“Art Battle” is coming to the Pontiac

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From left, Tanya McCormick, Dale Shutt, Kate Aley, and Rhonda Morrison pose in the midst of an Art Battle in Ottawa, March 29. Audience members circle the battling artists to get a glimpse of their ‘in-the-works’ masterpieces. Missing from photo: Bonnie Zimmerling. 

Dale Shutt



From left, Tanya McCormick, Dale Shutt, Kate Aley, and Rhonda Morrison pose in the midst of an Art Battle in Ottawa, March 29. Audience members circle the battling artists to get a glimpse of their ‘in-the-works’ masterpieces. Missing from photo: Bonnie Zimmerling. 

Dale Shutt

OTTAWA – Five artists and organizers from the Pontiac School of the Arts (PSOTA) attended Art Battle 111 at the Arts Court in Ottawa, March 29. They met with the event’s organizers to prepare for an Art Battle planned for Shawville in May.
“It was extremely energizing and fascinating to watch this lightening-fast creative process simultaneously unfolding on six canvases," said Kate Aley, PSOTA member and head of the Shawville Art Battle Committee. "It’s like nothing I have ever seen before: hilarious, spell binding, breathtaking! Art Battle Day in Shawville is the perfect way to kick off our celebrations for the Pontiac Artists’ Association and PSOTA’s 10th anniversary.”
Art Battle is a three-round, live painting competition featuring 12 local, professional, and emerging artists. The audience votes for the winners of each round and for the overall winner. Provided with an easel, paints, and canvas, the artists are set up in the centre of the room. With only 20 minutes to complete their painting, the artists must focus and work quickly while the audience circulates in a slow ‘cyclone’ around them. At the completion of each round, the audience votes for their favourite and the finished works go immediately into a silent auction.
"You don’t even have time to think, you have to decide. You don’t have to worry about the future or the past, you are there, and at that moment you have to do something," said one artist. 
Art Battle was created to better promote and engage artists with the community around them, which complements the PAA’s mission to “promote arts and culture and contribute to the cultural life of the Pontiac,” and PSOTA’s mission to “inspire creative discovery in everyone.”
Shawville Art Battle Day is scheduled for May 10 at the RA Centre in Shawville.