It’s been a busy winter with lots of activity at the art club. Good to see the visitor numbers are high with lots of members using the clubrooms on Tuesdays. We are open on Wednesday too, so join Gary and the gang to make art during the day.

Our renovations are finally complete with a new porch painted and looking great. Thanks to Dean for putting a door latch and applying the signage. Graeme installed a mini ramp in the inside making it easy to wheel the rubbish out the door.
Our hardworking Treasurer Derek McCorkindale has secured us an EFTPOS terminal to permanently live at the Art Club. This will help us to make sales at the clubrooms during the week and at the NIGHT Markets. It takes the Treasurer considerable time twice a year to obtain the machine for each exhibition.
Our 10 year ground lease with Wellington City Council is up for renewal and there is a complicated process to complete. Our maintenance schedule and Health and Safety documents are up to date. The notification process will happen soon.
Ryman Healthcare are sponsoring us again in our exhibition at the Rita Angus Village atrium ART EXPO in Kilbirnie. Entries close on Wednesday 30 October – please consider exhibiting, helping with the install and on the roster during the opening hours. Also please help to promote the exhibition to all your art loving friends by distributing posters into your community and sharing social media posts.
In November there will be a workshop with excellent teacher Andrew James – Fearless Drawing Workshop. Roger Key continues to teach each Tuesday 7-9pm for the rest of the year. Thursday Art with Charlotte filled the rooms with painters again in June and August and bookings are almost full for the November round.
Miranda Munro has a Transformative Art Workshop  “The Healing Energy of Colour” on 23 November – see our website for more details. There will also be a Night Market on this date starting at 4pm. Olympia, Graeme and Gary will open the doors, so come and paint with them. It’s good to have a presence and now we have an EFTPOS machine we can run a raffle or make sales more easily and our new entrance makes us more visible.
The Friday Portrait group is always looking for fresh faces to model, so please volunteer if you have a fresh face.
We have had an excellent year of making art and enjoying our newly renovated premises. Long may it continue
– regards Charlotte

Welcome to our new members: 

Pauline Bir, Corie Boley, Haley Clarke, Amanda Johnson, Miranda Munro, Robyn Smith and Joe Zhou

Remodeled entrance improves accessibility and visibility 

Another project completed recently by the current Committee is the remodel of the entrance. Graeme Calcott drew up plans and Coles Construction worked on the project. The door was moved from the side to the front of the porch, making the entrance visible from the street. A ramp has been built and when the paving is completed by the city council there will be level access both at the back and the front of the building. Cole moved Mary Mitchell’s palette mural to the right hand side of the building and Dean wrestled the hydrangeas into submission. They have burst back into life despite the severe pruning. A kind local donated paving stones for the garden and Dean attached door latches to hold the doors open.
Sharon organised the screen door to be repaired and Cole replaced the rotten exterior weather boards. A painter spent a few days painting the interior and exterior of the porch and weather boards. It all looks very smart now and hopefully the council will find the budget to repair the path and raise it to meet our ramp and prevent flooding. It certainly makes it easy to take the bins out and for artists to bring in their trolleys into the building.