The past eleven months have been challenging for us all and we hope that you are safe and well. Your Committee have been working closely together, via Zoom, email and telephone, to keep the Society strong and our artists engaged.

Our initial focus was how, under lockdown rules, the Society could continue to offer all Members and Friends opportunities and incentives to paint in watercolour, meet together virtually, share art stories, watercolour tips and tricks and share their own lockdown journey, worries and challenges.

Communications

We continued to build our website and social media platforms to make SEAW’s communications more attractive and accessible. We wanted Members and Friends to enjoy the art tutorials, challenges and competitions, develop their own online portfolios and contribute by sharing opportunities, best practice and ideas.

We also continued the dedicated ‘Friends’ newsletter and Facebook page for our 63 friends, 7 associate members and 59 full members and further support, activities and opportunities for this growing network are planned.

IsolARTtion

From April to August 2020 we published a weekly article called IsolARTion to stay connected and communicate with each other and our larger audiences, our lockdown projects. Many artists contributed, sharing their knowledge and skills, their own studios and gardens, experiments, tutorials, ideas and perspectives as well as their watercolours.

IsolARTion flagged up the opportunities for SEAW artists to stay in touch through a virtual studio by using the Whereby app. Every Sunday afternoon, between 2-5pm, from April 2020 a group of SEAW artists have logged into a virtual painting studio. Several artists also met in the ‘studio’ at other times to chat and paint together. After a while we established a ‘quiet studio’ for those artists who prefer to work in silence and a ‘chatty studio’ for those who like to paint and talk. These are still going today and members are encouraged to give it a try! If you have other thoughts on how we can stay in touch please let us know.

Cancellations and challenges

Because of the pandemic our monthly painting days in Hawkedon Village Hall have been disrupted but they resumed when restrictions were lifted for a while, giving artists the chance to meet, paint and share each other’s company.

Sadly, our February 2020 Open Exhibition and workshop series at Wells-next-the-Sea was our last physical show and two exhibitions at Clare Country Park had to be postponed. But we all rose to the challenge and for six weeks in late Autumn held our first online, selected show, with more than 300 submissions and 160 final selections. Associate and Full Members, as part of their annual subscription, do not have to pay any submission fees for up to 4 or 5 paintings respectively for the selected show and also receive a discounted submission rate for all other exhibitions.

Although most ‘visitors’ to the online show came from the UK we had interest from the US, Canada, China and Europe. We introduced new ways of displaying members’ work and streamed live video interviews of all prize-winning artists by judges, sponsors and Committee members. We organised virtual voting from ‘visitors’ on their favourite painting and opportunities for two lucky virtual viewers, who gave their contact details, to claim £75 off a painting of their choice.

Unsurprisingly, we have just had to postpone our February 2021 Awash 3 Exhibition at Wells-next-the-Sea due to the third national lockdown. We are hoping to go ahead with both a physical and an online Members’ Exhibition at Clare Country Park in April and our open Exhibition at the Babylon Gallery, Ely, in late Summer. These exhibitions will give us a chance to share all the fantastic artwork you have been creating and allow our audiences to view first-hand the beauty of watercolour in the safest environment possible.

Finally

Thank you to all of the Committee and our Patron Lillias August for your consistent support and to all our Members and Friends for your contributions in making this Society unique, caring and resilient for the future.

Mel Collins (Chair)