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Art Drop founder Michaela Antoinette (Photograph supplied)<\/p>\n
Most artists spend their time thinking about what happens before a painting is finished.<\/p>\n
Michaela Antoinette spends just as much time thinking about what happens afterwards.<\/p>\n
The artist and former lawyer will host Art Drop Bermuda<\/a>, an exhibition on Friday featuring about 90 works by 18 artists.<\/p>\n Art is, of course, the main attraction, but Ms Antoinette insists the evening will feel more like an \u201cevent\u201d than a traditional gallery opening thanks to the sponsorship of the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club, Pembroke Tile & Stone and the Bermuda Arts Council.<\/p>\n There will be drinks for sale, music by DJ Purple Ferdinand and a chance to meet the artists whose work fills the room.<\/p>\n Buying a painting is designed to be as straightforward as making a purchase at a shop. Visitors can browse a digital catalogue, scan a QR code and, if they wish, pay in instalments before taking home the piece that caught their eye.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody’s not going to go to an art gallery but people will come out to an event,\u201d Ms Antoinette said. \u201cI thought that artists needed to have an experience that’s separate from the traditional galleries. It gives them a chance to show work that has been previously seen, to new eyes \u2014 to new buyers, a new audience \u2014 because of the difference in environment.\u201d<\/p>\n The idea grew from her own experience. Early in her career as an artist she discovered that selling the paintings was only part of the job.<\/p>\n \u201cMy inspiration came from having my own solo exhibition and having buyers reach out to me personally, from having to market myself and become an artist entrepreneur, and also realising that when my work sold, there was nothing that explained the intellectual property rights. There was no protection for the art, for the artist.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms Antoinette drew on her legal background and came up with a solution.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw that there was a gap and I’m filling that gap for professional artists,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n For Art Drop, artists were invited to submit the work that best represented them. Pieces in the exhibit will range from figurative expressionism and sculpture to photography, pottery, murals, paper flowers, fluid art and mixed media.<\/p>\n Works by 18 artists will go on display at Hamilton Princess & Beach Club on Friday (Photograph supplied)<\/p>\n Among those showing work alongside Ms Antoinette are established names such as Robert Bassett, Meredith Andrews, Eli Cedrone and Phoebe Hughes, as well as newer artists such asJosh Stevens and S I, whose 24 pointillist paintings will be shown publicly for the first time.<\/p>\n Also on display: Toni Tonae, Sandra Scott, Leah Wanklyn, Alice Coutet, Morgan Dagata, Katarina Hoskins, Michelle Lindo, Katie Ewles, Christina Wilson, Doris Wade and Barbara Dillas.<\/p>\n \u201cShe’s taught a lot of our creatives, she’s an abstract expressionist artist,\u201d Ms Antoinette said of the latter.<\/p>\n \u201cShe’s actually Robert [Bassett\u2019s] cousin. The funny thing is, I curated their work separately. I was looking at the applications, looking at the work coming in, and I said, ‘Oh, her work ties perfectly in with Robert\u2019s, let\u2019s put them together.\u2019 And then she told me they were cousins \u2026 that whole family is just talented.\u201d<\/p>\n She believes bringing different styles together introduces artists to buyers who may never have sought out their work individually.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no theme,\u201d she said. \u201cCuration, yes, it has to make sense, but there’s no theme, so I allow them to create freely and that gives them the opportunity to create outside of the Bermuda box \u2014 the traditional houses, Gombeys, stuff like that. There\u2019s nothing wrong with those things, this just gives them an opportunity to explore their creativity in a wider sense.\u201d<\/p>\n Art Drop Bermuda will feature a digital catalogue and a QR-code payment system for buyers (Photograph supplied)<\/p>\n People receive access to a digital catalogue before purchasing through a QR-code payment system powered by WOI. Artwork can be secured with a 25 per cent deposit. Instalment payments make higher-priced pieces more accessible.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a three-step fintech for contactless art gallery experience,\u201d Ms Antoinette said.<\/p>\n She hopes making the process easier will encourage more people to begin collecting original artwork.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that us coming together, it builds a bigger sense of community. Also it allows all of their supporters to see other types of work, too, that they might not have gone to see if they weren’t all in the same room. So it does allow the larger cross section of buyers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u2022 Art Drop Bermuda takes place on Friday in the Trudeau Ballroom & Terrace of Hamilton Princess & Beach Club from 5,30pm to 8.30pm. Admission is free. For more information, visitwww.artdropbda.com <\/a>or follow@artdropbda<\/a> on Instagram<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783375335_124_.jpeg\")
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