Cycles of Life

The last blog post that was done was to announce the start of the registration process for the Cyprus Open Studios (COS) 2019 event. We have now reached the deadline of 30 June – plus another month – and…

… it is with a heavy heart that we have to make another announcement: There will be no studios opening in 2019 in Cyprus as it was decided to suspend the event for this year.

It seems as if the local open studios events have a life cycle all of its own.

In 2006, there was enormous excitement when Open Studios CY was brought into the world. The first year there were 50+ participants, in the second year there were 80+ and then it declined until the 2011 event which had less than 30 participants. At the end of that year, it came to its natural end.

I was an enthusiastic participant in all of those years and felt sad when it no longer existed. Due to a few years of personal upheaval, I could not do anything to assist artists of Cyprus to gain greater acknowledgement for their work. After my husband’s passing in 2012 and all the paper mountains have been climbed, I was left quite deflated.

Instead of twiddling my thumbs, I first started an artists’ directory which was called www.art-en-route-cyprus.com (it no longer exists) and it went well for some time. But then, one fine morning, I woke up with the thought of starting another open studios ‘movement’ in Cyprus and I did a test weekend in September 2014. It was welcomed with open arms by both artists and visitors and it was decided to GO for it!

In January 2015, my two partners came on board and it was full steam ahead. Year on year, we made great headway and in addition to the local open studios events, we also assisted artists fully with exhibiting abroad, under the banner of Open Galleries Abroad (OGA).

Up until June 2019, we have given it our all, but this year the numbers simply did not warrant forging ahead.

Obviously there are many who will be disappointed – especially the visitors! What the future holds, we cannot tell as our crystal ball is malfunctioning a bit right now. However, as soon as we have put our heads together again, we shall see what we can dream up for the future.

Our website, our Face book pages, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts will all continue and we hope you will keep in touch to see what happens next. We will also continue with blog posts and share interesting bits of news with you – stay with us!

Until next time – keep on creating!

Website                                                           www.cyprusopenstudios.com

Facebook                                                        Cyprus Open Studios

AND                                                                  Open Galleries Abroad

Instagram                                                       cyprusopenstudios

Twitter                                                             @CosPromoter

LinkedIn                                                          Cyprus Open Studios – COS

Email                                                                 info@cyprusopenstudios.com

 

P.S.  Please note that this is a more personal note from the editor, Maria Etheridge, but also on behalf of the COS Team.