Members and friends from the Watercolour Society of Western Australia are putting on their Kaleidoscope exhibition at the Collie Art Gallery at the end of the month.
A group of 13 friends who are all members of the Watercolour Society of WA enjoyed exhibiting at the Collie Art Gallery back in November 2016 and decided they would love to have another exhibition in Collie.
Collie’s Dianne Clark is one of the members, as well as two Bunbury locals Julie McCormack and Debbie Ey.
Watercolour Society of Western Australia president Susan Payne said they decided to go out on a limb this year and get some members together to exhibit solely on their own this time round.
“The society has certain constraints that we can only use watercolour and so we thought a lot of us do a lot of other things outside that medium and so we decided let’s go out on our own,” she said.
“There will be a few non-watercolour paintings including mixed media which is why we have called the exhibition Kaleidoscope.
“Although most of it will be watercolour everyone paints in a different style, some paint very loosely and some paint tightly so there’s something for everybody.”
Between the artists they will share the workload producing five to six pieces each.
Watercolour Society of Western Australia secretary Marion Power said she was very impressed with Collie after exhibiting there a few years ago with the society.
“I was impressed with the gallery and the actual facilities it had and I am afraid I was one of those people who had not had a bad impression of Collie but had a bit of stigma around it. I was pleasantly surprised, as were some of the others that it just seemed to be a changed town, very positive and everyone was so welcoming and it was just such a welcoming atmosphere,” she said.
“A few of us came down on opening night to the Collie Art Prize to support one of our members who entered a piece of work in the competition and we spoke about holding another exhibition while we were there.”
Collie Art Prize People’s Choice Award winner Catherine Gartner said she was approached by Ms Payne to be one of the 13 people to showcase her work in the exhibition.
“I was approached to join this exhibition and I just thought why not. It’s a beautiful gallery for a start and I’m familiar with it having been involved in the Collie Art Prize earlier this year and so I know what to expect,” she said.
“There will be a variety of subject matter and sizes so it will appeal to most people in and around Collie.”
Most of the group are award winning artists who have exhibited both at home and overseas so the depth of experience and recognition will be reflected in the standard, variety and emotion of their paintings.
The exhibition will open on Friday, November 2 and will be on display until Saturday, December 16.
