[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”] N[/dropcap]ow this is literally a fabulous give-away for new and existing subscribers: a beautiful limited edition print by Warrnambool artist Ella Webb from Loop Studio.
Ella has been a long-time supporter of Bluestone Magazine and has kindly donated this 42 x 30cm print valued at $75 to help us in our quest to reach 500 subscribers by September 2015: we have 360.
The first six existing subscribers to email us at editor@bluestonemagazine.com.au will go in the draw.
PLUS the first six new subscribers will also be automatically entered into the draw. You can subscribe here.
This gives you a one in 12 chance of winning this gorgeous prize.
Thankyou so much Ella for your generous gift and the prize will be drawn as soon as we reach six new subscribers.
Artist Ella Webb is reviving her teaching talents in a new venture offering after-school art classes to kids (and summer classes to visiting kids) in a new studio right in the heart of Warrnambool.
Words and pictures by Carol Altmann
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”]T [/dropcap]alented Warrnambool visual artist Ella Webb is combining her creative and education skills – she also holds a teaching degree – to counter a steady decline in art classes being offered to kids in school.
“It is terrible, but the fact is that many kids don’t have any exposure to art, or very little,” she says.
Ongoing budget cuts, which were at their worst in the 1990s, have seen many public schools scale back on art, music, drama and other subjects considered less essential to an ever-changing curriculum focussed on meeting national testing standards.
“I wanted to do something about giving kids a place to enjoy art. Where there is no marking, no ‘hurry up and finish that’ and where they can just hang out with other kids,” Ella says.
After a year of plotting and planning and literally walking around Warrnambool to find a suitable venue, Ella has opened the doors on Loop Studio, right in Liebig St and just a few doors down from that other end of the cultural spectrum, McDonalds.
Ella has set up a space for kids of all ages to come and learn art after school, or during the school holidays, and what they learn will vary from drawing, to making their own cards and wrapping paper for Christmas, through to painting, sculpture and screenprinting.
“(It) is a space for kids to be artists, creators and makers, and be with other like-minded kids.
“It will always be fun, it will be bright and it will be messy,” Ella laughs.
Bright, funky colours have transformed the former Olive Ketels’s Salon into an art studio for kids.
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”]K [/dropcap]ids mucking around with paint and printmaking while cool tunes play from the ipod (Ella also plans to offer free wi-fi) is a 360-degree turn from the venue’s former life as the legendary Olive Ketels’ Salon that specialised in corsetry and lingerie.
“I was sitting here on my very first day and I got really excited when my first customer, an older woman, walked through the door but then she stopped, looked and said ‘oh, you’re not Olive Ketels’, and walked out again,” Ella says, laughing at the memory.
Despite only opening in late September, Loop Studio already has 20 children who attend regularly and is growing steadily as word spreads.
It is an affirmation that Ella is on the right path, despite all of the usual fears and nerves about going out on a limb: especially in a high-profile retail space.
“I have had an absolutely brilliant business mentor in John Costello (from Koroit), who just gave me the confidence to believe that it will work.
“I still don’t know if it will work, but it feels so very nice to be here, in this space,” she says.
The golden whale at the Whalers Inn is an example of Ella’s drawing skills at their best. Image courtesy Ella Webb.
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”]F [/dropcap]ortunately for those adults who love Ella’s work – and there are many – she will also continue to develop and expand her own creativity.
Already she has taken her skills in intricate drawing and applied them to large-scale murals and chalkboards. Her huge, golden whale adorns the steps of the Whaler’s Inn, on the corner of Timor and Liebig streets, and was completed using dozens of gold-coloured crayons that were worn down to stubs.
There are also hopes of staging a solo exhibition in Melbourne, so that her art is pushed beyond the borders of the south-west. It would be her first solo exhibition since she began to focus on developing an art career in 2012.
As for Loop Studios, Ella is already planning exhibitions of the children’s work and, one day, would like to be able to take Loop on the road.
“I have always wanted one of those big Airstream retro caravans and drive it around the countryside as a mobile studio, pulling up in the main street of towns: wouldn’t that be brilliant?” she laughs.
Knowing Ella’s drive and determination so far, it is most likely just a matter of time.
Since opening less than two months ago, Ella’s classes have already attracted regular clients. Some of her own artwork is displayed behind her.
[box] For full details about classes, parties and other events, you can find Loop Studios on the web here and on Facebook here. Contact Ella on 0401 877 365 To see more of Ella’s work, see our first story here.[/box]
[button link=”http://the-terrier.com.au/subscribe-2/” type=”icon” icon=”heart” newwindow=”yes”]Bluestone is aiming for 500 subscribers. If you enjoyed this story, please click here to become one![/button]
[dropcap style=”color:#8F9F59;”] T [/dropcap]he generosity of our supporters knows no bounds and this week we are offering one lucky paying subscriber the chance to win a limited edition, framed print by Warrnambool artist Ella Webb. (You can subscribe here).
Ella, who we profiled in our magazine shortly after we started last year (you can read our story here), has kindly donated a finely executed drawing of a Southern Crowned Pigeon and a runner-up prize of a pack of three gorgeous cards.
Ella has donated the prizes in the hope that they will encourage others to join her as a paying subscriber to Bluestone Magazine. We currently have 124 125 paying subscribers, but are aiming for 200 by September.
Paid subscribers just need to email editor@bluestonemagazine.com.au to enter the draw.
The first five new subscribers will be entered automatically.
We will draw the prize as soon as we have five new subscribers (update: we have 3 already, so only 2 to go!) so please, if you have been thinking about subscribing, do it now!
Thankyou so much Ella, for helping Bluestone to keep going and growing.
[box] Note: The winner will be announced here and on our Facebook page, plus we will contact you personally. Please note the main prize can be delivered to the Warrnambool area only, so if you are one of our wonderful subscribers from further afield, you will need to arrange collection.[/box]
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