Only a few months after being awarded the "International Press & PR Photographer of the Year" recognition from the SWPP/BPPA, photographic artist Sergio Muscat was presented with the 3rd Annual Photography Masters Cup Nominee Award in the category of Fine Art at a prestigious live online Winners and Nomination Ceremony presented by International Colour Awards to recognize excellence in colour photography.

The International Colour Awards Photography Masters Cup is the leading international award honouring excellence in colour photography. This celebrated event shines a spotlight on the best professional and non-professional photographers worldwide and honours the finest images with the highest achievements in colour photography.

Thousands of images were received from ninety-two countries. The nominated photographers were selected by a who's who Judging Panel from the international photography community, including Christie's, National Geographic, Saatchi & Saatchi, Fox Broadcasting Company and Vogue Magazine. The panel reviewed the images online over an eight-week period and the image "Beach Shop" received a high percentage of votes overall within the Fine Art category.

Today our lives are greatly influenced by mass production, by technology and by velocity. We want everything and we want it now. Wood carving contrasts greatly with this life style. Progress is very slow and laborious while mistakes once made are hard to correct. In addition, as the production of a single piece may take weeks if not months the final cost is regrettably high making the works hard to sell. This explains why it is quite rare to find artists who dedicate themselves to this difficult medium.

Martin Bezzina Wettinger is one of these few local artists who has taken the challenge. Martin whose successful studio “Il-Bottegin ta’ San Martin” found at 185A, Old Bakery, Valletta, is holding another solo exhibition at the MCAST Main Campus, Administration building Foyer, Triq Kordin, Paola.

Sergio Muscat has recently launched a new website at www.sergiomuscat.com. The website contains a wider variety of his work, together with interesting articles about photography, art and life in general. Some of the articles follow the projects he is currently undertaking, including an exhibition on Tango, together with a few other local artists.

Sergio Muscat (1978-) is one of a new generation of Maltese photographers who are trying to revive the appreciation for photography as an art form to the levels it enjoys internationally. His black and white work has been described as "deeply reflective", having "bold contrast and fine definition". This visual strength ties in with his signature style, which "jolts our attention through impact in projecting the obvious and ordinary, the simple and plain as imposing and important."

By E.V. Borg

Ray Azzopardi is presenting a collection of monumental sculpture in wood entitled: ‘Works’. The collection (about 40 pieces) is mounted at Palazzo Castellania, no. 15 Merchants Street Valletta. Dr. Joe Cassar, the Parliamentary Secretary for Health will inaugurate the exhibition on Friday 8th May 2009 at 7.30pm. The exhibition will remain open for public viewing till the 30th of the month.

Ray’s work belongs to the Italian school of sculpture of the first half of the 20th century led by the father of Italian sculpture the renowned Arturo Martini (1889-1947). Francesco Messina, Marino Marini, Giacomo Manzu, Pericle Fazzini and Emilio Greco to mention a few belong to the same faction in contrast to the impressionist Medardo Rosso (1858-1928).

‘Glimpses’ is the title of a collection of 30 paintings in watercolour by Doranne Alden (1963-). It is presented at Palazzo Messina the German- Maltese Circle building at no. 141, St. Christopher Street, Valletta. The inauguration will take place on Wednesday 25th March 2009 at 19.00hrs. The exhibition is open to the public between March 26 and April 18 2009 both dates inclusive.

Jacqueline Agius is currently presenting some of her latest watercolour paintings at the Trattoria Fiorino D'Oro in Salina, L/O Naxxar. Her watercolour paintings are characterised by the transient effects of light and colour and reveal the warmth of an artist fully involved with the places that so inspire her work.

She has a strong affinity for the outdoors and is particularly interested in capturing a sense of feeling and mood in her paintings. Such direct contact with nature and the elements give her an extra psychological insight into the spirit and atmosphere of the place, which she is then able to convey through her work. She works from a composition that has been developed from sketches, studies and notes.

by E.V. Borg

Neville Ferry (b.1945) is perhaps one of the very few artists in Malta who has assimilated and created an abstract expression. His expression is not derived; it has evolved. His education in UK can be traced and is felt but i hardly dominates his work as he has exploited different sources, having visited Florence early in his career and has been inspired by several cultures including and explicitly so our megalithic civilization – our temple culture.

There is a gradual and subtle transition in his expression from subject matter as focus to object mass: the clay as protagonist, to truth to material. Neville is presently obsessed in emphasizing and enhancing the properties of clay, its nature, potential, possibilities limitations, plasticity, elasticity, texture and density. With the enthusiasm of a child he is overwhelmed by the metamorphoses in clay through intense heat and fire.