South West exhibition goes virtual to help artists in lockdown

Artists of all ages and skill levels from around the region have been encouraged to participate in the 2020 South West Virtual Arts Spectacular, with the first workshop taking place next Wednesday.

Project coordinator Lisa O’Neill said the event aimed to create an outlet for artists to support their livelihood and sell their art or enter it in the competition.

With all the events in the South West that got cancelled this year, we felt there was a gap for the artists that have got all this work ready to show.

Seven free live online workshops with professional artists include sessions in painting, photography, polymer clay, with more to be announced soon.

“There’s a lot of youth still at home and we want to try to include and encourage people of all abilities,” Ms O’Neill said.

“It will be 10 people on a Zoom conference with the artist and they’ll be doing their art project as if they were in a classroom.”

An online competition will take place from May 10 to June 7, with $3450 in prize money up to be split across winners in all age and art categories.

“With the online competition, they can take a photograph of their artwork and upload it to Facebook and it’ll be like it’s an art gallery with all of the details and the category they’re in,” Ms O’Neill said.

Ms O’Neill encouraged everyone to get involved and have a go.

The main reason we put it on was because we knew there was a lot of artists at home and a lot of kids at home.

“The theme is colour my world 2020, so however you see the world now.”

Winners will be announced on June 13.