2024 AGM
Club AGM
Wednesday March 13th
7:30pm -9:30pm
Stonehaven Community Centre in the Blue Room.
Followed by a Talk on NUART 2024 by Judy Kyle
Tea, Coffee & Biscuits Served.
Annual Exhibition 2023
Welcome to this Years 49th Annual Exhibition in the Stonehaven Upper Town Hall.
The official opening is Saturday 29th July at 10am daily till 7pm.
The Exhibition will close at 4pm on Sunday 6th August.
Entry is Free
Look forward to seeing you there.
Happy New Year
Happy New Year to you all! I trust Santa brought you all lots of arty materials and you all managed to have a lovely relaxing time over the festive period. Last year we started our Art in Company group on the third Monday of the month, alongside our usual monthly talks and workshops. This year we are continuing with the Art in Company, the first one falling on the 16th January from 7pm to 9pm at the Community Centre in the Lounge downstairs. It’s free and open for club members. If you are not a club member but would like to join us, please get in touch. The membership year runs from March to March at the AGM which this year will be held in the community centre on Wednesday Hope to see you there. Please bring your own mug for a cuppa.
Edenholme Commission
One of our talented artists, Margaret MacDonald painted a classic view of Stonehaven Bay in Acrylic for the Edenholme care home, situated in Arduthie Road, Stonehaven.
The painting was a commission to commemorate one of the late residents, Elsie who passed away in February 2020.
Annual Exhibition 2022
The Stonehaven Art Club Annual Exhibition returns to the Upper Town Hall this year 2022, after a two year hiatus.
It will run for 7 days from Saturday 30th July to Sunday 7th August. Opening times are Saturday 30th July to Saturday 6th August daily from 10am to 6pm, Sunday August 7th the exhibition will close at 5pm.
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Showcase and Gallery – an update
Following the resounding success of the online Exhibition this summer, the club has ‘repurposed’ the Exhibition function to be a permanent Gallery of art for sale. As with the Exhibition, the artworks are being offered on a free shipping or collection basis. The content of the Gallery will be refreshed periodically so keep checking to see what is new. As with the Exhibition the subject matter is as wide as you could possibly imagine; well known NE Scotland locations, hidden local gems, abstracts, wildlife to name just a small selection. Come and have a look..
The old website used to have a page of members artworks where they could display something that represented their style or interest. This was well out of date and only offered a small thumbnail sized image of each painting or picture. We have replaced this with a brand new feature, the Showcase. As with the previous incarnation, members can present a piece of work they are particularly pleased with or they feel typifies their work. It captures beautifully the range of styles and interests that club members have. If you are a member and don’t yet have your image in the Showcase, then get in touch with the Secretary to submit one. Some of the art works on the Showcase may also be for sale, so it is worth viewing the Gallery as well to see if one you really like is available to purchase.
Portraits of NHS Heroes Book
Our very own treasurer – Lindsay Anderson – has been very productive over lockdown doing life drawing and portrait workshops online.
Her commitment and her amazing skills paid off when she decided to enter the Portraits for NHS Heroes project. The book has now been published and one of Lin’s portraits is included among the thousand of entries.
Congratulations Lin…….. We are really proud of you.
Donations from the sales of the books from some sources, will be given to the NHS.
Books are available from Bloomsbury Publishers, WH Smith, Wordery and Blackwell Books (to name but a few).
Support the NHS….this would be a great Christmas present for all you arty people out there…..put it on your Santa list.
Well done Lin.
New Logo
It will not have escaped your attention that as part of the website redesign, the club has acquired a new logo. This is the result of a competition where club members were asked to submit possible entries do be used as the new logo. The requirements were quite specific, it had to fit into the available space within the page design and be suitably bold to be clearly identifiable as belonging to Stonehaven Art Club. It also had to have potential for being used as a ‘favicon’ (the little icon that appears next to the name of the site in a tabbed browser).
A huge variety of design were received from 19 club members. From the simple to the complex and the vibrant through to relatively understated.
The committee held a blind vote awarding points to their first, second and third favourite submissions. When the votes were tallied, it was a close run thing between President Ragnhild Ericsson and Vice President Penny Hyatt. Ragnild just taking the win by a few points. Her original design was enhanced by her grandson, Jamie Rendall, who turned it into a digital file that could be used on the website.
The committee would like to thank every member for submitting their entries, it was not an easy choice with several artists in the running right up until the final few votes.
New Website
We are pleased and very proud to launch our brand new website. It is a complete refresh of the old design and incorporates a new logo designed by Ragnhild Ericsson.
We have taken the opportunity to do away with the dowdy colour scheme and have something fresher, brighter and more vibrant.
The redesign was undertaken by Nick Hyatt of QD Design who are based here in Stonehaven.
Not only have we got a redesigned website but there are new features as well. Most notably, an online exhibition space where we can showcase club members work to the public. Look out for this going live very soon.
Annual Exhibition 2020
Since 1975, each summer Stonehaven Art Club have held an annual exhibition and sale. This attracts wide interest from both residents of the North East corner of Scotland as well as from visitors to our region.
2020 was always going to be a different year for the club. The venue for the exhibition has always been the Town Hall on Allardice Street. However, this year the Council has closed the building for long overdue renovations meaning the Club had to look for an alternate location. A suitable venue was identified at the beginning of the year but before detailed planning could take place, the global Coronavirus pandemic reared its head. Along with the regular meetings and events, the Annual Exhibition has, sadly, been postponed for this year. It will be back (in its usual home) for 2021.
As an alternative, the Club have created a ‘virtual’ exhibition which will allow you to browse work from Club members as if you were there in the town hall (though without the climb up the stairs)! And, just like the Annual Exhibition, artworks in the show are for sale. If you see something you like, you can purchase it using a credit / debit card (or PayPal if you use this) and have it sent (at no additional cost in the UK) to your door.
Look out for more news about the ‘virtual’ Exhibition shortly.
COVID-19
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Stonehaven Art Club have taken the difficult decision to shelve all of the planned meetings and workshops until guidance indicates that it is safe to resume. We are bitterly disappointed not to be able to hold our regular events and workshops but the safety of our members and the tutors who lead the sessions has to take precedence. As soon as we are given the all clear, dates for evening sessions and weekend workshops will be communicated.
In the meantime, we are having an “Artist of the Week” on our Facebook page where a different artist showcases their work.
Until we can meet again, please stay safe and well.