The Opening night of our 2022 National Exhibition was a lovely evening, with the gallery full of members, friends and visitors. I think it was extra good because we have not had the chance in recent years to gather like that. The Royal Art Society of NSW is always very supportive of our society (we ‘share’ many members, and our exhibitions. The Lavender Bay Gallery at their premises in North Sydney is a great venue for displaying our work.
Our Special Guest to open the show this year was Captain Jeanine Drummond, recently the Harbourmaster of the Port of Newcastle, and a very highly qualified maritime specialist.
Captain Drummond is a keen supporter of artists – particularly marine artists – and before officially declaring the exhibition ‘Open’ she spoke about the importance of the way artists record the whole marine world. Whether it be the lifestyle of our beautiful ocean and harbour beaches, or the vitally important work of our working harbours and ports whose shipping activities rate high on the list of the world’s busiest ports. Each marine artist records their unique view of that world, and Cpt Drummond was very complimentary about the wide choice of subject-matter of paintings in our exhibition.
She then pronounced the National Exhibition ‘Open’.
Thank you Captain Drummond.
Our President, Karen Bloomfield, then announced her choice of an ASMA member to receive the President’s Medal this year; Greg Hansell’s pastel painting titled “Two cats called Lulu” was a very popular choice. Greg was delighted to receive his medal on its blue ribband, and wore it proudly all evening!
After these formalities, everyone mingled, chatted, studied the paintings and enjoyed some refreshment; it was a delightful evening. The painting plaques prepared by Derek Morgan allowed everyone to read a little about each painting’s story, all of the audio-visual tech worked (live streaming the event to Facebook), many photographs were taken (thank you Jai Bloomfield) and drinks and refreshments prepared by the RAS members were delicious. Thank you all! – Chris Hill