hotography to oils are just a few of the mediums that can be seen at the Bermuda Society of Arts Committee Invitational exhibition. The show at City Hall opened earlier this month, but will be up until August 9. Five of the seven invited artists spoke to about their creations, mediums and backgrounds.

The artists are Elizabeth Mulderig, Stella Shakerchi, Tamell Simons, Otto Trott, Maria Evers Smith, Matthew Clifford and Simon Hodgson.

@EDITRULE:Stella Shakerchi has been painting seriously for about two decades, she said.

?I began with watercolours of street scenes in towns around Britain,? said the artist.

?I then moved to oil representational landscapes, later I began experimenting with expressionism, abstract, and copying masters.?

Miss Shakerchi pointed out that she did not study art in university.

?I didn?t go to art college, I just took it as an extra A?Level at school, because it wasn?t considered a proper subject. My degrees are in English Literature and I attended the University of Wales, University of Birmingham and Oxford University.

?I gained invaluable experience about artists and setting up shows when I worked for Reg Moon at the Torquil Pottery and Gallery in Henley-in-Arden 15 years ago.?

Her work has been included in the UmUm magazine, Bermuda Homes and Gardens and publications in England. She has also been exhibiting off and on since she was 18-years-old.

Of this show she said her inspiration was ?waves, light, the movement of planets and molecules?.

?Our idea of a source of energy,? said Miss Shakerchi.

Asked what medium she had used for her pieces and why, she said: ?Oil on canvas, because the way oil captures intense colour is so satisfying to me.

?I am also more used to manipulating oil on such a precise edge, because of its viscosity. I don?t have that training with acrylics.?

Of the 12 paintings that she is showing in this exhibition, she said they were akin to much of her previous work.

?They are similar ideas, but I hope executed with a little more style and precision. Unless I am going backwards again, which is always a possibility.?

@EDITRULE:Tamell Simons, a photojournalist, finds inspiration for his work in the simple things.

?My inspiration for these pieces was to celebrate ?everyday people? and as a documentation for historical reasons,? he said.

Mr. Simons, who began his career as a photographer with a keen interest in the art, said: ?It?s been 15 to 20 years.

?I started in darkroom developing, printing black and white, workshops, media, etc.

?And for this show I used digital photography, which I converted to black and white, as to me black and white allows the viewer to concentrate more on the subject matter.?

Asked how this show differed from his previous shows, he said: ?It is not much different from my last show.

?It is my intention to document our Bermuda/world history and the everyday people in it.

?My last show was a while ago.?

@EDITRULE:

Artist medium was oil on canvas.

She said: ?I like the lushness of oil paint.

?I have been painting for 56 years. I worked in watercolour earlier and then 16 years ago I switched to oil.

?I did not paint much during my college years and when our children were very young. I have painted a good amount in the past 16 years and only recently have cut back a little to spend more time gardening and with grandchildren and family.?

Mrs. Smith said her inspiration for these pieces was about showing positive images.

?I paint subjects that lift me up as opposed to the downside of life,? she said.

?I paint the ordinary happy things that don?t happen much in the papers and on TV. Hopefully my format gets a favourable public response.?

@EDITRULE:Elizabeth Mulderig pulled on the past happy memories for this exhibit.

?The inspiration for most of my artwork is the beauty of Bermuda and the wonderful childhood memories that I have of me and my mamma Ruthy,? said the artist whose background is in writing and illustrating children?s books.

Ms Mulderig, who trained as a painter in New York before coming to live and paint in Bermuda in the 1980s, said her medium was oils and she was also showing a tryptic.

But of her last show she said: ?I had featured my three inch miniatures which show the Island in a slightly twisted way.

?The work in this show consists of large, bucolic paintings done by layering dots of colour on top of dots of colour.?

@EDITRULE:

The bright reds and orange hues of royal poincianas were a call to the wild for .

?The exceptional poincianas this year was my inspiration,? he said.

?Two of my pieces are of the tree in front of American International, which was almost completely red.

?I liked the challenge of using bright red paint. Red could appear to jump right off the canvas, but I try to make it fit into a landscape.

?Two of the other paintings are of butteries. One on Cambridge Road has the bearded trees above it, while the other is set at the old Leamington Caves when the walls were in need of repair. Both are about the architecture fitting into the landscape full of Bermudian vegetation.?

On this occasion Mr. Trott continued his use of oils, as he said: ?I usually work in oil, because it is the best medium for getting the intense reds of the poincianas.?

But this show differs from his last show, and he said: ?My last show was paintings of Flatts so the subject was water and the reflection of boats and buildings on the water.

?This show is about trees and architecture. My last show had 25 paintings and was a solo show planned months ahead of time. While this time I filled in on short notice,? said the painter who has been exhibiting for over 30 years.

The show remains up until August 9. For more information ring the BSoA on 292-3824.