Tiny treasures
One of Art.b Gallery’s most successful and popular exhibitions, Tiny Treasures, will take place from 1 June this year. Members were invited to exhibit works of 20cm x 20cm (including the frame) in any medium, with 3D works measuring 20cm x 20cm x 20cm.
Says Anne Wells of Art.b Gallery: “Celebrating its eleventh anniversary, Tiny Treasures is one of our most loved and well attended exhibitions. It attracts collectors from all walks of life and offers committed art lovers the opportunity to buy a wide selection of coveted works at affordable prices.”
Wells continues that it serves as a fundraiser for the community gallery. “The maximum price that a work can sell for is R2 400, with the gallery taking commission towards its annual expenses. Our members include established artists, students, amateur and untrained artists.”
Art.b (Arts Association of Bellville) is a community orientated and innovative organisation, sensitive to new ideas and supportive of established and emerging artists from all cultural backgrounds. “Every year we’re overwhelmed with the quality of the works that form part of this exciting exhibition. We’d like to invite everyone to support this initiative,” Wells concludes.
Participating artists include, Willie Bester, Alet Swarts, Judy Woodbourne, Sophie Peters, Mzimasi Funo, Hennie Meyer, Juria le Roux, Brahm van Zyl, Theo Paul Vorster and many others.
How Tiny Treasures Evolved
11 years ago the committee decided we needed to supplement the very erratic income we generate from sales in the gallery. We brain stormed and decided on an exhibition of small artworks at a capped price.
For the first exhibition we allowed each artist to do 10 works. We had 700 works in the gallery, and it was really a mammoth task to coordinate. The following year we reduced the amount of works per artist to 5. We still had an enormous number of entries. Every year we phoned and invited well known artists that we know personally. For the tenth Anniversary we decided to reduce the enormous workload and make the exhibition more exclusive, “by invitation only”.
The participating artists benefit from the exhibition because we still only take our one third commission. But the artworks are still priced very low so artists are in effect helping to sponsor Art.b’s efforts to keep the Vuleka competition going.
The proceeds from the exhibition really help take a financial load off our community gallery and allow us some breathing space. The Vuleka competition has no corporate sponsor except advertising by The Art Times. First prize is R50 000. The Tiny Treasures fund raiser ensures that we have sufficient funds to sustain the competition.
