Art Tour 2011 Edithvale CC

Ten members of the NYVA exhibited their works at the Edithvale Community Centre this past Sept. 24 and 25^th, 2011: Larry Blackstock, Wendy Hobbs-Blackstock,  Tony Cook, Marilyn Clark, Maggie Doswell, Charith Kumarasiri,  Joan McGivney,  Jean Rodak, Oksana Romanov and Elaine Sugar.

This was the first time we have focused on two group venues for the tour, Edithvale CC as well as Mitchell Field. Expectations ran  high and much excitement ensued as we all charged in their Sat Sept 24^th at 8:00 AM to set up.   

Each artists was given a space of approximately 10 ft long by 6 feet deep. The room, Edithvale’s banquet hall  was a beautiful bright and spacious setting for our works.  
We all chipped in to provide refreshments and nibbles for the two days.  We even had entertainment, provided by Harpist sari wright whose beautiful delicate harp music proved to
be the perfect background for viewing art.

In addition, we  had volunteers from the North York Women’s Shelter signing in visitors both days. This was a real plus both to us and to the NYWS.  On the Sunday, we thought to start a donation cup for them and  about $80 was raised.  This is a great idea to use in next year’s group venues.

Although we had approximately 150 visitors per day, this did not translate in to sales for everyone. From this point of view, I think the artists were disappointed overall. However, there were sales even if for smaller pieces and cards mainly, and there was much  enthusiasm  for the works displayed.   As artists, we love to create and having a venue to show what we have done and to try to sell it is most important to all of us. The economy  with so much talk of recession  and market instability world wide does make selling art difficult. In another year, the scene may brighten and so we need to keep this in mind when evaluating the show as a whole.

I can not say enough about both the quality of the works exhibited and the  Artists who exhibited. What a wonderful, helpful cooperative group of people. We all felt that we
benefited from showing together, from getting to know one another better and from  learning about each others work.

The venue is definitely one to consider for next year’s tour.                                     

 - Joan McGivnely, NYVA President