Event set to open creative art spaces

Artists from around the region are getting ready to throw back the curtains and offer visitors a glimpse into their creative spaces, with launch parties tonight heralding the start of the Margaret River Region Open Studios.

The event, running from tomorrow to May 7, will see 127 artists welcome guests to their studios and for Cowaramup’s Kerry Sibly and Alan Meyburgh it is hoped the experience will help guide their direction in the future. Sibly and Meyburgh — a painter and a sculptor, respectively — will exhibit in their Cowaramup studio and are offering visitors a chance to take home a collaborative work.

The catch? They want some feedback — brutally honest feedback.

Sibly said the pair would draw the winner of the sculpture worked on by both artists, but to enter visitors needed to give them a piece of their mind and tell the pair what they really thought.

“It’s all well and good to be an artist and be one-dimensional,” he said.

“We would rather get direction from people on what they want to see. “We want some genuine feedback.

“We want it, warts and all.”

Sibly and Meyburgh’s launch party will be held at their 15 Burke Circle, Cowaramup studio from 7pm tonight, while others throwing open their doors to herald the start of MRROS include Fi Wilkie at her Margaret River studio, with doors opening at 6pm.

Ian Mutch, of Dunsborough, will host his launch party from 4pm tomorrow.

For more information, or a list of artists participating in this year’s open studios, visit www.mrros.com.au.