The Federation of Canadian Artists Nanaimo chapter’s annual Fine Art Show will go ahead this month, but due to COVID-19 the exhibition will take place entirely online.
From Nov. 6 to 27 more than 80 paintings of various styles by local artists will be displayed on the internet for the 2020 Nanaimo Fine Art Show. First-time art show chair Trudy Broadley said moving the show to cyberspace was an unexpected development.
“When I started I thought it was going to be a regular show,” she said. “So we booked everything, we booked the convention centre and did all of the groundwork and then we thought, ‘Wait a minute, we’re going to have to stop this right away.'”
In search of a solution, the Nanaimo chapter turned to FCA headquarters in Vancouver, which Broadley said frequently presents online shows “even under normal circumstances.” The Nanaimo group forwarded their artist submissions to Vancouver to be juried and the show will appear on the Federation Gallery website.
“It’s going to be a good show. I was pretty impressed when I saw it come back from Vancouver after they had juried the show,” Broadley said. “I was really worried. I thought, ‘I just don’t think we’re going to have the numbers that we need’ so I was really pleased. And then when you see the work, it’s phenomenal.”
The award winners for the 2020 show have already been announced. Rory MacDonald, Claudia Lohmann and Jo-Anne Revell won the first-, second-, and third-place prizes respectively for their works ‘Wetlands,’ ‘The Inner Workings of My Mind’ and ‘Making for the Cut.’ Sarah Boileau, Charlotte Mougeot and Zann Hemphill received honourable mentions for their paintings ‘Floe Lake Sunrise,’ ‘Dynamic Glacier, Devon Island, Nunavut’ and ‘Complaints about the Weather.’
While retooling the exhibition to adapt to COVID-19 was challenging, Broadley said it was worth it to provide Nanaimo FCA artists a place to show their work. She said next year, even if they’re able to have a “normal show,” they intend to feature an online component.
“I just want to see these artists’ work displayed because artists work very hard to try to make something just the way they want it,” Broadley said. “A great deal of effort and energy goes into it and it’s really nice to be able to have something for them. For all of us. So I hope the public enjoys it and I hope that our artists are happy that they’re able to get their work out there.”
WHAT’S ON … 2020 Nanaimo Fine Art Show takes place online from Nov. 6 to 27. The exhibition can be viewed here.
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