We were delighted to hold our third WaterWays Exhibition at the Babylon Gallery, Ely, between 1st – 25th September 2023. We hung 110 framed paintings including several Friends paintings and we had a variety of unframed artworks and cards. We encourage our Friends to enter our Exhibitions and we thank those Friends who not only submitted artwork but stewarded as well.

Attendance throughout the exhibition was very good and in total 1945 visitors came to look at our exhibition completing 406 voting cards. Surinder Beerh (his painting of a boat yard is featured at the top of this article) received the most visitor votes at 49, Penny Newman (our Friends Liaison Officer) received the second highest with 29 votes and Carole Whitehouse tied with Anthony Osler in third place with 24 votes each. Congratulations to these four Member artists.

Our Stewards received many positive comments during the Exhibition and our Visitor’s Book reflects the value of art and the uniqueness of watercolour.

“Beautiful, peaceful exhibition”,

“Great show”,

“Wonderful variety, artistry and colour”

“Such inspirational work, thank you”,

“Stunning and humbling”,

“Calming”

Sales of paintings were a little disappointing at 9 framed and 2 unframed, although we sold 223 cards. Conversations with visitors reflected the current challenging economic times which may have impacted on painting sales and we closed the Gallery twice in response to the very sad passing of Queen Elizabeth II.

Thank you for being Friends of the SEAW, we do value your contribution and we look forward to meeting you at our next exhibition. Do email Penny if you have any suggestions on how we can improve our communication and support to our Friends membership.

Decision about the exhibition in Wells, February 2023

The SEAW Committee have spent many hours discussing whether we should go ahead with an exhibition in Wells in February 2023. A questionnaire was sent out to all Members and an EGM was held to obtain Members views about Wells and also about the process of setting up a new SEAW Committee from the time of the next AGM. Sadly, we came to the conclusion that it is not feasible to hold an exhibition in Wells in February 2023 as we do not have a guaranteed new Committee in place who could work alongside the current Committee to support set up and run the Awash exhibition in Wells effectively.

We are also minded to consider the current economic situation, increasing costs of fuel and accommodation and the distance to Wells from many Members’ homes. We do hope you understand our decision.

Mel Collins (Chair SEAW)