Sylvia Ditchburn Fine Art Gallery
     

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Hello and welcome

December 2011

Snapped...not still life
ends Sunday 18 Dec. Last chance to see this exciting themed show by local artists

Chrisssy Cheer
Join us for Last Minute Christmas Cheer at the gallery 23 December until Sunset

Festive holiday season
Gallery will be closed from Saturday 24 December reopening Tuesday 10 January 2012

ABC Open Michael Bromage assisted Ken produce a 21/2 minute video The en plein air painter using Ken's footage from Ross River NT and an interview with Ken and myself in the gallery. Michael showed us interview skills and different angle shots that made the video very professional. If you would like to check this out visit the link.

We look forward to seeing you in 2012.
Cheers
Sylvia and Ken

 

October 2011

Sylvia is profiled it the Townsville Bulletin NQ Life on Saturday October 1. If you would like to read this you can click on this link.

 

 

                 Sylvia Ditchburn Fine Art Gallery            
Happy 3rd Birthday

Dear Artlovers

August 2011

Sylvia - Artist in Residence at Ryan Catholic College - demonstrating a spontaneous approach. All the students were very enthusiastic and excited about their painting project. Approx 60 gr 11 visual art students took part.

   

students of Ryan Catholic College having fun with their art project with Sylvia as Artist in Residence

 

Check out Issue 100 of Artist's Palette as Sylvia has two articles covering 7 pages in it. Insight commences on page 70 and a demonstration starting on page 74. Looks great.

 

July 2011

These photos were taken at the 15 July opening of Glimpse of China a group show by Sylvia Ditchburn, Anne Lord and Barbara Pierce
with works inspired by their visit to sister city Foshan in China. It is showing at the Perc Tucker Regional Gallery in conjunction with
ZHONGJIAN MIDWAY.

 

Ross River's vibrant colours from Ken Ditchburn on Vimeo of our recent Ross River trip.

 

Sylvia discusses art and art practice with students from Artiz - Young Artist Development Program

Sylvia with her painting of Fiona at ARTscape 2011 an exhibition of collaborative artworks a highly successful event by the Spinal Injuries Association which opened on July 10 at Studio 2 Townsville and continues until August 10.

 

June 2011

Time has flown by so quickly with midyear here already and beautiful Townsville ‘winter’ weather.  Even a few weeks of cooler temps is a nice change and an opportunity to wear warmer gear.

Cyclone Yasi: Thank you to everyone who emailed me your concerns.  I really appreciated the emails. It certainly was a stressful time but all good now.  The council was very diligent in cleaning up the 64,000 trees etc, etc but getting any quotes for repairs was an entirely different matter and we still haven’t got a quote for a fence repair but have made some temporary arrangements so all the neighbourhood dogs don’t come wandering in.  Hope next cyclone season is not as viscous but who knows whats around the corner.

Townsville City Council Visual Art Award (Individual) Win: More thankyou’s for the congratulatory emails for my award.  Didn’t realize I had so many fans.  Absolutely fabulous to receive them all.  Certainly had a big smile that wouldn’t wash off for quite some time.      
 

 

Art Safari to Central Oz: A fantastic 10 day art-safari to central oz this year in May to Ross River Station (Resort) 90kg east of Alice Springs in the East MacDonald Ranges.  A top spot. Ken and I hired a gorgeous rustic cabin, self catered and hired the station’s 4WD to get around over rough country. There was an abundance of beautiful scenery, very green with lots of foliage and wild flowers in bloom after the deluge of 1,200mm last year and 600mm this year.  The views from the 360 degree lookout to the valley and ranges, sphinx, Ross River, Trephina Gorge and more, were amazing.  The road to N’dhala Gorge was impassible since the big wet earlier this year but some water still remains in the river bed that made painting interesting. Also did a demonstration piece for the 100th edition of Artist’s Palette magazine that will be out later. So keep your eyes peeled in the newsagent for that one.  The only down side was the mouse plague that literally kept us hopping.  I discovered that the mouse trap has been reinvented with several different types of new and improved versions available. When you are next in Alice make sure you visit Olive Pink’s garden.  It is renowned for the native plants and a gorgeous lunch to be had at the cafe. A big thank you to Ralph for minding the gallery while we were away.

 

Glimpse of China: Townsville Artists celebrate Foshan Autumn Festival. (Invitation attached)
Since my trip to Foshan China last year as part of the Townsville Sister City project I have been beavering away to complete my work for an exhibition at the Perc Tucker Regional Gallery with Anne Lord and Barbara Pierce   It will be opened with the major exhibition Zhongjian: Midway on Friday 15 July.  So do come along for the opening or drop in for a look at our show up until 10 August. Ken has made up a cd slide show of our visit so you can enjoy an extended view of our experiences of the amazing Foshan festival.

Artescape: My workshop with Artescape at Tanks in Cairns is going ahead starting on 18 until 22 July.  Five days in glorious Cairns will be wonderful. I am really looking forward to meeting up with all the Cairns folk and tutors and helping the students create some wonderful works as they did last year. I’ll keep you posted.

Sylvia’s Townsville en plein workshops: My winter en plein air workshops in the beautiful environs of Townsville are coming up.  So far I have had a lot of interest so if this is for you, please email me to put your name on the list and I will get in touch with you.

Sad News: On a sad note my dear mother Gertrude Delia Volker in her 107th year passed away recently.  A remarkable age to attain.  She received six letters from the Queen on her birthday and was a member of the 100 Club.

Gallery Exhibitions: So far this year my gallery has focused on changing displays of my work rather than themed group shows although I will be calling for entries later in the year. Many artists expressed interest in solo shows and Expressions of Interest by individual artists for solo or group shows is still open.  If a solo show in my boutique gallery interests you or getting together with a couple of friends, email me and I’ll send you the info.  All applications considered.  With Flinders Street near completion and Flinders Place and Ogden St due to open in July there will be a lot more exposure to my gallery. Although despite the GFC and other disasters of floods, cyclones, road closures etc., art lovers still find their way to my gallery which celebrates its 3rd anniversary in the CBD this July. 

A Brush with celebrity: TV celebrity David Koch of morning Sunrise TV and his wife Libby visited Townsville recently.  They called into the gallery and bought a Pandanus painting they spotted when dining at ‘A Touch of Salt’.  Kochie said ‘my wife fell in love with a Sylvia Ditchburn painting, so we’ve taken a bit of Townsville home with us.”  - Fantastic. Great to see Libby has such good taste in art!

Local Artists: Hugh Martin has some of his quirky Ants on show.  Alison McDonald’s small sculpture pieces are worth a look and Barbara Pierce has an intriguing 3D boxed art work.

Call into the gallery sometime and say hi.  Ken and I love to see you.  Displays change from time to time including new work.
Yours in Art
Sylvia Ditchburn

 

14/3/11

On friday 11/3/11 the Townsville City Council Art Awards night was held in the Civic Theatre. I was one of the eight people nominated for the Visual Arts Award Individual section. It is a great thrill and honour to win the award.  The gala night was attended by around 700 people and a special experience that I will remember. It was a really wonderful night with canapes, amazing entertainment and after party – very Hollywood but appropriate as people were able to mingle with winners and their friends. Thanks to Honor for nominating me and fantastic recognition for the Arts in Townsville by the Council. I have inserted some pics of the night for you to enjoy my win with me. Cheers Sylvia

 

3/3/11

Happy New Year 2011. I have kept in touch since my last art lovers e-newsletter in May 2010 with invitations and reviews of the what's happening in the gallery with my work and various themed group shows.  Thank you for your support.  We had a lot of great openings and different art work by our very talented local artists.  This year there will also be themed group shows along with solo shows by my self and local artists who have shown interest.  If you are an artist and would like to have a solo show or show with another artist send me an email and I will forward the Exhibition Application Form.

Art Safari. An Art Safari in August 2010 to Illara Waterhole at Tempe Downs in central Australia was a dream fulfilled. For many years it was on my bucket list. Another first for me was to see the Todd River flowing in Alice. Great to meet up with all my art chums again.  A diverse group this time and a lot of bumpy bus journeys that limited painting time.  Heaps of rain in the centre so the countryside was lush and green but the red earth and sand dunes still managed to shine through even though deadly slippery when wet.  On the way from Alice we stopped at Stuart’s Well for lunch and were treated to Dinky the Singing Dingo. A very impressive tale was told of Dinky’s rise to fame with newspaper clippings of Dinky with celebrities on display around the walls.  On arrival at Illara we camped in the Palmer River Bed and lucky it hadn’t rained too much by then. Weight restrictions didn’t allow for much gear so with the help of my friend Jude we created a new fashion statement out of black plastic garbage bags into vests.  I can definitely recommend their thermal qualities if you are ever caught short as well as keeping the rain out.

Spectacular escarpments and rock formations especially at ‘Pixi Land’ (no joke – I wasn’t away with the fairies) were irresistible and the wattle and wild flowers were amazing.  Our resident muso Stephen composed an Illara Suite and performed it at the end of the Camp. We all heard him squeaking away on his sax so were keen to hear the final composition.  Wonderful. Corinne ‘s felting and dying workshops resulted in spectacular pieces. The final art show included a few experimental pieces such as Jude’s scavenged camel bones, I think she called it ‘spinal tap’. Hen and I had serious fun playing in the river bed doing Mud rubbings or maybe they were Mud drippings. Mud was difficult to find as it is sand country and sand doesn’t stick to paper. The younger blokes on the trip set off early ranging around the mountain tops like Man v Wild TV adventurer Bear Grylls and one guy even had his gear. Most of their art was in sketchbooks not paintings.  I guess they’ll develop them sometime, like me, I’m still finishing mine, unlike speedy Ross who has already shown his work.  I’ll keep you posted when I have them on show.

Judging:  The Cardwell Art Awards in June 2010 organised by the Hinchinbrook Regional Arts was a rewarding request to Judge.  A large variety of sections were on offer including local school student work. David Rowe was the winner of the Cardwell Art Prize with a large, complex oil painting of portraits of his art friends and tools associated with their career such as paint brushes. Congratulations David.
I also judged and presented art awards to the students at Pimlico High end of year Artscape.  Some interesting stuff on show.

 

 

Foshan China. In September 2010 I was invited by Townsville Sister City Committee, to visit Foshan China with two other Townsville artists Anne Lord and Barbara Pierce.  This was a very exciting two week escapade visiting the Foshan University, meeting the Chinese artists/lecturers, seeing their work and studios.  The Foshan people were very generous with their time to give us a taste of cultural life in Foshan during their annual Festival.  The beautiful lanterns, Light show and fireworks were spectacular. An exhibition of our experiences will be shown mid year 2011 in the Niche Gallery at the Perc Tucker Regional Gallery.  On our return journey we stopped off in Hong Kong and briefly experienced the art in the huge number of galleries as well and the City Gallery at Kowloon.  Hong Kong is a big, bustling city with old and new architecture side by side.  A lot more time could be spent there.

Cyclone Yasi. This year has certainly started off with a bang with cyclone Yasi definitely making its presence felt.  A huge category 5 system that flattened Cardwell, Tully Heads, Tully and Mission Beach and quite a few other coastal villages.  As Yasi was heading straight for Townsville at one stage we were all terrified. Hoping and praying for it to slow down, go away or something. On reflection we were very lucky.  Only one life lost to misadventure. Most of the damage in Townsville was trees, around 65,000 according to reports.  Some trees were very considerate where they fell e.g. between cars beside houses etc.  My house and gallery were ok.  No water in the gallery or house despite a lot of water in Ogden Street. Ken sealed up the gallery glass door with tape, heavy duty plastic and sandbags.  He did such a good job that not even a drop leaked in.  Part of our back fence was knocked down by a neighbour’s flying garden shed and tops of trees blown off spreading a lot of garden debris but we have managed to drag it all out to the kerb side for the council collection. Fortunately we had a 60ft lemon scented gum tree felled the Friday before Yasi.  Even though I just loved that tree and all the birds that loved it too like the Teresina Pigeons, Black Cockatoos, Drongos, Sulphur Crested Cockatoos and more but I didn’t love it enough to have it land on our house. Now its business as usual.  No more Yasi’s please.  I think Queensland has had enough for one year. We are all still getting over the stress.

Workshops. This year I have been accepted onto the Flying Arts, Artists on Tour program.  I am looking forward to any workshops that come my way.  When I lived in Innisfail I was a student of Flying Arts and it was wonderful to have professional tutors fly in and give guidance to keen students.  Cairns Artescape has again invited me to tutor in July.  It was such a great success last year I am looking forward to it again and visiting beautiful Cairns for a week, helping the students and meeting the other tutors from all over Australia.  I will again be holding en plein air workshops in Townsville during the winter months. If you are interested send me an email and I will reply with info and when they are coming up.

Townsville Art Awards. The Townsville Art Awards are on 11 March at the Townsville Civic Theatre and as well as being invited to present an award I have again been nominated for a Visual Arts Award.  It should be a good night with local entertainment.  I’ll keep you posted.

International Women’s Day.  This year the breakfast will be held on Monday 7th March at Jupiter’s Casino.  I have been invited to donate an art piece for a raffle prize, which I have done for several years now and also, attended the breakfast.  A good cause.

Flinders Mall/Street. The massive reconstruction of Flinders Mall into Flinders Street is gradually coming together but still a long way to go.  We are all looking forward to the opening of this unique shopping destination in the CBD and a refreshed entrance to Townsville.

Sylvia Ditchburn Fine Art Gallery. I have a few interesting ideas for themed group shows for 2011 and I will email invitations to openings. Currently I have an exhibition of my own work Art from Wild Places and the Tropical Coast with new works on paper and miniature canvases of Townsville environs.  Remember there are always spot specials, discounted framed and unframed paintings available as well as giclee reproductions on paper and canvas, prints and postcards. So pop into the gallery and have a browse.  If you can’t make it in check out my websites www.sylviaditchburn.com; www.sylviaditchburnfineartgallery.com. Ken and I look forward to seeing you.

Cheers Art Lovers

Sylvia Ditchburn

 

Why not enrol in a Workshop

If you are interested in joining Sylvia for a workshop, email Sylvia or call into the gallery for info.   

 

 

If you would like to be on Sylvia's Artlover's email list to recieve an update of her forthcoming exhibitions please contact me with your email address.  You may withdraw from the list at any time by contacting me by reply email "unsubscribe Art Lovers".

Visit Sylvia and see more of her work at her Gallery:

Sylvia Ditchburn Fine Art Gallery
Shop 7 Metro Quays
86 Ogden St
Townsville 4810
ph 07 4724 3953
mob 0419 790 245
a/hrs 07 4721 2602

 

 

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