The Newfoundland Emigrant Trail - Call For Entry

If you are interested in taking part please email for more information and call for entry form.

Call for Entry
Five Island Art Gallery
7 Cove Road

Tors Cove

Southern Shore, NL, CANADA

709.334.3645

www.fiveislandartgallery.com

September 18 – October 21, 2011

Being in Newfoundland is a strange and almost surreal  experience, making you feel simultaneously at home abroad. You are in another country with its own complex history, and on another continent a vast ocean away from Ireland, but you keep encountering and recognizing intimate echoes of home. (Michael Coady, Carrick-on-Suir)

To celebrate the tradition and history of the visual arts, to honour the people and the place of our common ancestry, and to build on our Irish-Newfoundland and Labrador connections project of 2010, the Five Island Art Gallery invites submissions for a juried exhibition of art works inspired by the story of emigration from the South East Coast of Ireland to Newfoundland during the 18^th and 19^th centuries.

Works submitted can include paintings, sketches, textile art and sculptures. We welcome two- and three-dimensional contemporary works that capture a piece of the story of the Newfoundland Emigrant Trail.

Jurying will take place by digital images, with selection based on interpretation, originality and technique.

The Opening Reception is scheduled for 2:00 – 5:00 pm September 18, 2011 at the Five Island Art Gallery in Tors Cove, NL and will run until October 21, 2011. Some of the artists, along with special guests from an Irish delegation visiting Newfoundland with the Festival of the Sea, will be in attendance.

the Newfoundland Emigrant Trail –

Intent to Enter and Conditions of Entry

Deadlines:

Intent to enter - April 15, 2011

Receipt of artwork – August 26, 2011.

1. To enter you must be a current or former resident of Newfoundland or Ireland.

2. All entries must be of original design and be an interpretation rather than a copy of an inspirational piece.

3. Entries must follow the theme of the exhibition and be a painting (oil, acrylic, watercolour, monotype, sketch, sculpture (clay or other), or textile art medium.

4. Entries must be made exclusively by the artist and not from kits or during a workshop. Collaboration is acceptable, but all contributors must be acknowledged.

5. Please provide a brief 100 words or less explanation of your piece and indicate any specific artifact, image, text or other… that inspired the entry.

6. The maximum size for any entry is 40 X 40 inches.

7. Entries must be suitably finished and ready to hang or display and accompanied by all necessary hardware and instructions.

8. To enter complete the Intent to Enter and Image Description Form (attached) and send it with two low-resolution (each less than 1MB) images in JPEG format of your entry or proposed entry sketches/drawings (one of the entire piece and the other, a close-up illustrating some detail of the work) via email by April 15, 2011, to fiveislandgallery@nf.aibn.com with the words “the Newfoundland Emigrant Trail” in the subject line.

9. Label each image with: Your Initials, Image Title (brief), Year, 1a (for full image) and 1b (for detail) ie. fe_fox island_2010­_1b.

10. Images may be used for publicity and promotion of the Newfoundland Emigrant Trail exhibit.

11. Entries must be free of any text or images that are protected by copyright, unless you have the expressed written permission from the person or institution that holds the copyright and you provide the written permission with your submission. Commercial imagery is not recommended.

12. It is expected that all works will be for sale, however, some exceptions may apply. Please indicate if your work is not for sale and why. The Five Island Art Gallery will receive a 40% commission on all sales. The remaining 60% will be paid to the artist.

13. Deadline for art submissions is August 26, 2011. Entries must be received at the Five Island Art Gallery,

7 Cove Road

, Tors Cove no later than this date.

14. The Five Island Art Gallery is insured for public liability and all reasonable care will be taken with art works while at the Gallery.

15. Accepted entrants will be notified by email no later than May 15, 2011.

16. The acceptance of an entry grants permission to the Five Island Art Gallery to use an image of the accepted work for promotional purposes.

17. Accepted works must be available for the complete duration of the show.

18. By applying you agree to abide by the terms and conditions listed herein.

 

Artist Profile - Susan Parsons

Susan Parsons is a Newfoundland artist who has been making art most of her life. Trained as a commercial artist, she worked, for a while, with an advertising agency but her real interest is in fine art. Whenever possible, she takes workshops with local and visiting artists, combining the various techniques she learns to create her own unique style. Oil is her medium of choice but she also uses watercolor, pastel, acrylic, graphite and has dabbled in print making and sculpture. Painting in whatever medium she feels suites the subject matter her paintings range from high realism to impressionism to abstraction.



Poppies in my Garden (oil)


"I've attended workshops taught by artists with such diverse styles as Gerry Squires, Barbara Pratt and Sterling Edwards. They are all completely different but I learn something valuable from every artist I meet and can apply it to my own work."

She finds that looking at art inspires her to paint as much as the scenery around her and visits art galleries wherever she travels. Whether perched on the rocks at Ferryland lighthouse or wandering Monet’s garden in Giverny she finds inspiration everywhere. Whe possible she paints on location or from her own photos. Susan has just started teaching art and hopes to do more when she retires from her day job.

Outport (Watercolour)

" I have almost fourty years of mistakes, discoveries and techniques I can pass along. I love the reaction when somebody tries something I've taught and it works for them."
 
She is currently the president of the Art Association Of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Her work is represented by Five Island Art Gallery in Tors Cove and the Step A Side Art Gallery in Burin plus various exhibitions and art shows throughout the year.

Special Note From Ireland to the Irish Rug Hooking Group

This blog is a special note sent to the Hooking Our Heritage rug hooking group who traveled over to Ireland in September 2010 with the festival of the Sea. The Five Island Art Gallery would like to send our deepest thanks to all the fine and wonderful people we met in Ireland. We are very excited for their trip to Newfoundland in September 2011. Lifelong friends were made and we are all very grateful for such a fantastic experience.

Great to see the rug hookers and the gallery going from strength to strength! Your wonderful group of rug hookers provided the mainstay and the backbone of the visiting Newfoundland and Labrador delegation to the Ireland Newfoundland Festival in Ireland's South East last September and you have left behind a host of friends and admirers across at least 4 counties. I was so pleased to see that all the enormous research, creative design and skillful craft that all your members put into this wonderful group project received such a positive and appreciative response from the Irish people in the several towns, counties and cities where your exhibition was on display. I know that we on the Irish organizing side probably worked you too hard, with a permanent exhibit in New Ross that had to be ''womanned'' every single day of the festival, whatever else was happening across such an extensive region, with day-long exhibits in such other towns as Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary and Borris, Co. Carlow  and with nimble responses to other unexpected opportunities/demands , such as from the schools in Carrick. But you never flinched and, when one also takes in your musical commentaries and performances, the group truly rose to every occasion.

        

So it was great that there was such a big turnout for your very special evening in New Ross. There you had many people who would have picked up along the way ,during their lives to date, some inkling of the closeness of the cultural, heritage and plain human links between the Avalon Peninsula, where your forbears settled, and South East Ireland ,whence they travelled across the ocean. But it was wonderful to see how your group's rugs, accompanying book and performances brought the reality home to them - in such a pleasant and enjoyable way - quite HOW close the connections are and how extensive is the scope of the shared frame of reference in looking at life .

        

Your visit has given fresh heart to all of us in Ireland planning for and promoting Festival 2011 in Newfoundland . We look forward to meeting up on 'The Rock' next September.    

Wally Kirwan,

Member and former Vice-Chair, Ireland Newfoundland Partnership Advisory Committee and Board Member, Ireland Newfoundland Connections.

Video from the Hooking Our Hertiage group on their visit to Ireland.

Produced by Bill Coultas from Springwater Productions.

Congratulations to Terri Leonard

The Five Island Art Gallery would like to congratulate Terri Leonard for winning an award. One of her paintings has been chosen by the Passe au Grille Women's Club, in Florida, that will be part of their booklet which advertises home tours.  Beginning in the month of March, the Passe au Grill Women’s Club will use Terri’s painting for the booklet cover, on tee shirts and posters.  Also Terri will have an exhibition at their tea party which is part of the home tours the Women’s Club offers. 



Painting chosen for award.



Terri Leonard was born in St.  John’s Newfoundland.  She specializes in watercolours and her subject matter includes landscapes, seascapes, street scenes, outport communities, and tropical scapes as she now lives in Florida during the winter. While there she studies at the Beach Art Center, and has completed numerous workshops with a wide array of talented artists.  A recent workshop with Robert Burrage that focused on acrylic painting opened up a new area for Terri, one that she is enjoying immensely and taking on with ease.  She began drawing and painting in 1988 and found it to be a  relaxing retreat from her intense work as a guidance counselor. Since her retirement in 1995 Terri devotes full time to painting on sight. She has exhibited in several group shows in St.  John’s and Florida, and has sold extensively throughout Canada and the United States to businesses, governments and individuals.

Get to know a little about Terri Leonard with a video interview. Produced by Bill Coultas of Springwater Productions and taken in the location of Tors Cove next to the Five Island Art Gallery.

2011 is here.

The New Year

There they stood atop the highest mound

Clear sky, flickering lights,

Anticipation in the air.

    10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1... 

            HAPPY NEW YEAR!

And the tango began.

Kaleidoscopes of color peppering the sky.

Painted popcorn bursting forth from every corner.

Dancing o're the rooftops,

Awakening the night.

Announcing the dawn of a new era,

Where peace, justice and equality abounds. 

...and we welcome in this Happy New Year.

...with blessings to one and all.

F. Ennis

Jan 1, 2011

Poem inspired by the view of fireworks throughout the
city neighbourhoods from Shea Heights.

Rug designed and hooked by Frances Ennis

Keep updated with our weekly blog post and facebook page about

the new and exciting things going on at the gallery in 2011.

Winter Solstice

Another winter is here and so we reflect on what inspirations have occurred over the last few winter seasons.

Blessings

The Cottage Blessing rug combines the ancient celebration of light with a modern day blessing.Irish blessings can be heard or seen displayed in homes around the world. In Newfoundland they are very popular. The rug was inspired by a plaque that was given to me (Maxine Ennis) that says:

May friends and family
Bring light to the cottage
Warmth to the hearth
And joy to the soul.

Blessings may be long or short, humorous or serious, but all are about
welcoming, warmth and finding the positive, often in difficult
circumstances.

Cottage Blessing

Designed by Maxine Ennis and Hooked by Maxine Ennis and Sarah Ennis

Poem by Frances Ennis

Dancing fingers of bold color
Stretching wide to awaken all that sleeps.
Whispers of song caressing souls.
Awaiting
Light after the longest dark.
Rejoicing
Day after the longest night.

Wishing you Peace, Joy and Happiness during the holiday season,
and throughout the New Year.

Winter Solstice

Designed and hooked by Frances Ennis

The Five Island Art Gallery wishes all our friends, family, and supporters many wonderful blessings for 2011.

A Whale of a Tale

New Group Rug Hooking Project 

This year the Five Island Art Gallery is sponsoring another group rug hooking project. This one will be the creation of 30 or more story rugs for exhibit and sale during Festival 500, July 2011, when choral groups from around the world gather in St. John's for a week or more of music and song. All of the rugs will connect to the festival's theme The Power of Song.

Collective Rug - A Whale of a Tale
The whale is an iconic image for Festival 500 and in August a large rug(45"x 60") that features a whale was designed by Frances Ennis and put on burlap to use for demonstrating rug hooking at the Gallery in Tors Cove. This was in conjunction with See How it's Made 2010, a project of the Department of Innovation Trade and Rural Development. There was great enthusiasm for the project with well over 100 individuals trying out their skill at it, but there's still lots more to be done. 

The rug is mounted on a floor frame that can sit four people at a time. 

We take pictures of people while working on it, with their permission of course, and these will be displayed on an electronic photo board when the rug is exhibited.

The working title for the rug is A Whale of a Tale and features a whimsical design inspired both by the song Jack Was Every Inch a Sailor and Dr. Valerie Long's arrangement of it. The rug highlights this verse: "The whale went straight for Baffin's Bay 'bout 90 knots an hour, and every time he'd blow a spray he'd send in it a shower..."

The whale is diving into the water with a grand spray coming out from it's spout in all directions. And there's music happening with fiddlers and flute players and dancers having a time under the spout and on top of the spout and on the back of the whale. There will be a 3-D element with people hooked separately and attached to the rug later. Jack will be one of them, in oilskins and sou'wester hanging on to the whale's tail and trying his best to turn him inside out. The bottom right corner has a choir of cod, complete with conductor, there's dancing squid...and who knows what else will appear as the rug progresses.

Get Involved

Any choirs in and around the St. John's area who would like to be involved in hooking a small piece of the collective rug can contact Laura Coultas at the Five Island Art Gallery.