Palmerston North is the home of well-established  and
successful Taylor-Jensen Fine Arts Gallery and Bee's
exhibition opened  there on Friday 25 June and ran for
a month, attracting good attendance, positive feedback
and sales. The exhibition title 'Going Forward: Going Back'
recognised this exhibition as a step forward  - out
of the Wellington region and also gave a nod to Bee
going back to her home town to exhibit for the first time.
Bee was actually born and bred in Feilding but attended
college and university in Palmerston North.

Fran Dibble in her review 'A Critical Eye' in the
Manawatu Evening Standard described Bee's works
as '. . . bold and assertive . . . atmospheric studies using
rich colour successfully applied by layering oil
paint with geometrical squares as contrast'.

One of Ms Dibble's favourite works was Szyszlo's Dilemma,  the diptych shown below, where she says Bee ' . . .  mixes colours, here rust, yellow, creams and grey, with a deft hand that produces beautiful harmonies.'

Tamarillo Gallery, now in new premises in the heart of Wellington'c CBD was the light, bright and white venue for Bee's recent Solo Exhibition 'Going Up: Going Down' which ran throughout April. This well-received exhibition featured several contemporary abstracts from the 'Taylor's Mistake' series of paintings - a few of which have been retained by Tamarillo for on-going display. Taylor's Mistake is an area of dramatic headlands and lonely beaches close to Sumner, out of Christchurch in the South Island. Six smaller works also accompanied this series, each celebrating the elements, earth, fire, wind and water and New Zealand's ever-changing envronment.  The works shown below are 'Red Beach' and 'Heads Or Tails'.

November proved to be a busy month, with a further Exhibition of both established and emerging artists organised at Ohariu Hall by Jane Kellahan, on the weekend 7th & 8th. Ohariu Hall is also the venue for Jane Kellahan's very popular workshops which are run several times a year. Those exhibiting over the weekend included Jane Kellahan, Bee Doughty-Pratt, Cassandra Gaisford, Clare Matthews, Sam Walker, Janet Mazenier, George Oliver and several others. A good turnout was experienced although numbers were down on last year. However several sales made and the weekend was deemed a successful one.

The 2009 Kapiti Arts Trail on November 7th & 8th November benefitted from beautiful weather and a turnout which saw more than 15,000 visits made to over 100 different artist studios, galleries and museums which stretched from Paekakariki in the south to Otaki on the north. The Oasis Gallery on Ventnor Drive in Paraparaumu - also the working studio of Duncan Smith, was no exception with a steady steam of vistors throughout the weekend. Duncan shared his exhibition space with Bee who had several large & small works on display. Sales of Bee's new works were successfully achieved over the weekend and orders taken for limited edition prints of Duncan's work, below left. Oasis Gallery will now be open every Friday with all work on display available for purchase.

With Artbourne & the Exclusive Art Auction coinciding on the same weekend, Sunday 1 November proved to be an art-filled day. The inaugural Artbourne Contemporary Art Exhibition saw an excellent selection of work, professionally hung at Wellesley College in Eastbourne - with the Thursday night opening well-attended. Exhibitors included Paul Forrest, Jane Kellahan, Suzanne Herschell and Richard Ponder. Most artists submitted just one work each. Bee was delighted to sell her abstract landscape 'Terra Firma".

In another inaugural event from Creative Charity Auctions, the Exclusive Art Auction on a hot Sunday afternoon at Wllis York in the city was a standing-room only success with more 50 artworks going under the hammer. The Dan Hayles Trio provided the entertaining musical background, the sponsored wine flowed freely and the catering was outstanding. The artwork for sale came from a Who's Who of New Zealand artists and included works by John Drawbridge, Vincent Ward, Gary Tricker and Matt Gauldie among others. Matt Gauldie's 'Ian in Gold Shoes' was prominently positioned and proved to be a good talking point. Jane Gray, Suzy Pennington and Gail Gauldie were included in the lineup and several works by Jane Kellahan once again proved very popular. The charity benefitting this year was Ronald McDonald House which not only scored a percentage of the tickets sales and painting sales but has also had 10 original paintings donated to be hung in the new 34-bed House when the building has been completed. All in all, an entertaining afternoon of non-stop action with some wonderful works of art changing hands.

The 7th Annual Art Awards held by the Paraparaumu Rotary opened on Thursday 22 October in the Southwards Exhibition Space in Kapiti with over 200 guest hosted to Cocktails. Nathan Guy, the local Member of Parliament opened the Show. Over 300 artists from Dargaville to Greymouth were represented with works large and small, from highly realistic landscapes and portraits through to the most esoteric of abstracts. Works included oils, watercolours, acrylics, mixed media and even some collages. The judge was Richard Ponder an established artist in his own right and the owner of Rona Gallery in Eastbourne. The standard of work was excellent with several well-known artists such as Debbie Pointon, Adele Souster and Anna-Marie Kingsley among others taking out awards. Debbie Pointon won Best in Show with her work "Night Lights'.

Stop Press: Bee was delighted to win the Abstract Merit Award with her painting
'Paekakariki Storm' pictured below.

This Exhibition "Uncorked & Unhinged" opened at 3pm on Saturday 3 October with a large crowd in attendance.The opening coincided with the first anniversary of the Deirdre Ralph Gallery being in business. Glen O'Brien CEO of Nature Coast Enterprises (pictured below) spoke briefly, congratulating the gallery owner and introducing both the artists. Several of Bee's large paintings made for a dramatic wall of art. These paintings were enhanced by a selection of Bruce Winter's new sculptural works, some of which can be spotted in the photos below. Both artists (pictured below) sold several works at the Opening.

"Uncorked Vintage" was the name given to Bee's very successful exhibition at Kapiti Law Gallery which opened on Thursday 16 July in Waikanae. Bruce Winter was asked by Bee to exhibit some of his quirky contemporary sculptures alongside her paintings and together about 30 of their works were installed in a very complementary mix. Opening night saw a good crowd enjoying a glass or two of 'uncorked' bubbles. Several local artists initiated some interesting discussions on abstract art in general and on Bee's style in particular - Mirek Smisek, a pioneer New Zealand potter (with a survey exhibition "60 Years 60 Pots" showing at Mahara Gallery until the end of August) voted the exhibition 'Excellent!' - while other art-lovers and guests moved between the works making their purchasing decisions. The work on the right, below, "Love Hurts: The Bleeding Edge" was one of the paintings sold on the night. The Bruce Winter sculpture shown alongside is "On The Shoulders Of Others" a creative mix of Hinuera stone, wood, metal & found objects.

The Affordable Art Show in Wellington kicked off with a Gala Evening on Thursday 30th July - another memorable evening of fine food, wine, entertainment, lots of art being sold and the media filming live on the night. The Prime Minister, Hon John Key opened the show during the evening. Three sale days followed, with the show winding up on Sunday 5pm. Thousands of paintings were displayed and sold. On Saturday long queues of purchasers formed at the cash desks. Single Artist Walls were in high demand with only 73 single artists eventually selected to benefit from having this exclusive display option. These artists were required to 'man' their walls for the duration of the Show. Bee was very pleased to be included in this number and thoroughly enjoyed the interaction with the buying public and the other artists in attendance. Bee says "It was totally inspiring to see the thousands of pieces of work in such an astounding range of styles - all hung in a series of sponsored galleries, in such a huge space." Bee was also privileged to be one of only four artists chosen to have an artist profile and image included in the offical media release made. These Art Show promotions all came together for Bee with several sales of her work being made over the three days.

The 2009 Original Art Sale in Auckland opened with a Gala Charity Preview Evening on Thursday 25 June at the TelstraClear Event Centre in Manakau. This Evening was followed by three very succesful Sale days Friday, Saturday and Sunday 26/27/28 June. This is the Original Art Sale's fifth year as one of the largest sales of art held in New Zealand. Several thousand pieces of art were displayed, with a maximum of 350 artists only selected to display four artworks. Bee was delighted to have been included in this group and four of her works were chosen and shipped to Auckland for exhibition. Sales were successfully made for Bee in her absence and despite the economic climate prevailing throughout New Zealand, overall sales for the Original Art Show were up 30% on last year. The average sale price though, was down 6% with the vast majoirty of sales being smaller works. What a great occasion and a fantastic opportunity for artists to raise their profiles - and for the buying public to be able to see in one space, a huge varierty of original works of all shapes, sizes , styles and media.

The Art Boutique is Tauranga is a very popular gallery with local collectors and off-shore visitors alike. The Gallery exhibits a wide range of original New Zealand artworks in all media covering everything from glassware and finely crafted jewellery, to sculptures and paintings from artists from all over. Bee has a number of artworks being exhibited at this gallery. In these shots, 'Catchment' is shown on the easel and 'BC: The Darker Side Of Life' is shown on the right beside the window. Also in this shot is 'Aftermath: Bush Fire At The Lake' and 'Fault-Line - Outflow'. Gallery owner Carol Collins mentions that she is regulalry packing art to send offshore for purchasers travelling in New Zealand.

Gallery 1847 located in the historic Taylor Stace Cottage in Pauatahanui was the focus of much attention on Saturday 2 May 2009. Bee's solo exhibition "Still Waters Run Deep" opened on the sunny Saturday at 3pm with a crowd of around 90 people spilling out of the cottage gallery into the gardens. This was to be the last exhibition at the Category 1 Historic Places Trust building before it closed for major restoration - to conserve the existing building and to raise it to protect against flooding.

Taylor Stace Cottage is bellieved to be the oldest surviving residential building in the Wellington region. As a consequence the exhibition gained much advance publicity in several newspapers with both the mayor of Porirua Jenny Brash and the GM: Central Region Historic Places Trust, Ann Neill attending. See picture. After being introduced by Bee, both spoke about the cottage and the gallery and the asset these have been to the community. Gallery owner Jan Cromie hopes that Gallery 1847 will be able to re-open in the cottage when the restoration is completed. "It is an ideal location for a gallery. It is very picturesque - although it does suffer from just about all the usual defects of a building this age."

Bee said "It is a privilege to be the final artist to exhibit at Gallery 1847 before the building closes. It is a great space and very quaint with lots of atmosphere." Over 20 abstract paintings were catalogued for the duration of the exhibition. These ranged in size from a 1.6m x 1m multi-media installation featuiring 60 small canvas 'parcels' attached to a sheet of perspex right through to a small trio of abstract landscapes less than 25cm square. The picture on the left below which featured in the Kapiti Observer shows Bee in her studio-shed with "And Then The Tide Came In" an abstract landscape first exhibited (and then sold, among others) at this exhibition. The picture on the right is of part of the exhibition at Gallery 1847.

The Thistle Hall Gallery in the capital city was the venue for a group exhibition "Solidarity" which opened on Monday May 4 2009 and ran until Sunday 10 May. Bee joined established artists from Gallery 1847 Jan Cromie and Angela Rickard to produce a varied collection of abstract, figurative and realist paintings of all sizes and hues. These were all complemented by Bruce Winter's original and quirky sculptures incorporating stone, wood, metal and found objects. Some good sales were made although the busy opening was followed by a somewhat quieter exhibition week.

The bubbly was 'uncorked' right on time and the cheeseboards laid out for the opening of Bee's small but successful solo exhibition "Uncorked" at Framework Gallery Paraparaumu Beach on 16 March 2009. The exhibition then ran until 4 April. Framework Gallery owner Joy Davidson said it was not often that she had the opportunity to show contemporary abstract art of this standard. "The rich vibrant colours are catching the eye of both vehicle and foot traffic and a lot of interest is being created." The first sale made on the day, was "Rustic Odyssey" to a local collector.

Duncan Smith, pictured below, a highly regarded professional painter and sculptor in his own right, had this to say. "Every once in a while an emerging artist stops me in my tracks. Strolling past Framework Gallery in Paraparaumu, I glanced in and was immediately captivated. For the next half hour I pored over 16 beautifully executed abstract paintings. All have strong earth elements. One captures the essence of water weaving from mountains to sea, while another is reminiscent of Len Lye's waving in the wind sculptures. Images are presented boldly, yet remain soft and restful. Compositions are uncluttered and simple, with a clear horizon that stretches across the entire canvas. This clean horizontal aspect effectively pulls in the viewer to focus on the surrounding blend of earthy colours, which are, in places, literally drip-fed over the surface. The interplay and the layering of oil paint and ink is astounding and intensely atmospheric."

The Kapiti Observer published the second picture below of Bee with Joy Wilkie, another local arts identity who was the driving force behind the successful Real Art Roadshow now also launched in Auckland. The painting shown is Bee's 'Catchment - From the Mountains to the Sea.'