This May, St. Columba’s Art Group hosted its impressive fifth annual exhibition and, once again, their talented and diverse collection has expanded even further. On walking into the church hall, I was met by a sea of colours and far more exhibits than I could possibly have imagined. The effect was stunning, a visual feast which my fellow visitors and I quickly became part of. Work ranged from bold oils and watercolours to intricate etchings and sketch-work. The use of mixed media was in abundance with every manner of material having been made use of to create pleasing and, sometimes, unsettling impressions. There were sculptures on display as well as woodcarvings. Aware of the talented children in the Parish, the Group accepted contributions from children which, again, added to the exhibition's diversity as well as delighting those children who had never seen their work on public display before. As I wandered around savouring the work on show, I genuinely wondered whether contributors to events such as the Tate’s Turner Prize Exhibition could learn something from the work here.
It’s often argued that inclusiveness can devalue the quality of work on offer. I’d suggest that the work on show here clearly demonstrated that the opposite is true. The Group meets fortnightly with members from a huge variety of backgrounds which is, I feel, central to the work it produces. The one common core, though, is the Group’s Catholic ethos and for me, as a visitor to the exhibition, its work is a metaphor, in every sense, of the true meaning of the word ‘Catholic’, universality. The universality that art can bring to religion was seen in the fantastic mix of visitors to this exhibition from members of the Church of England, Baptist and other faiths as well as the several hundred Parishioners, all of which added a truly ecumenical flavour to the event.
In addition, it seemed to me that the organisation and presentation of this event couldn’t, from what I saw, be faulted and easily matched the professionalism I’ve seen at many mainstream art exhibitions. Congratulations to all involved in this exhibition, it was firstclass and thoroughly enjoyable.
And now the insider’s view:
The day started early on the 12th May for the members of St Columba’s art Group as we prepared for our fifth annual exhibition. Our aim - to show people of the community what we do and hopefully inspire some of them to have a go themselves.
The exhibition opened on Saturday afternoon with a private viewing which was a lively well attended occasion. This was followed by shows on Saturday evening and all day on Sunday. Over 200 pieces were displayed in many different styles and mediums. This year we had abstracts, water colours, woodcarving, photography and much more.
We were thrilled at the number of visitors who attended the exhibition and the positive feed back they gave us. We were pleased to see how many joined in the voting for their favourite picture and the results of this will be announced soon It was a great compliment to us that so many people gave up some of their precious free time to support us. Thank you, without your support there would be no exhibition.
We are a small group of artists ranging from the professional to the enthusiastic amateur. We come together to support each other and share our knowledge. We always welcome new members, so maybe we have inspired some of you to join us.
Jacquie Syms
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Art Group Exhibition
— winning picture
The winner of the ballot for best picture in the exhibition was Deborah Bennett with her painting ‘Strelitza Abstract’ shown here. Placed second was Jacquie Syms with ‘The Passion of the Dance’ and third was again Deborah Bennett with ‘Energy Island’ . |  |