latin rhythms of Sangre Morena.  This lively and charismatic musical duo of Elsa Rojas Márquez (vocals)

and José Giménez (Guitar) will entertain artist, volunteers and visitors of the Grand Prix starting at

1:15 at Britannia Heritage Shipyards. This historical park and amazing music will act as a beautiful

backdrop as art lovers are welcome to enjoy the creative energy of Stevestons 2nd annual painting race.

Elsa and José met early in 2007. Having come from different backgrounds and varying musical

experiences, they joined on the stage for the first time as the principal performers in a Flamenco

show. The chemistry was immediate.

Since they started to perform together their mutual interests took them beyond Flamenco and into

other areas of Latin music. They now have a show that includes these styles as part of an elegant

and romantic performance.

Here is a list of some of the areas we need help

1. Location set up and tear down ( looking for one more pick-up truck and driver) as well as some folks assist with tents, flags and banners.
2. Marketing  and communications (prior to the event we need some people to do some PR leg work)
3. Event Day Ambassadors : general communications, event day rules, traffic flow, event representatives
4. Registration ( day of event)
5. Entertainment
6. Lunch Service
7. Youth Co-Ordinator
8. Artist Reception

We really appreciate the effort of all our volunteers and could not run this event without your help.

Thank you all very very much

Congratulations to Dan Gray who won  ”just by showing up and having the great pleasure of painting in Steveston”.   I think it helped that he took home a huge trophy, the grand prize of $500 and a French Easel donated by Phoenix Art Workshop.

Congratulations to William Watt who took home the runner up prize of $150 and $250 art basket courtesy of Phoenix Art Workshop

Mike Radford was recognized as an Honourable Mention with an amazing watercolour of Steveston’s Fishing Dock.

Richmond Artist Guild's Youth Award, Naomi Brown

Naomi Brown won the Richmond Artist Guild’s top Prize of $100, with Honourable Mentions to Shirley Lui and Lucy Mei who both received sets of Golden Profesional Acrylic.

***The Coast Capital Savings $250 “People Choice Award” goes to Michael Abraham.  Congratulations Michael, a beautiful painting.

Jess Rice was a very close second place followed by these top 10 “People’s Choice”

Mike Radford

Bronwyn McIvor

Philippe Gagenne

Annie Tsai

Tanya Bone

Shirley Lui

Dan Gray

William Watt

Margareth Fry

Lucy Lu

Thom Watchorn

Congratulations to all the artists! You are all winners  ” by just coming out and painting” as Dan Gray said.  You are brave and courageous and I admire all of you who took up the challenge of Plein Air painting at a location not of your choosing, with an audience, the elements and time constraints … you should all feel very proud.  Let the record show all the talented artists who took part in the first annual Steveston Grand Prix of Art.

Thank you to Mary Jensen from Artisan Photography for donating your time as official Photographer – we will post some of Mary’s photos here in the coming days, as well as provide a link for you to view her work.

A special thank you to all the volunteers without whose important contribution this event could not have taken place.  To Marv Skelton, Loraine Wellman, Mike Rossiter and Arnie Fisk whose contribution, advice and guidance could never be measured.  Thank you.

Mike Rossiter deserves special recognition for creating the Grand Prix logo, our Event Flyer, our Poster – helping with the web site, tent set up and being there whenever he was needed including cleaning up at the end of a very long weekend.

The most difficult job of all – whose contribution we could not have done without, were the three amazing judges.  Thank you to Joyce Kamakura, Chris Charlebois and Sally Houston.

Of course … our MC Tony Davies and sound technician – thank your your amazing!

An finally thank you to all the Phoenix Art Workshop Partners

Richmond Artists Guild

Britannia Heritage Shipyard

Gulf of Georgia Cannery

Mike Rossiter Design

Coast Capital Savings

… and all our wonderful Location Partners – please visit our Partners Page for a complete list of our partners and Links to their web sites.  Please show your support for these Patrons of the Arts by supporting their businesses.

Mark Glavina

Phoenix Art Worksop

Thank you for registering for our inaugural Grand Prix event; the first in what I hope will turn into a long standing tradition for BC Artists.  You are all the brave ones.

At the moment we have 54 Artists registered. We are very appreciative of your participation and want to make the day as enjoyable and stress free as we can for all involved.  This is a little brief for your information PLEASE READ carefully.

What you need to know

•    All artists who have not submitted a check for payment please do so ASAP.  Send your check for $20 to Phoenix Art Workshop by Tuesday September 21st.  We will accept drop in registration only if there is space available.  To qualify for the preregistration rate of $20 you must be paid up before Tuesday otherwise it is $25 on race day. Youth artists under 18 pay $10 for preregistration and $15 on race day.

•    Please make your Cheque out to the Richmond Artist Guild. (add $10 per companion meal if you have friends or loved ones joining you for lunch and make sure we are notified in advance of how many are in your party).

•    Keep in mind the event will carry on Rain or Shine … All painting locations have tents or a covered area to paint under should the weather be inclement.

•    Artist are asked to Please arrive at Britannia Heritage Shipyards by 9:00 am – check in at the Richmond Artist Guild Tent and collect your receipts, event map and schedule as well as a coupon for a coffee at Bean and Beyond.

•    Location Draw will be held at 9:30 … each artist will be assigned a location number which corresponds to a specific location on our  “Event Map”

•    As soon as artists are assigned a location they are free to go and set up (but remember no painting before the Gulf of Georgia Work Whistle blows at 10:00 am. marking the start of the race.

•    We do have volunteer drivers who will drive artists and their equipment to their designated location as well as pick them up at the end of the three hours.  Parking can be a pain in the village with time limits; so for those of you who draw locations away from Britannia Shipyards please take advantage of our volunteer drivers (the same drivers will pick you up after the completion of the race.)

•    Artists will be assigned locations by “luck of the draw” in the spirit of the competition you must work within 20 feet of your location flag (also keep in mind that we have several businesses who have sponsored an artist to be painting outside of their business.)  All locations will have a covered area to work under or an event tent if the weather is inclement.

•    The Gulf of Georgia Work Whistle will blast at 1pm marking the official end of our race. Yes artists, brushes down …no more painting … no last touches, no “just one more little touch here”, you can sign your painting but no more.

•    When you arrive back at Britannia Shipyards please report back to the Richmond Art Guild Tent and check in your work, list the title, price and artist information.  Artwork sold during the event will be charged 20% commission which will go directly towards next year’s event.

•    Phoenix Art Workshop will have a tent with work tables, tools and hardware for framing your finished piece.  *** Artists are responsible for providing their own frame and doing their own fitting although we will have staff and volunteers available to assist.

•    ***Artist are also responsible to provide a display easel for their work … it can double as  your painting easel if you wish please label easel with your name clearly printed on it.  (If this is a problem please email me in advance)

•    After you submit your work for display Lunch will be provided by Bean and Beyond Cafe with a generous donation from International Pacific Sales in Richmond.  Artists are free to enjoy lunch around the shipyards.

Award ceremony will begin at 3:00 pm

1.      Phoenix Art Workshop Grand Prize $500 Cash and French Style Plein Air Easel

2.      Runner up prize is $150 Cash and an Art Supply Basket stuffed full of Supplies donated by Phoenix Art Workshop valued at $200

3.      Best of Youth award is $100 cash, donated by the Richmond Artist Guild

4.      Numerous door prizes which have been donated by our location sponsors will be awarded to participants and volunteers.

5.      $250 Coast Capital Savings Peoples Choice Award (Sunday)

•    Artwork and easels will be left overnight at the Chinese Bunk house for display on Sunday 10am – 3pm. Artists are asked to collect or make arrangements for work to be picked up by 3:00pm Sunday.

•    Coast Capital Savings People Choice award will be announced at 3:00 pm Sunday and be posted to our event web site.

•    After the event I will post pictures listing the winners of the different awards as well as change the registration form to a comment page where you can give me feedback for next year.

Thank you all so much for your participation – if you have any questions or concerns please email me and leave your phone number and I will call you back as soon as I can.

I would also encourage you to tell as many people about our event as you can. Look for us on Facebook and add the link to your profile, twitter the event, and for sure email details to friends and family.  Together we can build a great annual event here in Steveston, raising the profile of arts and culture in our community and celebrate plein air painting.

Good Luck Artists

Mark Glavina

Phoenix Art Workshop

8-3891Chatham St.

Richmond BC

Jennifer Hiene painting on location

With just ten days until our event, we are excited about the participation of two important Community Partners.

2010 Steveston Grand Prix of Art is proud to announce Mary Jensen’s Artisan Photography as the official photographer of our inaugural event.  Beside  keeping up her busy portrait schedule she currently instructs classes in photography for Focal Point as well Mary will be the guest instructor on Phoenix Art Workshop’s upcoming Painting and Photography excursion to Guatemala, January 3 – 17th 2011.

In addition to this exciting news we are also happy to announce Coast Capital Savings will be sponsoring the “Peoples Choice Award” donating $250 to the viewers favorite plien air painting of the 2010 Steveston Grand Prix of Art.  With close  to 40 painters already registered the peoples choice award will be a special and coveted prize.  Please visit our artist page to see some of this years contestants and follow the links to learn more about the artists.

Don’t forget to spread the word to all the art lovers out there who will want to come to Steveston, September 25th, at 10:00 am. and witness amazing artwork being created on location in just 3 short hours ; rain or shine.  Please emial this URL, blog about it, Twitter, Facebook, or SMS this event and help make this event a fantastic success.

Thank you all for your support

In the village several businesses have come forward acting as “location Partners” sponsoring specific locations where artists will set up for three hours of competition.  The Gulf of Georgia Cannery has been incredible offering two for one entrance to the museum included with our event maps as well as sponsoring several fantastic painting vistas. We are also proud to announce that the  Steveston Harbour Authority  have offered several other incredible locations for artist to be inspired by.  Not to be outdone several other businesses have come forward as location partners including, Cannery Cafe, Timothy’s Frozen Yogurt, Prickly Pear Garden Centre, Riverside Gallery, Pieces, Georges Taverna, and Sockeye City Grill.  Several more businesses are in line to confirm their support and we will be announce further location partners in a few days.

An event like this takes a whole community and numerous volunteers – for all those who have registered as volunteers though our registration page …. thank you very much we will not be able to do it with out your support.

In support of these annual provincial events, Culture Days will drive a major annual national communications and public relations campaign designed to help inspire and catalyze greater public participation in the arts and cultural life of our communities.

Welcome to our Blog, and thank you for visiting our site. I will try and keep you all up to date with how we are progressing with our first annual Grand Prix of Art.  I invite you to become a subscriber or volunteer to help get this event off the ground. In a matter of days we will have the registration page sorted out with details on how you can register for this event as an artist, location partner or how to get involved as a volunteer.