Art exhibit bringing people Together Again

AFTER showing a selection of artists work in the Trades Hall Art Corridor in December, the Ballarat Society of Artists are starting off the new year with a new exhibition.

This time at the Ballarat Mercure on Main Road, the exhibit titled Together Again is showing until 8 March.

Assistant secretary of the Ballarat Society of Artists Sue Clarke said it’s exciting for all 24 local and emerging artists to once again be involved in an exhibition.

“We did plan to do it in September, but with COVID it’s been cancelled so we’ve been really happy to get something happening again because it’s just been so horrible for everybody,” she said.

“We’re all local artists, some hobby and some professional artists, it’s absolutely fantastic to do something again, it’s been devastating not to be able to express our art and show it to people and be a part of the arts community.

“It’s so important to be able to run something like this again after being isolated for the past 12 months.”

Around 100 works of spanning across a variety of mediums and subjects will be on display on the large wall space just beyond Mercure’s reception.

Ms Clarke said all the displayed artworks within the exhibition will be available for sale.

“It’s showing a wide variety of different artworks and styles, there’s a variety of artworks ranging from landscapes, portraits, printmaking, acrylic works, oil works just all different topics,” she said.

“There’s no set theme for it, it’s just mainly a chance to get together for an exhibition.

“For this exhibition, we requested all new works, we asked people to paint and create new pieces and everything is up for sale anywhere between $50 and $800.”

While Ballarat’s Society of Artists usually put together an extensive show at the Robert Clarke Centre over Easter, this year will be their first time showing at the Mercure.

“People can come in whenever they like during the week, Mercure’s open Monday to Sunday so it’s open whenever they are open,” she said.

“They have beautiful coffee and afternoon tea there as well, you can make a day out of it.

“Although we haven’t worked with them before, the Mercure often support a lot of local artists and hold regular exhibitions, we aren’t the first ones, the community’s looking forward to it happening.”