EXCELLENCE IN ARTS TEACHING, MAYOR'S GALA

Awards Night

Quite a while ago some of Hidden Talent Artists submitted my name for the Excellence in Arts Teaching award to be presented at the Mayors Gala this spring. Pearl Der organized the entry and Wendy Pfeifer and Sylvie Fergusson wrote letters of recommendation. To say the least. I was humbled and excited that my students would honor me with this nomination. Truly, the nomination was the reward!!

Wendy, Laura, Michelle and Joan.

Missing: Jeannette, Barb and Jeanne

Pearl, Donna, Sandy, Marla, Laura

On March 19 some of the Hidden Talent Artists and myself were all gussied up and had a pre award celebration at The Cajun House- What a fun and supportive group! I vamoosed early to attend the Mayor’s Private Champagne reception with my biggest fan, my husband Ed. We met other nominees and dignitaries and talked to past winners of the arts awards.  I had very stiff competition- Joan Bilau, Vocal Instructor        and Darrell Marko, Dance Instructor.

We later met up with the Hidden Talent Artists at the Reception and I saw many faces I haven’t seen in a long time…so wonderful to be able to gather the St. Albert arts community in one place!

Our evening was one of entertainment! And it was exceptional! There was a dance theater co production, a one act play, Jazz Trio, Ballroom dancing and the rock band Tupelo Honey. All of them with strong ties to our community.

I  was very relieved that we didn’t have to wait long- the Excellence in Arts Teaching was the second award of the evening, so after that we could all relax…Much to our surprise and delight… I WON!!! Many many thanks to all of you for your support and friendship!! I was beyond thankful for such recognition!

My Excellence In Arts Teaching Award

Thanks Jeanne!!

The Art of Hanging Art

Laura Watmough explaining how to hang art in your home.

The lovely Susan Jones and  gifted Photographer April from the St. Albert Gazette come by the studio to interview me on how to hang art work. I have many  gallery shows a year and my husband Ed hangs art in my clients homes, so I was happy to help out.

Here is the article:

The Art of hanging Art

Gallery hanging:

Now, homes are very different than galleries. There are times that I have to hang Hidden Talent Art SALOON STYLE- which means art from top to bottom on a wall. This method was used extensively in the French Academy of Art in order to exhibit all the art that was submitted for awards. This can still be seen in some museums  ( Louve) and private art collections.

The ideal situation would be that each artwork would have enough space around it to separate it from the others and show it off to its best advantage. In retail galleries, wall space is expensive and artworks from a popular artist would have the most prominent position.

When I hang student shows I try to have a theme or a dominant color- ex. animal art in a grouping or a bit of red in each area of the gallery. This helps with the “visual flow” and leads the viewer through the gallery on a hopefully very pleasant visual experience.

HIDDEN TALENT ARTISTS IN THE NEWPAPER!!

St. Albert Gazette Article 
March 2013

Hidden Talent Orchid Art Show Ribbon Winners!

 
Orchids mean prizes for St. Albert art school
The students at Hidden Talent Fine Art School are strangers neither to flowers nor to winning. At Edmonton’s annual orchid show, the representatives from St. Albert took home 14 ribbons, including four first places, in eight categories.
Instructor Laura Watmough is always thrilled to see her students excel in their lessons. To have them do well in competitions such as this is simply icing on the cake.
“We’re getting a lot more participation and we’re getting a lot more attention,” she said, explaining why more and more of her students are being recognized at the show. The overall quality of the group’s efforts is excellent, she said.
She added that it’s a natural fit for her to use orchids as teaching tools because they lend themselves to great art for numerous reasons.
“You can be very simple to very complex. They’re very easy to separate into petals … and there’s a huge variety from minuscule to very large so you can do an awful lot with your colour.”
Watmough isn’t surprised to see first-timers, even some of her youngest students, see such strong results so early on in their artistic careers.
“I think what happens is they start to discover the process of painting,” she said. “Once they get that, they get very excited and they can tackle any subject. The world of art opens to them.”
Hidden Talent’s students accounted for two first places, one second, and four thirds in the children’s categories, while the adults brought home two firsts and five seconds.

ORCHID ART SHOW WINNERS!

Hannah and Cole- Orchid Art Show winners!

This year was the first time Jr. Davincis ( ages 6-12) entered the Orchid Art Show which is held in Edmonton . How wonderful that we had ribbon winners in the youth category!

Rose W2^nd, Hannah B 1^st  Cole B 3^rd

Sydney's wonderful watercolor

Ava 3^rd, Sydney V 3^rd Jenna 3^rd.  

More winners!

Special mention to Bernadette Neumann and her son FRANK who were double winners. Frank took first and mom took 2 seconds. There is a lot of talent in this family!

Hidden Talent artist a wee bit older (!) also brought home more ribbons for spectacular artwork.

Michelle's winning art!

First place winners were Michelle Sawatsky and Joan Rever( Black and white entry!). Multi winner Yoon Joo Kim received second on three of her entries this year. Yoon Joo is an avid orchid grower and Michelle has joined the Orchid Society and helps the rest of us identify and pronounce the names of the orchids.

Joan took first with a beautiful black and white Orchid

We hope these artists have inspired more to submit their artwork next year. Current information says the Orchid Show will be held in early April, 2014. Enough time to get a few painting ready??