Well yes, it seems we are!

If you are following us on Twitter or Facebook, you may already know that on Saturday evening we were awarded the Sales Promotion of the Year Award from the Fine Art Trade Guild. We're cheekily referring to it as the 'Maximum Visitors & Sales on Bugger-All Budget Award', a fact that excites us incredibly because it basically means that:

a) we're doing something right!
b) What we do really represents value for money for our participating artists.

Which is what we're all about. And it's incredible to have an organisation as prestigious and established in the industry as the Fine Art Trade Guild to give us, a social enterprise only four years old, such wonderful recognition.

Our award was sponsored by the fabulous Art Business Today Magazine. To say we're chuffed is understatement of the year!

Until Friday 31st May, beautiful, huge pieces of original artwork of Jatin Aythora will be on show and available to buy at The Rendezvous.

Jatin has had a passion for painting since childhood and having created numerous landscapes, stills and figurative works he has recently discovered a natural inclination towards abstracts and feels that he is progressing towards calling himself 'an artist'. he dreams and hopes to touch people through his work and to be part of their lives.

To contact Jatin:
Email: info@aythora.com
Website: www.aythora.com
Twitter: @aythora
 Facebook: www.facebook.com/aythora

The work of Joanna Yates will be on show and available to purchase at The Rendezvous until Thursday 2nd May.

Joanna’s work covers a wide range of styles and mediums including intricately detailed botanical watercolours, acrylic on canvas, abstracts and pen and ink.  


She also enjoys experimenting with textiles and has produced several pieces
of weaving as wall decorations.

Her photography began whilst struggling to find suitable images for reference
and her photographs now feature on a selection of unique greeting cards to suit
any occasion.Joanna welcomes commissions and is always happy to discuss
any requirements.

To contact Joanna:
Email: jojoyates@btinternet.com
Website: www.fidgiti.com
Telephone: 01628 533217 / 07867 638118

Yesterday morning I (Marie) was abruptly woken by my shouty four year old daughter at 6:30am "MUMMY!! IT'S SNOWING!". My first thought was "oh no! Bookings morning is going to be a disaster!"

I instinctively grabbed my phone to check the time and found a text message reporting that the queue at Bovilles Art Shop had already begun! I ran into town as fast as my freezing legs could carry me, texting all the way.

The team all arrived at the shop and quickly mobilised, doling out teas and coffees to everyone in the queue and an emergency trip to Marks & Sparks was made for provisions (cake!).

It made for an incredible scene - dozens of artists, a film crew and the lovely Dan from the Maidenhead Advertiser in the snow on Maidenhead High Street! Finally, we were ready to start booking and opened the doors to receive all the wonderful artists, some of whom had been waiting in the snow since 6am!

The last pitches were sold at around 10am and a waiting list started. However, we always try to accomodate everyone who wants to take part and will now be on the search for new and innovative spaces we can use for the event! If you're interested in taking part, complete our booking form and send it in to Bovilles Art Shop in Maidenhead for a chance to join us in June!

We'd like to take the opportunity to thank every single person who joined us to book on Saturday. The conditions were awful, but you showed so much faith in Art on the Street by bearing the unbearable. We literally don't have the words to express how much that means to us. xx

Well, the corner of a pub is probably more accurate. Today Marie spoke to Mike Read on BBC Radio Berkshire about Art on the Street, our aims and our next event. It was incredibly nerve wracking, but seemed to go really well and you might be hearing more from us on BBC Berkshire in the future! A big thatnk you to the team at BBC berkshire for inviting us along and special thanks to Mike for making the experience so painless!

To listen to the interview, click here.

Last night was the Private View of Emma Ryan's show of fabulous papercuts entitled 'If You Go Down To The Woods Today...'. A fantastic evening was had by all and amongst the wine, chatter and great company, Emma sold a staggering ELEVEN of the twenty two papercuts on display!

All Emma's beautiful work will be on display at The Rendezvous until 28th March...and there are still eleven available to buy!

This month Art on the Street will be hosting the beautiful papercuts of Emma Ryan at The Rendezvous in Maidenhead Town Hall.

Emma is just 22 years old and already shows an incredible maturity and patience in producing a series of 22 unique cuts of trees from her local area, each painstakingly rendered by hand using nothing more than a scalpel and cutting mat.


Artworks range in size from A5 to A1 and take a minimum of eleven hours cutting to create. The photos here really do not do justice to how intricate and delicate each papercut actually is.

As a stark contrast to her artwork, Emma is a fully qualified HGV driver and regularly drives 16 tonne vehicles!

To contact Emma:
Email: emma_roo1@hotmail.com 
Website: www.emma-roo.co.uk

Until 28th February, the work of Diana McAlister will be on the walls of The Rendezvous for visitors to enjoy or buy.

Diana was initially Fine Arts qualified and trained in Gold and Silversmithing but now prefers a greater freedom of expression in acrylics, watercolours, charcoal and digital graphics.
 


Diana says "My influences are from the formative years growing up on the
beaches of the Mornington Peninsular, Australia.  More recently, pets and wildlife,
particularly birds since rescuing, caring for and successfully releasing a dear
little Woodpigeon.  I love animals and enjoy taking commissions for pet portraits. Digital graphics, is a new direction for me and has much scope for experimentation. 
I am currently flow coating graphics, to good effect, with an epoxy that was originally formulated specifically for the coating of graphics on surfboards."

To Contact Diana:
Email: demcal@hotmail.co.uk
Website: www.dianamcalister.com

Art on the Street is celebrating entering its fourth year by sharing the work and stories of its volunteers at an exhibition in the gallery of Norden Farm Centre for the Arts.

Many of our volunteers are visual artists who also take part in the event, some are not but all are friends and kind like-minded people from Maidenhead and beyond without whom Art on the Street's two annual events just couldn't take place.

We Made This is not about celebrating art, although that's primarily what we do. It's about celebrating people.

Each contributor was asked to give us three things to put on show:

 - Something they've made or a photograph of something they've made.
 - A photograph of themself
 - An object that represents Art on the Street to them  

Collectively, we hope that this gives an insight into who our volunteers are, their immense hard work and kindness. It will also give you a chance to know more about the pre-dawn and after-dark world of Art on the Street, before the artwork is unveiled and the masses of visitors arrive to enjoy the event.

To see more pictures from the show, why not head to our Facebook Page!

We are very pleased to welcome Stewart Phillips to The Rendezvous this month. Stewart's background is in interior design on a grand and international scale, having produced interiors for royal palaces, luxury cruise liners, five-star hotels and even Harrods! It was natural that he might eventually turn these creative skills to painting and has been producing 3 dimensional abstracts in mixed media, as a nod to his understanding of space and experience of using many materials.

His work will be available to view and buy at The Rendezvous until 31st January, and as always, 20% of proceeds go to Age Concern Slough & Berkshire East, directly benefiting the community.

Website: www.stewartphillips.com