SAA - IAAA10 Review
Back for its second year, the SAA’s event was even bigger and better for 2010. Held at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London between 22nd and 24th July, ‘It’s all about Art’ consisted of three days of inspiring art workshops and demonstrations, with many of the professional artists from ‘The Painting and Drawing Channel’ and the SAA members’ newsletter ‘Paint’.
Each day of the event was brimming with eager artists ready to learn more about painting and drawing. There was a whole host of subjects to choose from as well as an array of mediums, from the more well known such as watercolour and acrylic to the more diverse including Chinese brush painting and oil pastels.
There was such a great atmosphere throughout and it was wonderful to see so many of you enjoying your SAA event. The SAA team had great fun during the three days and we’ve received so much fabulous feedback from you telling us how much you enjoyed it too.
Artists & Experts
Each of the 22 featured artists running the demonstrations and workshops brought a
different subject, style or medium to the table, giving all of the artists attending the event a real choice of things to paint...some even commented that there were far too many things to choose from or do, in one day!
Renowned artist Terry Harrison was demonstrating at the event and during a demonstration he said; “What’s great about this show is that the demonstrations and workshops are all free. There’s also the opportunity to meet and talk to the artists”.
Popular artist Marilyn Allis had a great time running workshops at the event, she said: “It’s been absolutely brilliant, everyone has done really well. I’ve kept it really simple with the primary colours and I don’t think we’ve had one person throughout the show that hasn’t achieved something really nice, which is brilliant!”
Alongside the professional artist areas were some fabulous art expert stands providing inspiring demonstrations and information on everything from how to make paint and how to create your own paint brush, to how to cut your own mounts and how to get your very own book published.
Home Shop Live
The ‘SAA Home Shop’ catalogue was brought to life as the ‘SAA Home Shop Live’. Bigger and better than last year, this exciting shop filled the centre of the Business Design Centre. Many artists enjoyed taking a wander around the shop, enjoying the freedom of taking their planned purchases to workshops and demonstrations before buying them at their convenience at one of the many till points.
For those who were unsure about how to use some of the products, the SAA were on hand to give guidance at a special ‘How to with the SAA’ stand. SAA professionals were available to demonstrate how to use a number of the more unusual items, from Scale Dividers and Pantographs to Tracedown Wax Free Transfer Paper and Pentel Water Brushes.
Members & Art Groups
‘It’s all about Art’ was also a fabulous place to meet other SAA members and artists, by painting together in workshops, sitting in together on demonstrations or taking in the wonderful paintings on display in the ‘Artist of the Year 2010 Gallery’. The event also attracted many groups of friends, allowing everyone to have the chance to share their artistic passion with friends and family.
It was so exciting to see so many budding artists all under one roof and to witness so many professionals teaching so many students so many things! Among those arriving en masse were art groups whose members had come to the event from all over the country, and it was fantastic to meet so many enthusiastic and dedicated artists.
The 23 members from Totton Art Group from near Southampton hired a coach to travel to the event on the Saturday. They were particularly impressed with Hashim Akib’s demonstration, “He makes you think differently about your whole approach to painting,” said Anne Hamerton. “And Roy Lang is as fantastic as ever. He has been twice to demonstrate at our monthly meetings and he feels like an old friend!”
The members of the Old Ford Art Group from East London were impressed with the amount of choice at this year’s event, organiser Sue Hargraves said; “The great thing about coming here for the day is that it gives you a taster of so many different styles, and it’s much better watching the artists live than just seeing them on the television or copying their work from a book.”
SAA Artist of the Year Awards 2010
One of the highlights of the Saturday was the ‘SAA Artist of the Year Awards 2010’, when SAA Chairman John Hope-Hawkins presented this year’s winning entries and congratulated the artists. Artist of the Year winner Robin Storey was at the event to collect his award for his fabulous winning painting ‘The Bridge’.
A Big Thank You
We are already receiving lots of great feedback from many of you on everything that you enjoyed and that went well at the event, together with things that we can improve on for future events. We would like to say a huge ‘thank you’ to all who came to support this event and of course to the artists and staff who worked throughout the event to make it such a success.
We look forward to seeing you next year!
If you’d like to give us your feedback on the event please get in touch via email IAAA@saa.co.uk or by post to Head Office, we’d love to hear your views and we will take them into account wherever possible.
‘It’s all about Art’ 2010 Review Advert
‘It’s all about Art 2010’ artist interviews
