Rosie Balyuzi is staging The Moray Firth Five - Zing! event at The Phoenix Café, Findhorn Eco-Village next month
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A LOCAL artist is set to exhibit her collection of work inspired by classic travel posters.
‘The Moray Firth Five - Zing!’ event running from June 6 to July 3 at The Phoenix Café, Findhorn Eco-Village aimed at both residents and visitors, will highlight our outstanding coastal towns and villages.
Artist and curator Rosie Balyuzi promised: “I will bring summer zing, from my heart to yours.”
Rosie is honouring the legacy of travel posters with a contemporary take. Using big, bold lettering, she aims to generate a sense of pride and confidence.
She said: “Elements in each illustration encapsulate the unique spirit of each place for me. They were designed after I was invited to create an exhibition for the bar this summer.
“Zing! is inspired by a deeply impactful line I read in a meditation book over 25 years ago while feeling lost in London: ‘Meditation is like drinking a cool glass of lemonade on a hot summer’s day’. The present moment is always available - fresh and new. Zing!’
Rosie was raised in London, studied in Liverpool, and worked in the UK’s capital, Brighton and Edinburgh in press offices and children's animation studios.
She then lived in a cottage at Binsness estate, near Kintessack, before moving to Findhorn to now work as an artist, illustrator and graphic facilitator.
She loves the village and its people.
She said: “I am growing to feel part of the community. I was very lucky to secure a one-bedroom cottage just before lockdown. I live here with my beloved rascal Dachshund, Leroy.”
The opening night of Zing!, from 5-7pm on Thursday, June 6, will see the launch of the Moray Firth Five posters plus more including a free prize draw for a framed lemon Zing! poster.
The posters will be available to buy as a set or as stand-alones at the exhibition and privately via @doodlesurfer on Instagram.
Pop blocks - sets of square, deep block canvases will be available.
“They are bold, simple and each offer a nugget of quirky wisdom, “ said Rosie. “Pop-art vibrancy has been a great inspiration.”
Visitors will also have the chance to buy a repurposed surfboard.
“It’s an old board that was knocking about my house for years,” explained Rosie. “I won it at an auction in Elgin. I've painted it up in acrylics, markers and lacquer, ready as a special one-off piece to uniquely decorate a home.”
Repurposed beer caps will also be available.
“I have been visiting local bars and asking them to save me beer caps to refashion into fridge magnets,” explained Rosie. “It's been great to get to know folk and upcycle what would have been discarded. The caps form a collection of nine funky designs.
’Lemon Aids’ beach stones will also be on offer - hand-painted with the signature Zing! lemon on the show’s flyer.
Rosie said: “They are to be held whilst you pause, take a deep breath, and are refreshed again. They will be offered in exchange for donations.”
Replicas of seals Ebb and Flow will be available on commission.
”They are taking the limelight,” joked Rosie. “They are a pair of large, wooden cut-out and painted creatures. Our Findhorn seal population is special.”
’The Guitar’ will also feature in the exhibition.
Rosie said: “It is a funked-up, hand-painted, one-of-a-kind acoustic that looks good and plays fine! I am inspired by the timeline of cool jazzed-up guitars stemming from psychedelia you see in rock and pop.
”The show contains several more pieces too.”
Rosie plans to approach other local pubs, cafe's and visitor centres as possible sales outlets.
She added: “I am also going to to see if Scotrail are interested in partnering on further designs related to station town destinations.”
Rosie's working background, spanning over 20 years, is in animation, illustration and graphic design. Now running graphic facilitation services, she is part of the Orchard Road Studios Collective in Forres.
“There are 11 of us here,” she said. “It is good to feel part of a creative collection of arts practitioners. We are planning an open studios event around the same time as this year's Findhorn Bay Arts Festival in September.”
Her artistic heroes include Mattisse, Banksy, Dr Suess and Zen master calligraphers.
“My work is sometimes spontaneous, sometimes planned,” she said. “I let it speak for itself.”
For more information email rosiebalyuzi@hotmail.com
