaan, Germany! (fifth member of the group, Roger Trottier, was unable to go)

4) Michaela Hoppe secured a month long art residency (KIRA) in St. Andrews, New Brunswick (read about it here)

5) Kathy Bradshaw received The Mayor's Prize and Best In Show for her mixed media piece "I Once Roamed This Land" at the Mann Gallery 42nd Annual Winter Festival Art Show and Sale.

6) Jane Harington is now represented by Art Placement in Saskatoon

7) Paige Mortensen launched her online course "Introduction To Watercolour Batik"

8) James Clow submitted his painting, "Arizona Sun King", to the prestigious and internationally renowned Birds In Art exhibition at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wisconsin. It was accepted (obviously- it's awesome) and the museum bought it for their permanent collection! Read more about it here.

9) Monika Kinner-Whalen was published in a juried book "Depth/Tiefe" by the Swiss Hand Embroiders' Guild and also participated in the fourth episode of the Citizens of Craft podcast series.

10) Jacqueline Faye Miller is now represented by Assiniboia Gallery in Regina and Art Interiors in Toronto

11) Ceramic artist, Paula Cooley, and glass artist, Louisa Ferguson, spent over a year collaborating on a project which culminated in a smashing hit of an exhibition called "Passages" at the Saskatchewan Craft Council in November.

12) Diane Larouche Ellard mounted her first solo exhibition, Topophilia, at The Gallery at the Frances Morrison Central Library

13) Denyse Klette celebrated the one year anniversary of the opening of her gallery, Boheme Art Gallery

14) Laura Payne received a grant from the Canadian Light Source to create an installation for Nuit Blanche in Saskatoon. 

15) Darrell Bell returned to northern Saskatchewan to paint the landscape he hadn't visited for years. The result was a series of fresh new work, Lake Paintings, that caught the interest of Galleries West magazine who wrote a feature on him here.

16) Lindsey Love had TWO solo shows this year! One at Darrell Bell Gallery and one at Assiniboia Gallery!

17) Robynn Olson tackled her first daily painting project when she was eight months pregnant with her second baby which she delivered on the last day of her project!

Aren't these people amazing? They are all diligently and passionately working on their art, creating original pieces to enhance your life, to make you wonder and question, to help you see beauty and truth in the world. They make me so darn proud I could scream it from the rooftops! Because of them I want to be better every time I step up to the easel. I am likely missing big news and accomplishments of other artist friends and colleagues, but this is what my brain could conjure up today (and it did take all day), which I have to say is pretty good considering my brutal memory.

Next time you meet an artist, give them a heartfelt thank you or a high five. We appreciate it!

Happy New Year!!!