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As published on page
D3 on December 6, 2004
Ann Balch wins kudos for Eye of the Beholder
Other New Brunswick winner at int'l watercolour exhibition is David Reeves of Quispamsis
Ann Balch's "Eye of The Beholder"
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JULIE CLINTON
Times & Transcript Staff
Winning a prize at an international juried watercolour exhibition has been a wonderful experience for Moncton artist Ann Balch, even more so because of the company she's been keeping.
"I am just thrilled to pieces. I'm pleased that there are four people in the Maritimes who won prizes two from New Brunswick and two from the Halifax area. So we kind of cleaned up," she laughs.
Titled "The Eye of the Beholder", this larger-than-life look at a young black woman captured the Jarvis Award for Transparent Watercolour last week at the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour 79th annual open Juried Exhibition.
"This girl, who has modelled for me before, I just liked the look on her face - she looks as if she's removed from the situation, as if she sees things objectively, an observer," says Ann.
"I like the contrast between her eyes - which are analytical - and the lushness of her face and her skin."
The other New Brunswick winner was David Reeves of Quispamsis, whose surrealistic painting "Surfacing", which depicts a reflective water surface in which a lighthouse morphs into a tube of paint, earned him the HK Holbein Award for Innovative Use of Watercolour.
This is David's first award from the CSPWC and his first painting accepted into the exhibition.
This year, 69 artists from Canada, the United States, Malaysia and Holland were accepted into the prestigious Canadian Open Water event, with less than a dozen selected to receive prestigious awards.
The CSPWC show continues until the end of January at the Etobicoke Civic Centre Art Gallery in Toronto.
Quispmsis' David Reeves' surrealistic painting "Surfacing" earned him the HK Holbein Award for Innovative Use of Watercolour.
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Although Ann will not be travelling to Toronto to receive her prize in person, she has had the pleasure of doing so once before.
This is the third year she has had a painting accepted in the CSPWC annual show, and the second time she has won a prize. The first win came in 2001 for her painting, "The Scar".
"The thing that is most relevant for me is that it's juried by your peers that work in the medium and know how hard it is. Sometimes, when you see watercolour, people think it all looks watery or just like the paintings I do, but there's a lot of variety there."
The variety of Ann's own work can be seen at Fog Forest Gallery in Sackville, Gallery 78 in Fredericton or online at www.annbalch.com.
Her work will also be presented in an educational book, called 100 Ways to Paint, in which paintings from 100 artists are featured, along with their tips.
Water Color Magic, an artist magazine, will be profiling Ann in the upcoming year, and she was also recently chosen as a finalist from among 13,000 entrants in the Artist's Magazine competition.
In the, hopefully, not too distant future, Ann plans to return to England (she is already working on a series of paintings based on her previous visits) and would also like to visit Sierra Leone.
"I would like to paint some of the stories I've heard from a friend of mine who works with a Christian aid organization."
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