Pride of Guernsey: Joni Nettleship
ART has kept many people going through the last few months.
‘Joni Nettleship is a local face painter who has been painting children and adults here for five years,’ explained Ann Digby about her choice for the Moonpig-sponsored Arts Contribution of the Year.
‘During lockdown she wanted to help children stay relaxed and happy. She knew they might benefit from seeing a friendly face and wanted to do something artistic for them.
‘She set up a free online drawing club on YouTube called Drawing With Joni where families could draw together in real time.’
The tutorials, which got hundreds of hits, covered themes such as ‘sleepy dinosaur’, ‘baby turtle’, ‘sloth time’ and ‘Ron’s car’, and garnered such praise as ‘You’re amazing at drawing’, ‘A good intro and a great artist’ and, simply, ‘Wow’.
Ann believes that Joni’s great work should recognised and that she would be a deserved winner of the Arts Contribution of the Year Award.
‘She did this three times a week for the whole of lockdown and children sent in their drawings, which she posted on an online gallery.’
