Arts & Culture
Grand Prix of Art a gift to the community
Achance to give back to his community was all the impetus Mark Glavina needed.
Owner of Steveston’s landmark Phoenix Art Workshop, which he opened in 1997, Mark Glavina established the upcoming Grand Prix of Art to celebrate the expression of human creativity and imagination.
“I describe it as the bridging between visual arts and the thrill and agony of sporting events,” he says of the seventh annual event set in Richmond’s historic and picturesque fishing village Sept. 23 and 24.
Artists and photographers of all levels are invited to participate in this unique opportunity.
Glavina says the setting is not only spectacular for the participants, but anyone simply interested in taking in the creative process.
“The artists only have three hours to complete their work, and don’t know the location where they’ll work at before they arrive on race day,” he says.
On competition day, registered artists arrive at Britannia Heritage Shipyards National Historic Site for a 9 a.m. check-in, where they are assigned a painting location by random draw. The race against the clock begins at 10 a.m. and must be titled and priced for paintings for display and adjudication at 1 p.m. The paintings are then made available for sale to the public. Viewers, meanwhile, will be able to vote for the “People’s Choice Award.”
The exhibition will remain on display at Britannia until Sept. 24, when volunteers and friends are invited to an awards ceremony and culture days celebration from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
More than $2,000 in cash awards will be presented to finalists.
Registered photographers are encouraged to document the entire event, and to upload five unedited images for a photo essay contest before midnight.