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Hello   Art   Lovers

April 2013 Update

Sylvia           Vince           Annette            Hugh            Graeme

Autumn is such a lovely time of the year and the weather is glorious in Townsville right now with lots of people milling around, out and about enjoying themselves. With Mother’s Day just around the corner I am sure you will want to call into the gallery for that special gift.

What’s new in the Gallery:

*A selection of woodcarvings by Vince Cataldo of Stingrays and Platypus in Huon Pine and Qld Maple. Vince is a local wood carver and you will be delighted with his carvings. All very reasonably priced.

* Watercolours by Annette Ireland of nature subjects. Annette’s paintings are always popular.

* New editions of reproductions of Sylvia’s work. These are smaller sizes (up to 20 x 13 cm + matt) featuring Townsville’s icon Castle Hill.

* Miniature originals by Sylvia of Townsville and Magnetic Island Views in acrylic on canvas.

* Lino and Etching Prints: My trip to Greece and printmaking workshop with Basil Hall last year has born fruit with Lino prints of the Greek village Skopelos and NQ tropical fan palms. Also etchings of the Greek Neolithic Forrest on Skopelos ‘What lies beneath’. A fascinating area.

* Quirky Birds: Graham Draper’s colourful quirky birds are waiting for a good home. Graham is a tableland artist and loves his subjects so much he makes them into his own new species.

* Ant Raiders Plenty of ants at the moment. These are always popular and Hugh Martin has to work overtime to keep up with demand.

* SPECIALS: A large range of Sylvia’s art for you to browse through: originals and reproductions, prints, postcards and mouse mats. Also Spot Specials with discounts for a limited time and some unframed originals at half price.

My Art in the Big Apple: My big big news is I am off to NY for my exhibition at Agora Gallery in May (11-31) for the Reception on 16th. I am showing with 11 artists in a curated show Out from Down Under & Beyond: Fine Art from Australia & New Zealand. All the artists will have a wall of their own work so it will be a very exciting show. The gallery is amazing and they are sooo professional. We are really looking forward to the experience. If you have friends in NY or are going over send them the invite.

Heather Byrne will be looking after my gallery for me while we are away, so call in and say hello to Heather. She will love to see you.

Digital Works: Create a DVD movie from your digital photos to share with friends or view on wide screen TV. Stop your old video movies and photos from fading away by saving them to DVD. Ken can re-image old footage and photos into an amazing movie or digital slide show. In fact anything is possible so call into the gallery or phone Ken on 0747243953 and have a chat about what he can do for you. obligation free quote.

Art Classes: When I return from NY I will again be holding en-plein air art classes during the cooler months of July thru Sept. If you are interested email me and I’ll get back to you with info. These are small classes held in the out doors.

Your Invite:

ART LOVERS UPDATE November 2012 **************** Sylvia Ditchburn Fine Art Gallery

Dear Artlovers
Latest news in my gallery is a solo show launch Coral Dreaming by janne bogomiagkova on Friday 9 November at 6 pm by Terry O’Toole, Director Troppo Architects. Janne is showing her new collection of exotic art focusing on the wonderland of the tropical reef until 25 November. Don’t miss this show I’m sure you will just love it all. Light refreshments at the launch.

Entry forms are now available for the Christmas show Tropical Exotics closing 11 Nov and launch 6pm 30 November until. Works on show until 23 December just in time for your special Christmas purchases. I’ll keep you posted.

Quite a lot of interest in art this year with Aviex (Townsville Airport) purchasing several of my prints of iconic Townsville as corporate gifts for their clients around Australia.

Masonic Care Qld commissioned two large pieces of my work for their new administration area in Emerald Court Townsville.

Hugh Martin’s ant raiders are literally running out the door as soon as he brings them in. Hugh has a range of sizes and has now identified them with names such as Queen, Soldier, Guard, Drone and Worker Ant. Everyone loves them.

Tableland artist Graeme Draper’s paintings of beautiful quirky birds continue to attract attention.

Our Greek Odyssey in June was a wonderful experience. A stopover in Singapore with visits to Jurong bird park, breakky at the zoo with the Orangutans and beautiful orchids at the Botanical Gardens. All amazing. On return we also stopped over at Dubai and experienced the desert dune ride and sunset, dinner and entertainment. Well presented with camel rides, raptor display, flares, carpets and cushions, belly dancers, henna painting, food and wine. The skyline of Dubai is an architects dream and currently has world’s tallest building. Shopping Malls are extreme with 3 story high aquariums and zoo of small animals. Also plenty of gold and jewels for sale.

Athens is an amazing city with ruins of historic past and well presented museums. A tour to Delphi and Monteora Monasteries was worth the three day bus journey and all the steps to climb to experience the view and Monasteries.

The print making workshop on Skopelos Is (Mamma Mia movie fame) was hard work but with Basil Hall as tutor and 10 other aussies plus an American on such a beautiful Island surrounded by the Azure waters of the Agean, the memories of productive and happy times linger. I’ll have my etchings on show in the gallery before too long.

Spain entrance
A flying visit to QAG for the Portrait of Spain exhibition. The entrance is amazing. As the title says ‘Portrait…’ so mainly old style portraits with a small room of still lives and one wall of landscapes.

‘Taking a bite of the Big Apple!’. My next major project is my exhibition at Agora Gallery in New York City in May 2013. Last contact was they were all ok and I guess they will have everything all tidied up after the recent devastating event. Really looking forward to that adventure. We have made our flight bookings and apart from galleries, other tourist places to visit like Niagara Falls, Las Vegas and Kings Canyon. Very exciting.

Look forward to seeing you in the gallery
Cheers
Sylvia
Sylvia Ditchburn Fine Art Gallery 1.11.12

Autumn 2012

Hello Artlovers

Sylvia Ditchburn Fine Art Gallery Artlovers
Autumn 2012 Update

Now that the weather is decidedly cooler there are more folk coming into the CBD and my gallery especially on Sundays for the Markets.

The Percival Portrait Award is now showing at the Perc Tucker Regional Gallery until 1 July 2012 and the Winner of the Xstrata $40,000 Award is Kevin Lincolin a 71 year old Melbourne artist judged by Barry Pearce of the NSW Art Gallery. A well executed monochromatic piece and a great addition to the collection. A total of 176 works were hung including my piece
‘Talking Politics: Mandy, Frances and Jenny’. Congratulations to Cr Jenny Hill our recently elected 1st female Mayor of Townsville.

In June Ken and I are venturing forth on a Greek Odyssey stopping off at Singapore for breakfast at the Zoo with the magnificent birds then Athens to see remnants of a past era with a Monasteries tour. Skopelos Island is the destination for the printmaking workshop with Basil Hall and others to upgrade my printmaking skills and really looking forward to this especially the location. We are stopping off at Dubai on our return to experience that part of the world.

While we are away my gallery will be in the capable hands of Heather Byrne. A big thank you to wonderful Heather who will look after all your art needs. Make sure you pop in and say hello to Heather.

Entry Forms are available for the next group themed show in August 2012 at my gallery   “Once Upon a Time…”. These shows are always popular with the general public and many artlovers come into see and purchase new work. For an entry form go to www.sylviaditchburnfineartgallery.com and follow the link: galleries, current exhibition, click on entry form ‘Once upon a time…’ to down load. If you are unable to do this entry forms are available at the gallery.

Fantastic news. I am now represented by Agora Gallery NYC, US. My exhibition is scheduled for mid 2013 and in the mean time I am shown on their website. A good excuse to go to NYC (as if I needed one).

I received an invitation to submit an image for open air Flag Art in Beirut under the patronage of UNESCO on the “World Day for Cultural Diversity” and the Int’l Division of 15th World Peace Art Exhibition with a 300 page catalogue. Very exciting to be part of this. The wonders of the internet.

If you missed MY ‘Words of Wisdom’ with Ian Frazer in the Townsville Bulletin see attached for a peek:
Well that’s all from me. I will keep you posted about our Greek Odyssey
Yours in Art
Sylvia
28 May 2012

Welcome to Autumn and cooler climes. The recent Tornado certainly shook us out of our comfort zone just when we were getting used to the late monsoon rain. Never can tell when or where nature is going to strike. Thankfully we missed the brunt of it. Woke up at 5am with cyclonic winds battering us for about 10 minutes before it crashed on through the suburbs. Fortunately it was not strong enough to do us any damage but some folk were dealt a devastating blow to their homes and gardens blown apart. No news of any people injured but it will take an emotional and financial toll on everyone concerned.

The cruise ships have started arriving with spontaneous markets to cater for their needs in the CBD. Flinders Street looks beautiful after its renewal and more variety of shops on the way will encourage visitors

GALLERY NEWS:
The Ryan Catholic College Scape… my special place Exhibition in February was very successful that delighted and surprised the students and their families with the quality of work. Forty one paintings were hung depicting scenes from around Townsville and further afield of special places. Cr Ray Gartrell opened the exhibition to an appreciative audience. Many students, teachers, family and friends came in to see the work. Well done.



Tableland artist GRAEME DRAPER is currently showing a suite of five acrylic paintings of quirky vibrant coloured birds. Graeme’s art is very imaginative and I am sure will appeal to the art lover. Come in and take a peek. All well priced between $480 - $600.

Hugh Martin’s Ant Raiders are very popular and Hugh tells me his kitchen table has been taken over by Ant material to keep up with demand.

Alison McDonald’s small sculptures Persian Slipper and Treble Clef are amazing and Annette Ireland’s watercolours of tropical plants with small creatures have appeal.



Sylvia has been concentrating on a Percival entry and with $40,000 Xstrata prize money up for grabs there will be a huge number of entries from all over the nation and beyond so to be part of it is very exciting.

New paintings by Sylvia are on show in the gallery from outback trips plus digital shoe sculptures that always attract attention in the window display.





Ken has edited short videos of my Russian exhibition and Bundanon residency for my website. Check them out by clicking on the link.

Displays are regularly changed as Sylvia is always adding new work. Look forward to catching up with you by email and visits to my gallery for a chat, browsing or purchase.
cheers
Sylvia

                 Sylvia Ditchburn Fine Art Gallery
Happy 3rd Birthday

Dear Artlovers

December 2011

Snapped...not still life
ends Sunday 18 Dec. Last chance to see this exciting themed show by local artists

Chrisssy Cheer
Join us for Last Minute Christmas Cheer at the gallery 23 December until Sunset

Festive holiday season
Gallery will be closed from Saturday 24 December reopening Tuesday 10 January 2012

ABC Open Michael Bromage assisted Ken produce a 21/2 minute video The en plein air painter using Ken's footage from Ross River NT and an interview with Ken and myself in the gallery. Michael showed us interview skills and different angle shots that made the video very professional. If you would like to check this out visit the link.

We look forward to seeing you in 2012.
Cheers
Sylvia and Ken

October 2011

Sylvia is profiled in the Townsville Bulletin NQ Life dated Saturday 1 October 2011. If you would like to read this profile click on the link and then go to page 15 in the box at the lower right.

August 2011

Sylvia - Artist in Residence at Ryan Catholic College - demonstrating a spontaneous approach. All the students were very enthusiastic and excited about their painting project. Approx 60 gr 11 visual art students took part.



students of Ryan Catholic College having fun with their art project with Sylvia as Artist in Residence

Check out Issue 100 of Artist's Palette. Sylvia has two articles covering 7 pages. An Insight article commences of page 70 and a demonstration article stating on page 74.

July 2011

These photos were taken at the 15 July opening of Glimpse of China a group show by Sylvia Ditchburn, Anne Lord and Barbara Pierce with works inspired by their visit to sister city Foshan in China. It is showing at the Perc Tucker Regional Gallery in conjunction with ZHONGJIAN MIDWAY.

Ross River's vibrant colours from Ken Ditchburn on Vimeo of our Ross River Trip.

Sylvia discusses art and art practice with a group of Artiz students - Young Artist Development Program.

Sylvia with her painting of Fiona at ARTscape 2011 an exhibition of collaborative artworks at the highly successful event by the Spinal Injuries Association. The exhibition opened on Sunday July 10 and continues until August 10 2011 at Studio 2 in Townsville.

June 2011

Time has flown by so quickly with midyear here already and beautiful Townsville ‘winter’ weather. Even a few weeks of cooler temps is a nice change and an opportunity to wear warmer gear.

Cyclone Yasi: Thank you to everyone who emailed me your concerns. I really appreciated the emails. It certainly was a stressful time but all good now. The council was very diligent in cleaning up the 64,000 trees etc, etc but getting any quotes for repairs was an entirely different matter and we still haven’t got a quote for a fence repair but have made some temporary arrangements so all the neighbourhood dogs don’t come wandering in. Hope next cyclone season is not as viscous but who knows whats around the corner.

Townsville City Council Visual Art Award (Individual) Win: More thankyou’s for the congratulatory emails for my award. Didn’t realize I had so many fans. Absolutely fabulous to receive them all. Certainly had a big smile that wouldn’t wash off for quite some time.

Art Safari to Central Oz: A fantastic 10 day art-safari to central oz this year in May to Ross River Station (Resort) 90kg east of Alice Springs in the East MacDonald Ranges. A top spot. Ken and I hired a gorgeous rustic cabin, self catered and hired the station’s 4WD to get around over rough country. There was an abundance of beautiful scenery, very green with lots of foliage and wild flowers in bloom after the deluge of 1,200mm last year and 600mm this year. The views from the 360 degree lookout to the valley and ranges, sphinx, Ross River, Trephina Gorge and more, were amazing. The road to N’dhala Gorge was impassible since the big wet earlier this year but some water still remains in the river bed that made painting interesting. Also did a demonstration piece for the 100th edition of Artist’s Palette magazine that will be out later. So keep your eyes peeled in the newsagent for that one. The only down side was the mouse plague that literally kept us hopping. I discovered that the mouse trap has been reinvented with several different types of new and improved versions available. When you are next in Alice make sure you visit Olive Pink’s garden. It is renowned for the native plants and a gorgeous lunch to be had at the cafe. A big thank you to Ralph for minding the gallery while we were away.

Glimpse of China: Townsville Artists celebrate Foshan Autumn Festival. (Invitation attached)
Since my trip to Foshan China last year as part of the Townsville Sister City project I have been beavering away to complete my work for an exhibition at the Perc Tucker Regional Gallery with Anne Lord and Barbara Pierce   It will be opened with the major exhibition Zhongjian: Midway on Friday 15 July. So do come along for the opening or drop in for a look at our show up until 10 August. Ken has made up a cd slide show of our visit so you can enjoy an extended view of our experiences of the amazing Foshan festival.

Artescape: My workshop with Artescape at Tanks in Cairns is going ahead starting on 18 until 22 July. Five days in glorious Cairns will be wonderful. I am really looking forward to meeting up with all the Cairns folk and tutors and helping the students create some wonderful works as they did last year. I’ll keep you posted.

Sylvia’s Townsville en plein workshops: My winter en plein air workshops in the beautiful environs of Townsville are coming up. So far I have had a lot of interest so if this is for you, please email me to put your name on the list and I will get in touch with you.

Sad News: On a sad note my dear mother Gertrude Delia Volker in her 107th year passed away recently. A remarkable age to attain. She received six letters from the Queen on her birthday and was a member of the 100 Club.

Gallery Exhibitions: So far this year my gallery has focused on changing displays of my work rather than themed group shows although I will be calling for entries later in the year. Many artists expressed interest in solo shows and Expressions of Interest by individual artists for solo or group shows is still open. If a solo show in my boutique gallery interests you or getting together with a couple of friends, email me and I’ll send you the info. All applications considered. With Flinders Street near completion and Flinders Place and Ogden St due to open in July there will be a lot more exposure to my gallery. Although despite the GFC and other disasters of floods, cyclones, road closures etc., art lovers still find their way to my gallery which celebrates its 3rd anniversary in the CBD this July.

A Brush with celebrity: TV celebrity David Koch of morning Sunrise TV and his wife Libby visited Townsville recently. They called into the gallery and bought a Pandanus painting they spotted when dining at ‘A Touch of Salt’. Kochie said ‘my wife fell in love with a Sylvia Ditchburn painting, so we’ve taken a bit of Townsville home with us.” - Fantastic. Great to see Libby has such good taste in art!

Local Artists: Hugh Martin has some of his quirky Ants on show. Alison McDonald’s small sculpture pieces are worth a look and Barbara Pierce has an intriguing 3D boxed art work.

Call into the gallery sometime and say hi. Ken and I love to see you. Displays change from time to time including new work.
Yours in Art
Sylvia Ditchburn

14/3/11

On friday 11/3/11 the Townsville City Council Art Awards night was held in the Civic Theatre. I was one of the eight people nominated for the Visual Arts Award Individual section.

It is a great thrill and honour to win the award. The gala night was attended by around 700 people and a special experience that I will remember.

It was a really wonderful night with canapes, amazing entertainment and after party – very Hollywood but appropriate as people were able to mingle with winners and their friends. Thanks to Honor for nominating me and fantastic recognition for the Arts in Townsville by the Council.

I have inserted some pics of the night for you to enjoy my win with me.

Cheers

Sylvia



3/3/11

Happy New Year 2011. I have kept in touch since my last art lovers e-newsletter in May 2010 with invitations and reviews of the what’s happening in the gallery with my work and various themed group shows. Thank you for your support. We had a lot of great openings and different art work by our very talented local artists. This year there will also be themed group shows along with solo shows by my self and local artists who have shown interest. If you are an artist and would like to have a solo show or show with another artist send me an email and I will forward the Exhibition Application Form.

Art Safari. An Art Safari in August 2010 to Illara Waterhole at Tempe Downs in central Australia was a dream fulfilled. For many years it was on my bucket list. Another first for me was to see the Todd River flowing in Alice. Great to meet up with all my art chums again. A diverse group this time and a lot of bumpy bus journeys that limited painting time. Heaps of rain in the centre so the countryside was lush and green but the red earth and sand dunes still managed to shine through even though deadly slippery when wet. On the way from Alice we stopped at Stuart’s Well for lunch and were treated to Dinky the Singing Dingo. A very impressive tale was told of Dinky’s rise to fame with newspaper clippings of Dinky with celebrities on display around the walls. On arrival at Illara we camped in the Palmer River Bed and lucky it hadn’t rained too much by then. Weight restrictions didn’t allow for much gear so with the help of my friend Jude we created a new fashion statement out of black plastic garbage bags into vests. I can definitely recommend their thermal qualities if you are ever caught short as well as keeping the rain out.

Spectacular escarpments and rock formations especially at ‘Pixi Land’ (no joke – I wasn’t away with the fairies) were irresistible and the wattle and wild flowers were amazing. Our resident muso Stephen composed an Illara Suite and performed it at the end of the Camp. We all heard him squeaking away on his sax so were keen to hear the final composition. Wonderful. Corinne ‘s felting and dying workshops resulted in spectacular pieces. The final art show included a few experimental pieces such as Jude’s scavenged camel bones, I think she called it ‘spinal tap’. Hen and I had serious fun playing in the river bed doing Mud rubbings or maybe they were Mud drippings. Mud was difficult to find as it is sand country and sand doesn’t stick to paper. The younger blokes on the trip set off early ranging around the mountain tops like Man v Wild TV adventurer Bear Grylls and one guy even had his gear. Most of their art was in sketchbooks not paintings. I guess they’ll develop them sometime, like me, I’m still finishing mine, unlike speedy Ross who has already shown his work. I’ll keep you posted when I have them on show.

Judging: The Cardwell Art Awards in June 2010 organised by the Hinchinbrook Regional Arts was a rewarding request to Judge. A large variety of sections were on offer including local school student work. David Rowe was the winner of the Cardwell Art Prize with a large, complex oil painting of portraits of his art friends and tools associated with their career such as paint brushes. Congratulations David.
I also judged and presented art awards to the students at Pimlico High end of year Artscape. Some interesting stuff on show.

Foshan China. In September 2010 I was invited by Townsville Sister City Committee, to visit Foshan China with two other Townsville artists Anne Lord and Barbara Pierce. This was a very exciting two week escapade visiting the Foshan University, meeting the Chinese artists/lecturers, seeing their work and studios. The Foshan people were very generous with their time to give us a taste of cultural life in Foshan during their annual Festival. The beautiful lanterns, Light show and fireworks were spectacular. An exhibition of our experiences will be shown mid year 2011 in the Niche Gallery at the Perc Tucker Regional Gallery. On our return journey we stopped off in Hong Kong and briefly experienced the art in the huge number of galleries as well and the City Gallery at Kowloon. Hong Kong is a big, bustling city with old and new architecture side by side. A lot more time could be spent there.

Cyclone Yasi. This year has certainly started off with a bang with cyclone Yasi definitely making its presence felt. A huge category 5 system that flattened Cardwell, Tully Heads, Tully and Mission Beach and quite a few other coastal villages. As Yasi was heading straight for Townsville at one stage we were all terrified. Hoping and praying for it to slow down, go away or something. On reflection we were very lucky. Only one life lost to misadventure. Most of the damage in Townsville was trees, around 65,000 according to reports. Some trees were very considerate where they fell e.g. between cars beside houses etc. My house and gallery were ok. No water in the gallery or house despite a lot of water in Ogden Street. Ken sealed up the gallery glass door with tape, heavy duty plastic and sandbags. He did such a good job that not even a drop leaked in. Part of our back fence was knocked down by a neighbour’s flying garden shed and tops of trees blown off spreading a lot of garden debris but we have managed to drag it all out to the kerb side for the council collection. Fortunately we had a 60ft lemon scented gum tree felled the Friday before Yasi. Even though I just loved that tree and all the birds that loved it too like the Teresina Pigeons, Black Cockatoos, Drongos, Sulphur Crested Cockatoos and more but I didn’t love it enough to have it land on our house. Now its business as usual. No more Yasi’s please. I think Queensland has had enough for one year. We are all still getting over the stress.

Workshops. This year I have been accepted onto the Flying Arts, Artists on Tour program. I am looking forward to any workshops that come my way. When I lived in Innisfail I was a student of Flying Arts and it was wonderful to have professional tutors fly in and give guidance to keen students. Cairns Artescape has again invited me to tutor in July. It was such a great success last year I am looking forward to it again and visiting beautiful Cairns for a week, helping the students and meeting the other tutors from all over Australia. I will again be holding en plein air workshops in Townsville during the winter months. If you are interested send me an email and I will reply with info and when they are coming up.

Townsville Art Awards. The Townsville Art Awards are on 11 March at the Townsville Civic Theatre and as well as being invited to present an award I have again been nominated for a Visual Arts Award. It should be a good night with local entertainment. I’ll keep you posted.

International Women’s Day. This year the breakfast will be held on Monday 7th March at Jupiter’s Casino. I have been invited to donate an art piece for a raffle prize, which I have done for several years now and also, attended the breakfast. A good cause.

Flinders Mall/Street. The massive reconstruction of Flinders Mall into Flinders Street is gradually coming together but still a long way to go. We are all looking forward to the opening of this unique shopping destination in the CBD and a refreshed entrance to Townsville.

Sylvia Ditchburn Fine Art Gallery. I have a few interesting ideas for themed group shows for 2011 and I will email invitations to openings. Currently I have an exhibition of my own work Art from Wild Places and the Tropical Coast with new works on paper and miniature canvases of Townsville environs. Remember there are always spot specials, discounted framed and unframed paintings available as well as giclee reproductions on paper and canvas, prints and postcards. So pop into the gallery and have a browse. If you can’t make it in check out my websites www.sylviaditchburn.com; www.sylviaditchburnfineartgallery.com. Ken and I look forward to seeing you.

Cheers Art Lovers

Why not enrol in a Workshop

If you are interested in joining Sylvia for a workshop, email Sylvia or call into the gallery for info.

Bye for now.
Yours in art
Sylvia Ditchburn

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