Local artists came out in force to support THEMUSEUM Saturday night at The Brush Off event. This live painting event was AWESOME, and you’ll be kicking yourself if you missed it. The artists generously donated their time and also donated the work produced, with all proceeds going to THEMUSEUM. The fabulous (and I do mean fabulous) Wyndham Art Supplies from Guelph came through as a massive supporter, providing paints, stretchers, and easels. That store will blow your hair back.
For the thumbnail pics of all the works produced (above), you’ll find the artist’s name in the alt text if you hover your mouse cursor over the image. The artists were:
Chris Austin
Meredith Blackmore – 1st prize!
Elizabeth Goose
Nik Harron – runner up!
Jennifer Janik
Leanne Lang
Sang-jin Lee
Stephen Levigne
James Nye
Luisa Pariselli
Carmen Peters
Laura Renwick
Raine Shen
Heather Soeder
James Spencer
Stela Topolcic
Todd Tremeer
Michael Vickers
David G. White – my brother from the very same mother
Want to support the artists? Click through on the links above and buy their work! The average Canadian artist makes only $8000 per year, so these local makers really need our support. They seem like the least-affluent group to be tapped to give stuff away, so massive props to this crew for making it happen, regardless. Hopefully future events will adopt a model where the artists get paid, as seen with the BOX Art Show & Sale and Art Allies . Everybody’s gotta eat.
THEMUSEUM sold 175 pre-event tickets and then a whopping additional 175’ish bought tickets at the door ($17). The bar sold out of mixed drinks halfway through the night from the heavy and unexpected traffic. One of the paintings donated for the silent auction was bid up to $400, and all were a bargain, starting at $50. Hopefully a revenue positive night for THEMUSEUM.
Click through for an unreasonable number of pictures from the event. My photos are available for sale. Interesting trades considered…
Got it: half-hour rounds, vote with ballots, crowd-favoured artists move forward to later rounds. Go.
…and the artists.
Here’s how the medium behaves. Acrylic for tonight. Speedy drying.
Primarily, I came out to support my brohemus, David G. White (centre), who…
stepped outside of his usual medium of oils + massive canvases…
to try something new, fast, and very public.
The setup, early in the evening.
Artist Laura Renwick (top)
Great space. Props to whomever lit this. We were wondering about that.
Some artists were showing work on the 2nd level.
Round 1. My good friend, artist James Nye at right. Artist Stephen Levigne at left.
Like how this one came out of James.
Artist Nik Harron (red)
Artist Elizabeth Goose pouring…
with cool effect.
Artist Leanne Lang, painting on the floor. You’ll see why.
Artists are often very private people, or at least private in the act of creating stuff. This is a serious departure from the solitude of the studio.
DJ Charless delivered an awesome…
mix.
Ink!
Artist Luisa Pariselli
The incomparable Debbie Currie.
Artist Jennifer Janik
Great chat with Mr. Andrew Abouchar (right). He’s got some cool art-related stuff brewing.
I have a lots of pics of James. Very photogenic. This painting, viewed with old-school 3D glasses will…
blow your mind.
This was the most densely attended event I’ve ever shot here. But I love shooting in a crowd.
Leanne Lang lays the paint on heavy, and sometimes thinned, so horizontal is helpful.
Artist Chris Austin (top) and artist Meredith Blackmore. This was the first round, which was open category…
meaning you could paint whatever you like, which artist Luisa Pariselli did here. Melissa liked this one.
Vote by dropping your ballot in the bucket at your favourite artist’s easel.
Thick with people.
I tried a bunch of framing up subjects with dark characters in the foreground. Meredith Blackmore’s piece here.
Chris Austin and the skull motif.
THEMUSEUM chief, David Marskell (right). Robb Farago (left) and Jennifer Gough texting.
Nik Harron’s piece.
Snacks!
My card, sir.
THEMUSEUM’s Director of Exhibitions, the ever-smilin’ Laurel McKellar.
To get the speed, artist Dave White…
did his homework, bringing some primo stencils he designed.
Carmen Peters grooving.
Stencil + paint…
then free-style. Upside down + the speed of the round (30 minutes) reminded me of a crazy live painting gig I saw Denny Dent perform on campus. A long time ago.
Artist Laura Renwick painting and artist Meredith Blackmore chillin’ (left)
Carmen Peters was also painting on the floor.
Dave (left) and artists James Spencer (right), while Steph(!) looks on and drinks wine.
Hey, I’m not the only one here with a camera. Check out Christine Reid’s (centre) blogpost on the event.
Art Allies chief, Jacqui Murphy. Jac and I spend a lot of time working on the local creative ecosystem, so this kind of turnout gets us pumped up.
Artist Heather Soeder under a watchful eye.
Artist Todd Tremeer. Love the whimsy of his work.
Artist Luisa Pariselli (front) relaxing a bit. It’s cool how everyone chills on the stairs at various events here at THEMUSEUM.
Artist…
Michael Vickers, also rockin’…
the stencils…
while Laura Renwick works her easel.
Lots of new faces that night. Great to see.
Paintings were hung at the back after each round for the silent auction.
My pals, theatre-lighting guru Kirsten Watt and painter extraordinaire Melissa Doherty.
Wyndham Art Supplies owner Chris Ahlers emceed the night. Dave can’t say enough good things about Chris or his store. They carry an amazing array of product and have the expertise to really help you. And they remember your name. Worth the trip to Guelph (then you can rest up at the Woolwich Arms)
This video clip provided inspiration for the 2nd round “See”
Dave White
Meredith Blackmore
Nik Harron’s shorts. Also art.
Meredith Blackmore gunning it.
I’ll bet Chris Austin has a taller easel at home.
Carmen Peters did a cool macro view for the 2nd round.
Artist Raine Shen
Liked how Chris Austin was lit against the dark background.
Heather Soeder had awesome slippers…
and delightful whimsy in her work. I’m big on whimsy.
Dave and Heather.
There’s a vote for Dave, which is a vote for the future!
Leanne Lang laid down some thinned speckles.
There was a crazy amount of phone-based photo snappin’. Chris Austin’s piece here.
Dave brought the marketing collateral. Nice.
I love this painting from Heather Soeder.
Raine Shen.
Dave with Kirsten and Melissa. I was the only one not drinking beer, so I was the least funny guy by 10pm. Next time: 10 photos and then 3 beers for me.
This painting by Leanne Lang was like candy. Love the thick paint.
David chats with the troops.
Mr. Nye.
There was some serious shooting/spraying of paint as James explored various techniques.
Meredith always drew a crowd.
Hey! Photographer Joe Martz (centre smiling) is here. Hi Joe.
Steph Tanner, Dave White, and Jackie Yovanoff chatting in this action shot.
Rob Ring chatting with James.
Chris brings it home.
I think Laurel asked that I…
vet all future pics of her before posting.
Snacks!
Artist Sang-jin Lee made a bold move, ripping the canvas from his stretcher, folding it origami-wise, and…
painting it. Points for courage.
Meredith Blackmore
Chris Austin
Jennifer Janik
Nik Harron
Nik Harron
The inimitable Rob Ring.
Dave’s stencil, from…
source material…
became this.
Action shot of Heather Soeder.
Action shot of everybody.
More Heather. Panning and shooting. Been reading Bryan Peterson’s Understanding Exposure.
Stela Topolcic.
Todd Tremeer.
Meredith Blackmore, closeup.
Raine Shen piece (left)
Dave White with second stencil.
Leanne Lang, I think.
Dave White lays it down.
Meredith Blackmore
Hope [insert-last-name-here]? A cinq-a-septer/igniter, I think.
A tremendous night at THEMUSEUM!
And at the end of the night…
Meredith Blackmore took the top prize.
See, I *told* you there was an unreasonable amount of photos. I’m undisciplined and on my own program. If you like/hate what you see here, please comment. If you’re apathetic, well, you’re already done. Happy Monday, and of course…
Happy making,
DW
Well done, Dar! You totally captured the frenzied, creative chaos of the evening. A great time had by all. What a great community we’re apart of, eh? Keep on representin with your amazing photos and many thanks for your never-ending support!!
Hey Darin, many thanks for the photos – your timely documentation of community events is totally amazing! .. and thanks too for mentioning the artist income issue – I find it hard to believe (and disappointing) to see fundraising efforts by public institutions still paying off contributing artists with the promise of fun.
Wow, what an amazing event! I wish we could have been there, but how lovely to get to experience it through your lens.
Thanks for the great coverage, DW! Great shots!!
Great article and wonderful pictures!
Thank you for posting this!
Karen
Great shots Darin. Thanks for recording the event.
Great post for a great event. Awesome as always Darin. Now go get some sleep! 🙂
Thanks Jac and all commenters/tweeps! Great to get the feedback!
Scroll up for The Brush Off photos
DW
Great documentation Darin! I was there, but without this I would have missed most of it. 🙂 Ageed on the revenue sharing, it’s always nicer to see some compensation, even if it’s just a ticket for our spouses to be there with us. One simple approach, if the donation is in benefit of a registered charity, is to issue tax receipts for the value of the work auctioned. But hey, it was for a good cause and it was a ton of fun– I’d do it all over again. Cheers.
Wow, great post Darrin! It really was a fantastic event. I had no idea David was your brother, and I’m really happy to see how well you document his first piece of the night – definitely my favourite.
See you around,
P.
Darin, these are, as usual, wonderful photos. This was such an exciting event, and I feel awed by artistic community in this area … and those who are interested in, and support it. Thank you for capturing and featuring the heightened creative atmosphere of the evening!
Congratulations, White Brothers….
Dave, for his artistic abilities on canvas and Darin for that magical photographic eye that captured the spirit of the show. Both of you… we are very proud of your efforts… keep on doing what you are doing! Wish we were there… but we were… in spirit!
You have our continued support!! M & D
great pics from a great night.many thanks for posting them