The Shetland Open and Bairns’ Open
Bonhoga Gallery
17 September – 30 October 2016
Public opening & presentation of awards: Friday 16 September 6pm - 7.30pm
Shetland Arts is celebrating the creativity and diverse talent abundant in Shetland with the start of the bi-annual Shetland Open at Bonhoga Gallery this weekend. The open exhibition is particularly exciting as it brings in a wide range of work from both established and new artists, providing a great opportunity to see work exhibited for the first time. Once again the response has been fantastic with a wide variety of entries in both the Adult and Bairns’ shows. The opening on Friday evening is from 6-7.30pm and everyone is welcome to come along for the prize-giving, preview the exhibitions and meet the artists.This year’s theme is Black and White and has inspired a fantastic variety of work that sits together as a dramatic and intriguing collection. The Shetland Open will be exhibited in the Upper Gallery while the Bairns’ Open is displayed in the Lower Gallery, along with an exhibition of papercuts by graphic artist Caroline Rees in the Craft Cabinet. The shows will run from 17 September until 30 October.
Jane Matthews, Exhibition Manager at Shetland Arts said, “We have had a brilliant response to this year’s theme and the highest number of entries in the ‘First-time Exhibitor’ category, it’s great to see new talent emerging here in Shetland.”
Awards will be made in four categories: Painting, Sculpture and Drawing, Craft and Design, Photography Film and New Media and First-time Exhibitor. The work will be judged by a panel of three judges prior to the opening of the show and the winners will be announced at the public opening on Friday.
As in previous years, category winners will receive a cash prize, thanks to the support from independent commercial sponsors, followed by a further award of £150 each from Shetland Arts to fund the creation of work for a group exhibition in 2017. This is seen as a great development opportunity for emerging and established artists to work collectively towards new work with support from Shetland Arts. Two prizes will be awarded in the Bairns’ Open.
Shetland Arts is once again very grateful to the following sponsors for their continuing support: The A9 Partnership Ltd., Ninian, Shetland Arts & Crafts Association, John Goudie and Vaila Fine Art.
Caroline Rees
Caroline Rees spent a large part of her creative career specialising in Architectural Glass. She gained recognition for her stylised sandblasted glass panels for public and private spaces and was fortunate to have met The Queen during the opening of a medical centre in Windsor for which she made a large glass installation. In 2013 Caroline turned her attention to paper, enjoying the immediacy and freedom from the technical constraints associated with glass. Every morning, whatever the weather, Caroline walks the cliff path of the beautiful Gower Peninsula. The people she meets the dramatic coastal landscape and views across the bay to the ‘lovely, ugly town’ of Dylan Thomas’s Swansea inspire her work. The scenes are re-imagined in her studio and the drawings are transformed into linear patterns which exaggerate the decorative characteristics of her surroundings. She likes to create quirky humorous papercut designs which make you smile.
