I'm so excited about our upcoming exhibition - if you live in Wellington or can make a trip to be with us we'd love to see you there. Here are the details from our press release.



Joy`ance
a celebration of joy through creativity – 29th Aug to 5th Sept 2008
Amie, Cassandra and Deanna invite you to their exhibition of artworks created in beauty and...“with sheer joy!"

Wellington visual artists Cassandra Gaisford and Amie McCarron along with Christchurch jewellery artist Deanna Gracie have collaborated to bring you an exhibition of new works that expresses each one’s obvious feelings of joy. This they have done through the creating, and now the sharing of their artistry.
You are
invited to the opening and preview to be held Friday 29th August at 128 Featherston Street in Wellington from 5:30pm-7:30pm. The artists welcome one and all to share in a joyful evening of beautiful visual art, jewellery and superb New Zealand wine by Tohu Wines. And for fashion lovers, deNada will be showcasing items from their new spring collection.

2008 for Wellington artist Cassandra Gaisford, has brought a sense of immense pride with the success achieved through recently entered art awards. Having become a finalist in the 2008 Adam's Portrait award and the supreme winner of the 2008 Wai Art Awards, Cassandra has decided to share her joy alongside two other talented artists, for this most recent of exhibitions. Having participated in various overseas workshops including a Sumi Ink painting workshop in Hawaii with ex-pat artist, Max Gimblett, her latest works embrace the simplicity of pleasure and personal experiences that incite joy.

“I am inspired by the East – particularly Buddhism, and the ancient art of Sumi-E ink painting. As an intuitive artist with a passion for following my 'inner joy' I hope my work captures and celebrates the 'life-giving' aspects of art, and leaves viewers with a feeling of pleasure and contentment.”

In Joy’ance, Amie McCarron debut’s artworks resulting from her new found joy in encaustic painting; the ancient and beautiful medium of pigment in a beeswax and resin base. By building up layers of encaustic paint, sometimes scraping back to reveal the artworks history all the while fusing together with heat, Amie
creates paintings with brilliant luminosity and a rich delicate opalescence.

“I find joy in the act of creating itself. Encaustic allows me to express myself without words, working intuitively and allowing the images to reveal themselves in a way that is unpredictable but honest. Within my paintings are colours of warmth and sensuous beauty, added with the delicious scent of pure beeswax wafting from their surface.”

Deanna Gracie designs and creates contemporary jewellery from her home studio, in the beach side suburb of Southshore, Christchurch.

“I find joy in the most simple of things; the perfect shape of a ginkgo leaf, the ebb and flow of the tide, patterns left on sand by wind and rain, the gentle call of a gull as it soars in the air. These experiences fill my soul to overflowing and I race to my studio to start the next piece.”

In a collection of images from the coming Spring/Summer deNada collection, husband and wife team Nada and Tomek Piątek show just what can result from a little technical knowledge, plenty of playing, a splash of colour, an eye for composition and the poverty conditions of not being able to afford a photographer!

For Creative Director Nada Piątek, “...joy is seeing something... anything... grow as the result of much experimentation, laughter and imagination. It might become a garment, an image or even just a doodle that you could never have imagined when you began. The process of opening yourself up to creative possibilities is risky - it might just be awful. But when things come together and you creative something wonderful, that risk makes the reward so much sweeter!”

Opening Preview: Friday 29th August, 5:30pm - 7:30pm
When: 30th August – 5th September, 10:30am – 5:30pm
Venue: 128 Featherston Street, Wellington

“Art washes from the soul the dust of everyday life.” Picasso

Labels: Exhibitions and competitions