ENTRIES for the Rotary Club of Kerang Annual Easter Art Show are now open, offering new and experienced artists the chance to showcase their work.
Rotary Club event coordinator Jenny Kelly said visitors can expect a high standard of art.
“Often when the guest judge arrives on the Good Friday, they usually come back to me and say they didn’t expect it to be such quite a high standard and are impressed with our set up,” she said.
“The show is the major annual fundraiser for Rotary but it’s also a good opportunity for artists both here in the region and around the state to show their works and for folks to enjoy a high-quality art show.
“All the artworks are for sale, and we usually make a good number of sales which helps the artists.
“It’s open to all budding artists and often people call me and say they’ve never entered an art show before, and I tell them there’s all standards of artwork there, a variety of prices and anything fits in.
“We even have the Youth Encouragement Award category for 13- to 18-year-olds.”
Victorian oil painter Ross Paterson is this year’s guest judge of the majority of the prize categories.
The raffle prize pool includes a piece from the 2024 Shire Acquisition winner.
“The Gannawarra Shire Mayor selects the Shire Acquisition piece to be displayed in the council, which is open to all entrants,” Mrs Kelly said.
“Each year I contact the previous year’s Shire Acquisition winner and see if they will donate a prize for the raffle, so this year we have a painting by Jan Lawler from Balranald.”
The show will also feature organisations such as the Men’s Shed and Golden Rivers Artists who will have small pieces of their work available for sale.
“We always encourage other organisations to get involved and do a bit of promotion,” Mrs Kelly said.
“The Men’s Shed come have been a big supporter and have come along most years with some of their timber seats and smaller wooden items for sale.
“A lot of Golden Rivers Artists members enter the show, and the group usually have a table of unframed artworks and cards and things that their members have made.
“The Museum Historical Society has a table with some odds and ends and sometimes they have article for people to guess what it is.
“Local Landcare, Cycling Without Age and Park Run are going to have a little bit of info about that, so the whole community really gets involved.”
Mrs Kelly also extends her gratitude to businesses around the region for supporting the art show.
“We’re particularly very thankful for all the sponsors we have; whether monetarily or supporting in other ways we have an amazing amount of support from local businesses,” she said.
“At this time a lot of the businesses are supporting the Lake Meren Festival, and they can’t give to everything so we’re grateful that businesses that do support Rotary – a lot of them every year.”
The Annual Easter Art Show launches at 7pm on Good Friday, April 18 with award presentations, wine and finger food, and the first chance to peruse the art for sale, and is open until Easter Sunday.
As the show is open to artists around the state, Rotary have organised collection points to accommodate entrants.
Entry forms are available from Rotary Club of Kerang directly or contact Jenny Kelly on 0400 571 266.
