The annual Woodend Lions Art Show is always a blast. The experience of three days of showing hundreds of works, created by local artists, to a constant and appreciative audience is exciting and a warm contact with the people of our village and interested drop-ins. The works range across many media, many subjects and a cornucopia of styles. Both experienced artists and people in the early years of their creative output are there hung together. The junior section is growing and is full of talent and telling insights.
When the show is ready to begin, the interior of St Ambrose Hall is lit up and the snaking display boards are packed with framed work. Behind this perfection has been months of work: artists have been contacted and entries gathered, and advertising, from printed posters to social media, has been widely promulgated. The catalogue has been drawn together and sent to the printers in a predictable last-minute rush so that all contributors can be included. Luckily we have a creative and dedicated mind among us to pull us through. It takes many hours. This work is the engine that pulls the train.
Then, in the week before the show, works were gathered and carefully stored, with a documented paper trail for each piece. Community members jumped at the chance to help with this meticulous and sometimes intense task. And, when the display boards needed to be moved from the shed to the hall, eight more community members answered the call, bumping in the display boards and assembling the structure in no time flat. We were really gratified by such generous help.
The night of the hanging is a monster. This year, 265 works were hung, repositioned, shifted again and then tweaked until everything was just right. Five hours of this saw some tired leonine folk very pleased with the result. Many of us have done this for years and are getting the hang of it. This year a couple of locals joined in and it was a real boost.
The show awards prizes and the day of judging is a stirring penultimate event. Two judges , this year Adam Cusack and Amanda Marburg, artists of substantial achievement in their own right, graciously accepted our invitation to make the difficult choices. Their deliberations and decisions were recorded to become a YouTube clip (Woodend Lions Art Show 2023) . That we have a member who has been behind the camera all his working life is a great good fortune. That he drove back through the night to film for us and then spend many hours editing the takes into order is a testament to his generous will to help. The number of people that viewed the film is inspiring. Many people who came to see the show had seen works on the video and it piqued their interest. It’s a great addition to our outreach.
Three artists generously donated works to be offered in the raffle this year: Helen Cottle, Carolyn Marrone and John Walsh. The quality of the prizes certainly sparked interest in buying tickets.
The decor of the show was completed with plants borrowed from a local nursery (Gordon Muir at The Gardiner’s Path), an elaborate string of lights was hung from the ceiling, the YouTube film was put on repeat on the stage and recorded music wafted into the corners.
Delta V Experts, a locally based company, unasked, offered to sponsor the photography prize, in memory of John Blom, a welcome act from long-time friends of the show.
The morning of opening, the flags went up, and the banners and signs were put out throughout the town. After that build up, we opened on the Saturday at 10am and the once tranquil hall filled with people ready to buy art for their homes: people keen to see their friends’ paintings, people excited to see their work on the wall and slow-walking art lovers who spending time to drink it all in. From the greeting at the door, to the raffle desk, to the sales desk, to the conversations on the floor of the hall the vibe was fun and friendly. Of the works hung, 34 per cent sold. The Sunday and Monday ran on as it had begun. Many people who work at the show, Lions and dear friends who come back to help, love the atmosphere and the contact with the community. Wandering the floor of the show and chatting to folk about what they’re seeing is my pleasure.
Artists put something of themselves into each work and the delight many show at making a sale or many sales is lovely to see. The junior prize winner positively danced with delight and many photos were taken next to the intensely rendered ‘Tiger’s Eye’. People who bought were clearly pleased with the new beauty they were taking home.
The pack down when the show closes is briefly hectic. Getting 256 works out of the door in the right person’s hands relies on the paper trail and a crew of runners to walk with people to their pieces and check before they leave. It’s all good natured and a little urgent. Many extra volunteers bumped up our numbers and made that work. The helpers who carried the art boards in arrived and disassembled and bumped them out. We were so relieved and grateful. Many of us have been at the show all weekend. Inevitably some folk forgot their pieces, were called and came to pick up; this is a given. The raffle was drawn and the delighted winners came rushing, fizzing with excitement.
Any group needs people of a number of different skills, and for us to have people to maintain the floats, record the takings, maintain the details of the purchase transactions, record the details of the exchanges and get the money out to the artists is central to the credibility of the enterprise.
We Woodend Lions are a smallish group with a range of skills who, with the help of our friends in the community, pulled off this extravaganza for the forty-eighth year. The benefits will flow into the community over this next year.
It was a great show!
Would love to get a contact number for artist Susan Key as all her works in the show were sold and my daughter is really interested in buying one of her works if she has others.