The Immanuel Arts Festival is once again opening its gala to the public this May, in a continued effort to raise funds in support of the host the event, the Parents and Friends Association of the Immanuel Lutheran College.

The Immanuel Arts Festival is the largest of its kind on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast and has showcased the artistic talents of our region for more than 30 years. The festival proudly promotes visual, creative and performance art within the Sunshine Coast community and in 2015 it will be held from 21-24 May at Immanuel Lutheran College. 2015 marks the 35th anniversary of the festival. During this time, the event has grown from a small gathering with a limited number of pieces to today’s festival, which attracts over 200 emerging and established artists and 800 artworks across a number of different genres including painting, photography, sculpture, mixed media, wearable art, film and creative. Along with the College’s spring carnival Fruehlingsfest, and Voices on the Coast Literature Festival, the Immanuel Arts Festival is a significant event on the Sunshine Coast calendar.

A large draw card of the event is the various workshops held over the duration, teaching artists, new and old, various new skills and techniques, giving anyone the opportunity to explore and expand their artistic world and repertoire. ‘Our feature artists will be holding workshops from Saturday 23 to Sunday 24 May. The workshops provide an opportunity to unleash your creativity, surrounded by the inspiring artwork of the Sunshine Coast creative community and under the guidance of our exceptional feature artists who happen to have extensive art-teaching backgrounds.

One of the most prominent and well known of the featured artists of the event is Chris Blake, a striking master of the drawn and pastel crafts, taking inspiration from the world around him and using the bright colours and flexability of his medium to create amazing works of art. Award winning artist, Chris Blake came to Australia as a teenaged ten pound pom. For a number of years, he worked as a roustabout on a sheep and cattle station at Windorah in west Queensland and his new found love of the outback and its people has sustained him in his art today. A visit to the UK in 1997 introduced Chris to the use of pastels, which married well with his sketching ability. A number of awards in art competitions enabled him to become a master pastellist with the Pastel Society of Australia in 2004.

Another of the more prominent featured artists is Clive Holden, a creator of amazing portraits and murals with an astounding command of his craft. Clive’s work can be seen in Parliament House, Government House, and Historic Ayers House – home of the National Trust South Australia. Many of Clive’s murals can be seen around Australia in public buildings and private homes. He has completed projects around Australia and in South East Asia, where he was commissioned by the South Australian Government to work in Hong Kong at the Ohel Leah Synagogue and the Capitan Keling Mosque in Malaysia. He also painted a series of murals at the Sarada Boys Home in Singapore.

For entrants there are a number of prizes on offer, as well as the opportunity to display their work for sale. These money value prizes range from one thousand dollars, the top prize of the event, to the twenty-five dollar prize for the pick of the pre-school through third grader category. As an artist there is nothing better than displaying your work and observing people as they take in and interpret what it is you have created, based on their own life and understanding and discussing that with them. For artists and art lovers alike this is an event not to be missed, not to mention for a great cause – raising money in support of the Immanuel Lutheran College community. For more information on entry details or event information the event visit the Immanuel Arts Festival website.