Bellingen Shire artists collaborate to create calendar Coffs Coast Highlight Section Nambucca Valley by News Of The Area - Modern Media - September 15, 2023 Calendar artists (left to right) Dawn Lewis, Robyn Simon, Gail Cardow, Noella Chelman, Ross Thompson, Ivinnie Brown and Dubravka Sabljak. DOUBLING up on celebrations, Bellingen’s volunteer-run Nexus Art Gallery held the opening of its Spring Members’ Exhibition and the launch of the Bellingen Community Arts Council (BCAC) 2024 calendar on Sunday 10 September. “The creation of a calendar is a new initiative with the aim to help to promote our local and regional artists, the Bellingen Community Arts Council (BCAC), and the Bellingen Shire,” Linda Ravlich, Nexus Community Gallery spokesperson told News Of The Area. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981 8882. Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au The calendar project has been a collaborative process which began with a Bellingen Shire themed Members’ Exhibition in January this year, held at the Nexus Gallery. All artists were made aware that the intention of the exhibition was to choose twelve works for a 2024 calendar. Twelve non-exhibiting members of the BCAC were chosen to form the calendar voting panel. The idea was to have a voting panel from a broad spectrum of backgrounds and interests. Each person on the panel was asked to choose their top twelve works from the Bellingen Shire themed exhibition. “After the 144 votes were tallied, the twelve most popular works were selected, which are featured in the calendar,” said Linda. The artists featured in the BCAC Bellingen 2024 Calendar are: Robyn Simon, Gail Cardow, Noella Chelman, Coco Elder, Dawn Lewis, Ros Robertson, Phyllis Codd, Polly Wells, Ivinnie Brown, Ross Thompson, Dubravka Sabljak and Shea. “Organising the calendar project has been an incredibly fulfilling experience. “To see an idea come to fruition after many months of work because of the willingness of people to participate and be a part of something greater than themselves, is a wonderful reminder of the power of community. “We also cannot thank Graham at Mid Coast Printing enough. “Graham and his team put in so much work to make sure we had a calendar we could be proud of, and that all the calendars were ready in time for the launch,” said Linda. The BCAC Bellingen 2024 Calendars can be purchased from the Nexus Gallery. Proceeds from calendar sales directly cover production costs. Any additional profit from sales will help the Nexus Community Art Gallery with its fundraising efforts. By Andrea FERRARI Bellingen artist Polly Wells displaying her work ‘Morning Mist on Waterfall Way’. Calendar organiser Linda Ravlich with the BCAC Bellingen 2024 Calendar.
