This year a Gabriola art show with a focus on narrow works of art will also include round creations.
From Feb. 25 to 27 the biennial Stretched – the Art Show returns to the Gabriola Arts and Heritage centre. Due to COVID-19, guests will need to reserve a time to visit the gallery on opening night.
This year 80 works by 64 artists, including four under six years old, are on display either in the shape of a 6-by-36-inch rectangle or, for the first time, a 12-inch circle.
For the past seven years art show organizer Gwen Spinks has been alternating between her ‘Stretched’ and ‘Squared’ exhibition and she said this time artists were asking for new shapes. After turning down their request for triangles for being “too odd” and “really hard to hang,” she made round canvases available and they were quickly scooped up.
“Those were the first ones that went when I did my artist call,” Spinks said. “Everyone wanted the circles and I limit each one.”
Like last year, art will be available to purchase online or over the phone starting on Feb. 25 at 4 p.m. Spinks said she was unsure if people would be receptive to online sales but she was able to sell the pieces faster than ever before.
“When I have like 200 people in the building, it takes us like over an hour to process that, whereas online in 10 minutes we were finished,” she said. “We were sitting there like, ‘OK, now what?’”
The pieces in the show include oil, acrylic and watercolour paintings as well as works made from metal, fabric and glass, and the artists range from professional to amateur.
“It’s not just the big names that get bought up.” Spinks said. “It’s also the new people and the kids. Almost every year the kids section gets sold out.”
This year’s exhibition is Spinks’s last as organizer, with the Gabriola Arts Council stepping in to “take up the torch.” Spinks said at first she had no idea if artists would take part in the show but each year it got bigger.
“In the beginning the first show was a ‘Stretched’ show and I think I had 46 pieces and then it just [kept] growing,” she said. “And part of the problem is I hate saying ‘no’ to people.”
WHAT’S ON … Stretched – the Art Show comes to the Gabriola Arts and Heritage Centre, 476 South Rd., on Feb. 25 from 5:30 to 7 p.m., reservations needed, Feb. 26 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Feb. 27 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, click here.
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