“I notice over the years how our art has just really come together.”
– Judie Relitz
The John V. Hicks Gallery in the Prince Albert Arts Centre has a new set of paintings adorning its walls.
Studio 1010 celebrated the start of their new art show and sale at the gallery on Saturday. Every year, the group has an art show in October and, in recent years, they’ve had a second show in April in the John M. Cuelenaere library.
Studio 1010 is named after the Arts Centre’s 1010 Central Avenue address. About 18 members gather there every Monday afternoon to paint together.
The new show has pieces created using a variety of painting materials.
One is an acrylic pour painting on plexiglass, where acrylic paint is mixed with a pouring material and the artist moves the base so the paint is mixed together in unpredictable patterns.
Other techniques are encaustic painting, where the artist heats beeswax and mixes it with pigment, Chinese brush on rice paper and oil and moulding paste to add texture to the piece. The majority of the paintings are acrylic, watercolour and pastel.
Iris Channon, who just joined Studio 1010 last year, said having her work displayed in the gallery gives her a boost of confidence.
“It does give you kind of an uplift,” she said.
Channon said she’s shifting into realism paintings using acrylics, shown in each of her three pieces in the show, titled Misty Morning, Evening Glow and Looking Across.
Misty Morning pictures two birds flying over a landscape and is almost entirely in pastel purple tones.
She said she decided to join the group because working with other artists helps her stay motivated.
“Just looking at everything, it kind of even helps you to maybe try something new if you haven’t tried say abstract or something. It just gives you kind of ideas and motivation to do that,” said Channon.
“Everyone is so friendly and helpful.”
Another member, Judie Relitz, has been part of the group for the approximately 10 years it’s existed. Like Channon, she said working in a group helps to improve her painting.
“Everyone has different ideas, like some people suggest a colour and (I say) ‘I don’t know if I like that’ and somebody else will suggest another colour or a line here or a line there. You get lots and lots of different opinions that way,” she said.
Looking at the walls of the gallery on Saturday, Relitz sees how far the group has come.
“I notice over the years how our art has just really come together. We were pretty new, pretty beginner, and now you can just see our art is so much better than it was when we started 10 years ago.”
The Studio 1010 Art Show and Sale is on display in the John V. Hicks Gallery until Oct. 23.
