Best Creative Business

Wow. I can't believe it I have just picked up an award for the North East Women Entrepreneur of the year in the Best Creative Business category! The awards ceremony was hosted by Women into the Network at the Hilton Hotel in Gateshead. It was a glamorous evening dedicated to the North Easts leading female business women, I was in truly great company. It was a real honour to be short listed and a complete surprise to win this prestigious award and hope I can fly the flag as a role model to inspire other people to follow their dream and make a success of their creative practice.
I would like to say a few thanks to all the people who have inspired me and helped me on my journey so far.
Firstly to my husband Ross who four years ago told me to stop talking about it and told me to GET ON WITH IT! Sometimes you just need a push in the right direction.
To his parents for letting us use their loft, garage and spare bedroom as a storage facility for our stock and equipment.
Thanks to the Mushroom Works who provide me with a great studio space and to Lara for nominating me for this award. Also to Bethan my studio buddy for putting up with me on a daily basis!
When I started out as an artist I found it difficult to get exposure for my work with only a few galleries supporting me, so thanks to the Aln Gift Shop, The Smokehouse Gallery, Pebbles and The Design Room for taking a chance on my work.
Finally a big thanks to all my friends and family who relentlessly turn up to every exhibition to support me, especially Karina and her Mum (my biggest fan) who always seems to buy one of my new paintings!
Hopefully this is just the begining for us and the Wishart business.

The Arts Bank

Following the Newcastle / Gateshead Art Fair I have been invited to be one of the featured artists to exhibit in this new project in Saltburn. It will be my first exhibition of original art work for 2010.

A BOLD new £500,000-plus exhibition centre coming to Saltburn is set to be a major investment for arts and culture.An empty former bank at Milton Street is being transformed into the new arts exhibition space, called ArtsBank.
There will be five floors including film, fine art, photography and performance.
Extensive gallery space will feature visual media along with studios for local artists-in-residence.
The elegant Victorian building will also host live music, theatre, talks, poetry and classes.
The scheme was sparked by a chance meeting between Middlesbrough businessman Bryan Goodall and Saltburn film-maker Craig Hornby, of A Century in Stone fame.
Bryan, 60, of Nunthorpe, is financing the scheme. He said: "I've lived all my life in Teesside and wanted to get involved in something positive for the area. I was inspired by Craig's films having found them on YouTube. We got on a storm and soon started coming up with interesting ideas."
Craig, 42, of Saltburn, said: "Bryan liked my more recent films and wanted to get more projects off the ground.
"I suggested a space to show films as well as make them and also to exhibit local art and photography and put on events."
Within weeks, Bryan bought the bank.
Soon after, Bryan and Craig were joined by Paul Ingram, 52, of Brotton, a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Ideas were expanded and plans for the first year of events and exhibitions were underway.
Paul said: "Something like this has been needed for decades in our area.
"There's a legacy of local talent that hasn't had the breaks or the backing and the public have missed out. We're going to change that and uncover local talent".
Craig said: "We'll have a landmark building with genuine commitment to the local area, people and culture.
"And with a comprehensive website, we'll be exporting to the world."ArtsBank will open in April 2010.

A visit to Staithes

Last week Ross and I escaped daily life for a short break in Staithes. We stayed in a beautiful old fishermans cottage within metres of the harbour. During our stay we visited an exciting new project in Salburn called the Art Bank. A former bank building is being converted into a muli level art space to house a cinema and mulitple exhibition spaces to promote the creative sector in the area. I have been invited to exhibit some new paintings inspired by my trip to Staithes at their opening launch in April 2010.

New Work for the NewcastleGateshead Art Fair

This is one of my latest paintings of Runswick Bay on the North Yorkshire coast. The painting size is 60x60cm plus frame. If you would like to see this painting or more from my new collection then visit me on Stand P10 with Gallery Three at the NewcastleGateshead Art Fair.

The fair is at the Sage in Gateshead and will be open to the public from the 2nd to 4th October 2009 from 11am -5pm. Tickets are £5 in advance or £6 on the door. For more details contact www.ngartfair.com or tel: 01912414523.

East Coast- My Summer Exhibition

For those of you who missed my exhibtion here are a few snaps for you to enjoy!
This image on the left is one of three paintings comissioned by Dunoon Ceramics. Look out for the image on their mugs next year.

Below are some of my new bird images and a painting of "Staithes Harbour Wall"

Coming Soon......

Come along to Art @ No. 1, Tynemouth for my summer exhibition "East Coast". The doors will be open 10am -5pm daily from Saturday 22nd August to Friday 4th September 2009.

The exhibition will be a collection of new paintings from my travels up and down the east coast of England.

Also on display will be my limited edition prints and cards.

I hope to see you there!

Mugs Mugs Mugs

This week I was very excited to recieve in the post my new collection of mug designs courtesy of Dunoon Ceramics. Dunoon approached me at Spring Fair earlier this year and ask me if I was interseted in doing some artwork for their Bute range. The "Shore Bird" collection above comprising of a seagull, oyster catcher and puffin design are the first three of six designs that will be on sale at Dunoon stockists nationwide from January 2010.

The Design Room - Launch Night

Last night saw the opening and the launch of the re-designed 'Design Room' in Wooler. Local, national and international artists' work displayed in a contemporary environment was the focus for over a hundred people who turned out to preview the gallery on the opening night.

Proprietors Jason and Claire Gallagher (my wonderful brother and sister in law) have worked hard over the last few weeks to get the new building up to scratch (with a lot of help from my dad!). The interior was transformed to a slick modern space to show off some great creative talent, with a feature counter top designed and hand made by local craftsman Paul Squire of Fallen Tree Design.

Work on display at the preview included the artists James Blinkhorn, Kate Philp and myself who were all in attendance to chat about their work. This was a great opportunity to engage with the guests at a relaxed social occasion.

So if you are out and about in North Northumberland take a trip to 'The Gateway to the Cheviots' and pop in to The Design Room on the High Street, Wooler. Free parking only 100m away, next to the Cheviot Centre.

Open Tuesday -Saturday 10-5pm

Below left : Jame Blinkhorn and Jason Gallagher enjoying the atmosphere in the Black Gallery.
Below right : Sarah McMorn and Claire Gallagher raising a glass to the success of the gallery.

Bath and Beyond

The end of April took Ross and I to Bath for the weekend to exhibit at Select@Bath .The long drive was worth it. Bath is a beautiful city and Select was a great show to launch my new collection of bird cards. Swans, Arctic Terns, Red Shanks, Barnacle Geese, Seagulls and Ringed Plovers are all new additions to my popular bird range.

On the drive home we stopped off at the Old House Gallery in Oakham, Rutland which is the first gallery to stock our full bird collection. The Oldhouse Gallery is ideally located near Rutland Water for all those twitchers out there! Proprietor & Potter Richard Clark invited me to exhibit some of my original paintings to sit alongside his wonderful ceramics. To find out more visit http://www.oldhousegalleryrutland.co.uk/

Easter weekend at the seaside

Easter weekend was full of coastal walks, beachcombing, and a visit to the beautiful village of Alnmouth. I love coming back to Alnmouth as it holds happy memories for me as I spent most of my summer holidays here as a child visiting my grandparents.

On the 27th -28th June this year I will be showing some new coastal work at the Alnmouth Arts Festival. My image of Lovaine Terrace features on the posters and flyers this year, so come along if you can make it!

If you can't wait till then you could pop into the Aln Gift Shop in Alnmouth as they have a large selection of my work on display throughout the year. The shop has a great seaside feel with an interesting mix of cards, gifts, interiors and art work. Well worth a visit to get you in the holiday mood.

A trip to the Lake District

Old Courthouse Gallery

Last week Ross and I spent a week in the beautiful Lake District countryside. Whilst in the area we took the opportunity to deliver four of my latest hare paintings to the prestigious OCG Gallery in Ambleside. OCG is one of my favourite galleries. It's spacious layout with wonderful natural light hosts some of the finest artwork, sculpture, jewellery and ceramics in the country, so I am delighted to be exhibiting amongst them. For more information about the OCG Gallery please visit http://www.ocg-arts.com/

A view of Grasmere
and me looking very cold and windswept!

A trip to the Lake District wouldn’t be complete without climbing a few hills and photographing & sketching some of the great British wildlife. I have now returned to my studio full of inspiration and ready to get painting some of the wildlife and views I encountered during my trip. Look out for the results of my work in the coming months!

A Snowy Spring Fair

To launch our new range of cards and prints Ross and I ventured south to Spring Fair at the NEC in Birmingham. Of all the weeks it had to snow, road and rail conditions were crazy causing a poor turnout of visitors to the show! However we made the best of this bad situation and made some good new contacts, including the Oldhouse Gallery in Rutland, Seasons Gallery in Durham and the Bluemoon Gallery in Tunbridge Wells to name a few. The competition was tough as we were exhibiting alongside the larger print publishers but I hope we offered something fresh and new to the galleries. Thanks to Alex Clark for pushing us to take the step to exhibit at the Spring Fair, it was an experience that will help us develop for the year ahead and we intend to go back next year.

Could this be my cottage by the sea?

"Craster Cottages"

a signed limited edition print by Joanne Wishart.

£100 from www.joannewishart.co.uk/shop

A new start for 2009

Well husband Ross has gone and done it now, left his career in accountancy , (some might say a proper job) to come and work with me.... an artist! 6 weeks in and he is starting to learn the ropes or should I say the printer. Live the dream, work together and grow a business. We have only just begun on our journey but I am excited by what the future holds. Hopefully a creative fulfillment, a happy relationship and one day our very own cottage by the sea. Joanne