2019 Festival of the Arts features more than 50 artists

 In Events, Visit Creemore

More than 50 artists will be showing work at the Creemore Festival of the Arts. New and returning artists working in a variety of mediums will be set up at a number of businesses, studios and community centres during Artists on Location Oct. 5 and 6.
The arts weekend hosted by Purple Hills Arts and Heritage Society is a continuation of a long standing tradition of studio tours.
“The idea is to bring many artists and into the community to show their work increase their visibility,” said paper artist Liz Eakins, who is coordinating the event and is included in the tour. She said the goal is to bring as many artists as possible into a concentrated area to make it convenient for people to explore their work. “The best part is that people can meet the artists and talk to them about their work.”
Participating in the tour will be a number of local favourites, including long time and returning participants such as painter Bette Boake and leather artist David Trotter, and quite a few newcomers, including painters Rob Chenier and Lisa Hannaford, paper and mixed media artist Kathryn Allyn, and photographer Jessalynn Sammons. There are also some special invitees on the list, such as Indigenous artist Clayton Samuel King, who will be showing work at Water First.
Eakins said every participating artist has been asked to produce a square foot piece to show at Station on the Green, which will act as home base for the weekend. The Square Foot Show is a new twist on a past community project and will give people an idea which artists they want to see.
Station on the Green is also the location of one of three marquee shows that are part of the festival.
JJ Jasperson’s Shifting Landscapes will explore environmental themes and the ongoing effects of climate change through traditional landscape painting that has been digitally manipulated to visually exaggerate climate shifts. Large prints will be suspended from the ceiling, supported by an animated video.
A second marquee show will be set up at Creemore Log Cabin, where Deborah Farquharson and Jocelyn Hirtes are creating an installation entitled On the Curiousness of a Fieldstone Pile. The stone pile creation will have an interior surprise textile element, in which the community was invited to help create.
In the field behind the log cabin, Denis Bolohan is creating a labyrinth entitled N 44° 19’37” E 80° 06’19, the latitude and longitude coordinates for Creemore. The mowed design is inspired by the surrounding topography, the Purple Hills and the Mad and Noisy rivers. Walking the labyrinth is representational of a journey to the village centre. Traditional labyrinths are meant to provide a meditative and purposeful experience.
New this year, four artist workshops have been added to the schedule. On Oct. 5 Sue Miller is teaching Expressive Abstract Painting Workshop from 10 a.m. to noon ($40) and Martha Bull is teaching a Watercolour Painting Workshop from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. ($30).
On Oct. 6, Eakins is leading a Basic Bookbinding Workshop from 10 a.m. to noon ($30) and Jordan Eveland is offering a Gyotaku Printing/Oil Pastel Workshop from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. ($30).
Register online at PHAHS.ca or in person at The Creemore Echo. Maps with a full list of artists are available around town and online.
Creemore Festival of the Arts runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 5 and 6. Station on the Green, located at 10 Caroline St. E., is the information centre.

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