The Island Illustrators Society shut down their website in April 2024. Why a society with a long history of fostering artists, providing exhibitions of their work, and having robust monthly meetings faded and finally folded is a puzzle.
I first heard of the IIS when I was attending the Victoria College of Art where illustration students were encouraged to submit a portfolio and try to join this well respected group. I was pleased to join in 2014 to learn from the artists who were willing to provide tips and answers to my questions, to learn how to prepare my work for an exhibition, and to be part of a like minded group of artists.
Numbers of active members began to drop after that. Perhaps ISS created its own end by promoting artists to the public as many members became busy with work and stopped coming to meetings and events. Certainly the years of Covid shutdown accelerated the process with the lack of meetings and events and then the loss of the meeting location due to the closure of Coast Collective. A small core of devoted artists struggled to keep ISS alive but finally the end came.
Thank you Island Illustrators Society for all the support you gave me as I started out on this new career. I have had several successful jobs that came through the website. And thank you to all the artists who worked so hard to make this a fun and informative group.
Island Illustrators Society will be missed.