Art showcase returns for 44th show

A CHERISHED annual showcase of artistic talent from the Bellarine and beyond is back this Easter after a three-year pandemic pause.

Under the new name of the Bellarine North Easter Art Expo, this year’s art show will exhibit hundreds of paintings and include two new categories; photography and glass.

Prior to COVID, the exhibition had been staged for 43 consecutive years, and Bellarine North Rotary club member Caroline Rickard said the years of isolation had strengthened the event organisers’ belief in the importance of people coming together.

“We have survived three years of many changes,” she said.

“We’ve learnt how to be isolated, from family and friends, we’ve learnt different ways to connect with people who mean something to us. We have learnt ways to get our supplies without leaving the house but most of all we have missed attending big community events.”

The judge of this year’s art works is decorated painter, tutor and artist Paul McDonald Smith who was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in 2005 for services to the Visual Arts as a painter and lecturer.

Online entry submissions for the Art Expo are open until March 13, and the show will be back on its regular Easter date on April 8-9 at Drysdale’s Christian College.

Paintings displayed throughout the weekend will be for sale with collection at the conclusion of the Expo on Sunday afternoon.

For more information visit, www.bellarinenorthrotary.org.au