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WELCOME!

Welcome to our website!

BAVA are a group of artists ranging from beginners, intermediate to professional . . . focusing on supporting and developing the talents of local artists to benefit the cultural community of the Banana Shire.


We organize and co-ordinate various workshops through the year and are active participants in cultural events such as the annual Brigalow Arts Festival, Callide Valley Show and individual and combined exhibitions through out the Banana Shire.


We provide information on our calendar of events including workshops, art competitions and Flying Arts details.


Please feel free to leave any comments! We are happy to answer any questions you may have. If you are an artist or aiming to take up some creative pursuits ... please JOIN US! We are eager to hear from you.

Art news from other art groups are also most welcome!



Friday, 9 May 2008

~ May Artist @ Kristine's ~


Paintings by Bronwyn Blair Groundwater
"I grew up on a farm between Gympie and Maryborough. I drew and painted as a child. My mother, and my paternal grandmother, both painted, and I am grateful to my mother for encouraging me with gifts of art supplies throughout my childhood and youth.

I admire those artists who have achieved photo realism; however I also love art which just makes me happy, paintings which are colourful, with great use of light and shade (the more 3D a painting looks the better), and that makes me FEEL something!
Sometimes that feeling might be a yearning for the peacefulness, lightheartedness, and beauty of an idyllic happy country (rural) lifestyle; or a memory from the beloved fairytales which Mum read to my sisters and I as children.

I have been exhibiting locally for several years, involved in about a dozen exhibitions so far. I can remember my surprise, after just my first or second joint exhibition, when the local librarian at the time suggested I have an art exhibiton of my own, a solo exhibition! I was touched by her faith in my artistic ability, however back then I was too overwhelmed with motherhood to spend much time on developing my own talents.

There is so much to paint, so many things I want to try! However sometimes I don't paint for weeks, due to feelings of inadequacy. What finally makes me pick up a paintbrush might be a looming deadline, eg a joint art exhibition or the Brigalow Arts Festival."

Friday, 2 May 2008

~ Something new & exciting! ~

Some of our BAVA members are involved in a great new project!

Here is their new site :-)

http://thepostcardcollaboration.blogspot.com/

Sunday, 20 April 2008

BAVA @ Brian Kehoe

Well done,Everyone.
It was a lovely day, 12 participants worked through the day with Brian so easily. Everyone produced very effective drawings with this charcoal concept.
The poses of the nude were very popular (from photo -not life)& so easily drawn with the charcoal. The effects are forgiving to any level of artist.
Keep up the great work & practice. I thinking capsicum......then maybe a pear.
Great learning environment for our beginners & also experienced participants.

Thank you to Brian & participants for supporting the day. Blue Care Respite Centre for a great Venue. Maria for your updates on the BAVA Blog & Gail for your help with the BAVA program for the day. Looking forward to seeing some BAVA artworks in the upcoming Local Show & our BAVA workshop in June with Hebel & Sandstone.
Having Fun with ART :)
Kym :)



Glenda (L)~very proud of her works for the day & Judy (R) ~ gifted in this area with the trees & landscape.




Participants inspired outside looking at trees with Brian. Learning the gestalt technique with Trees also.

~ Brian Kehoe 'Drawing' Workshop ~

sharpen those pencils . . .


Brian demonstrating a technique . . .


viewing some of Brian's examples . . .



getting ready for a great day!



some of the diligent students . . .



Here we all are at the end of the day :-)




Thank you Brian for a very informative & fun day. Thanks also to Kym for organising everything.

Wednesday, 2 April 2008

The Postcard Collaboration!

Hello Artists & Friends,
An invitation to participate & explanation of The Postcard Collaboration! From Artist ~ Peta Lloyd
Email ~toadhalllloyd@westnet.com.au

You may be interested in participating yourselves, or know of other artists who may be interested, so please pass this info onto others in your group!
Please contact Peta Lloyd, if you would like to participate in this collaboration.

Hello to you all! both current and potential collaborators!!!

The altered book collaboration which began in 2006, is currently being exhibited at The Mill Gallery in Yeppoon Qld, there have been lots of positive comments from viewers, as well as enquiries from other artists about participating in the next collaboration. So ...........
This is your invitation to participate as well as a brief explanation about the next collaboration and what it will entail.

Donna (Malone) - a current participant, and I spent some time together a couple of weeks ago and we came up with the following exciting idea (well we were very excited about it and hope you will be too!!): "The postcard collaboration"

Up to eight artists will make up a group, so we may have 1, 2 or more groups operating at the same time, depending on how many people are interested.
The collaboration will work like this:
Each artist will prepare a postcard for each member of the group and one for themselves. (That will be up to 8 postcards).

The postcards will be a standard postcard size which is : 15cm x10cm .
The materials for the postcard are limited only by your imagination and what you are able to comfortably post!

Each artist will also come up with a theme for their postcards one theme for each round, ie 6 themes, either completely different or perhaps related in some way eg a ‘nature’ theme, birds, trees, insects, weather, animals, flowers.
There will be six rounds over a twelve month period.

Each round will be over the period of 2 months ie you will have 2 months to ‘alter’ the eight postcards you will receive (remember one that you have retained of your own and seven others from seven different artists)

At the completion of 2 months, (or before if you are a super quick worker!), you will post back the seven postcards, that is each postcard that you received you will post back to the same artist who sent it to you, (you will have 7 postcards to post as you will keep your own from each round), some of you may prefer to post that postcard back to yourself so as to continue the theme of sending it through the post!

Part of the idea of this collaboration is that the postcards will be posted twice, the first posting will be from the originator who will post one to each of the artists in their group. The second posting will be the artists each posting back the postcard they received (and have now altered) to the originating artist. So when you alter the postcard you will need to take into account the fact you will need to address the postcard back to the originating artist. And also allow some space to put your own return address on the postcard, as well of course as the postage stamps.

Donna and I gleaned this idea from another artist, Lenore Tawney, some of you may be familiar with Lenore's postcard series of works? (I have seen them in a book titled “Signs on the Wind” Lenore Tawney Postcard collages, essay by Holland Cotter)

You can alter the postcards with almost anything so long as it will stay on and is able to be accepted by the post office as ‘postable’. You can paint, collage, sew, glue, staple, tape etc materials such as paper, fabric, found objects (as long as they are relatively flat, use acrylic paints, inks, pens, pencil etc etc in the altering of the postcards!

I hope the above makes sense to everyone!
What I will need from you now is a commitment to participate! The deadline for this is: 13.04.2008.

Monday, 31 March 2008

"Drawing by Seeing" with Brian Kehoe.


Date: 19th April, 2008
Time: Set up 9. 15 am
Start 9.30 am – 12.30 pm
- Lunch -
Resume 1.30 pm - 4.00 pm
Venue: TBC
Cost: $40
Payment due 12th April!
Cheque, money order or cash to Kym Simms. Early payment confirming your attendance.
Maximum 12 participants.

Shared morning tea, something small. Everyone can bring along their lunch or
leave for lunch. Tea & Coffee provided. Water bottle needed.

The workshop is designed around various theories of drawing which have been drawn
together by a practising artist who is head of an art department at New York
University, John Torreono. The ideas are not new.
Briefly, the approach taken varies from the traditional in that it aims at
assisting drawers to see the subject in a different way. The outline of the workshop
is as follows:
• Brian will take the drawings completed beforehand as a basis for understanding
where the artist is. As far as I am concerned in this exercise there is no good or bad drawing. Without reference to any particular drawing, I shall discuss matters we should be aware of in the drawing process and point out some desirable features in an effective drawing. Guided practice.
• Next Brian will focus on the line itself and, using the drawings of some masters,
Picasso, Matisse and others who used the line very effectively, to indicate the nature of the constancy of line and its importance.
Guided practice.
Drawing by Seeing “Gestalt” approach to a drawing.
Tutor—Brian Kehoe Art Teacher Emu Park & Rockhampton
Techniques by John Torreano (Artist & Lecturer)
Any questions about the workshop or requirements
Contact:- Kym Simms - Email: bava@westnet.com.au

• At this stage Brian will demonstrate how, in drawing a subject, we might overcome the tendency to draw from part to part and take a more holistic approach (going from the whole to the part rather than going from the part to the whole). This will also include ideas as to how the artist could more easily reduce the three dimensional subject to two dimensions. More practice.
Presuming there is time Brian will progress to the making of marks (as distinguished from line) and using Van Gogh as a model, show how drawers could learn a great deal from the elegance and variety of marks in the works of that master. Even more practice.
Brian intends to have supplementary notes available. The topics Brian has indicated are only a portion of the theories attributed to Torreano but thinks those outlined will be sufficient to keep us busy. Perhaps another workshop would be desirable later in the year. What is required takes only twenty minutes.
Intending participants are requested to take a sheet of cartridge paper (about A3 size), and with a 2B pencil, complete a drawing of a kitchen chair, if possible, an old wooden one. In this exercise there is no such thing as a good or a bad drawing and no marks out of 10. Restrict yourself to 20 minutes.* Most important of all, bring it to the workshop :)(The drawing not the chair.)

MATERIALS required for the workshop:
• Bring your own cartridge paper otherwise there will be Cartridge paper available at the workshop
• Sticks of vine charcoal (not the compressed type). The best are the thicker type, about ten to a box. At least one stick per person. Soft charcoal (not compressed) available at Biloela newsagents, MiArt Rockhampton or Gladstone Picture Framing on Central Lane. Not real thin, pencil size thickness.
• One Faber Castell kneadable eraser .(other brands are not suitable for the purpose.)
• A supply of 2B pencils.
• Easel
• Notebook
• Camera
• Lots of enthusiasm
To bring along for subject matter it would be good to have a few capsicums, a few bananas, an odd chair or two, a few large leafy pot plants of various types, a variety of odds and ends which are good to draw, and, for later in the workshop,
someone to sit or stand as a model. (Anyone interested to let Kym know!!)

BAVA @ Flying Arts ~ Coptic Binding Journal Making Workshop.



Di Tait’s Coptic Book Binding Workshop

Coptic binding is an old and well recognised style. The main feature of this binding is that the book opens flat so it is easy to use as a journal or drawing surface.

About the artist: Diane Tait is a Sunshine Coast book and paper artist. She has been teaching this art form for the past five years. Her work has been exhibited in Brisbane, Boondall, Lismore and in local galleries where she also sells her handmade books and journals.






Ladies enjoyed two days of Journal Making with the Coptic Binding Method.
Up to six Journals were made by each person & they are all very keen to make more, if the technique stays in our minds for the next time.

Well Done Ladies, the books look fabulous & we were very lucky to have three ladies from Yeppoon enjoy the weekend with us.
Thankyou Di & everyone for attending and I look forward to seeing these lovely journals showcased in the future.











Saturday, 22 March 2008

~ Happy Easter ~

To all our visitors & friends, we hope you have a wonderful Easter with your families :-)

Tuesday, 4 March 2008

BAVA has been tagged . . .

I have passed on this tag to BAVA (I know I'm biased but I think our group as a whole deserves this!)

PLEASE send any of your items to either Kym or myself, Maria :) It can be anything art related (a sketch you've done, some thoughts on a subject, a 'quote', a joke even!) The more interesting & fun things we can share the better . . .

Hope you all have a great week!
cheers,
Maria