Connecting through art
A cornerstone of the Creemore Arts Fest is Artists on Location, when more than 50 artists will be set up throughout the village on Saturday and Sunday.
The new coordinator this year is painter Elizabeth Eisner, who had her debut show at last year’s Creemore Arts Fest, when she was set up in front of a Mill Street home.
“It was such a success for me,” says Eisner. “As an artist, you’re very vulnerable. It’s your heart that you’re showing. I didn’t know how the community or how people would receive it, but I got a lot of positive feedback, and I sold about eight paintings.”
“Martha Bull, the previous coordinator, was very kind and welcoming, and I thought I’d like to do the same for other artists, make them feel welcome, and make this a joyous event for them as well.”
Eisner has encouraged her broad network of fellow artists to show their work during this year’s festival. She belongs to multiple art groups where she has found a supportive community of people who help and encourage one another.
“I’ve drawn and painted all my life,” says Eisner.
Art was part of life while growing up on a dairy farm, southwestern Ontario, says Eisner, all the women in her family were artists.
“Somebody said anxiety is unexpressed creativity. I’m a very anxious person, and art calms me. It just brings me joy, and I’ve met so many wonderful people. Our community is just so wonderful. I made so many friends,” she said.
Since being let go from her job almost a year ago, Eisner has taken the extra time she has to really focus on her painting.
“I painted all my life, while raising three boys and having a busy corporate job,” says Eisner. During that time she took night classes at OCAD and Avenue Road School of the Arts.
Now, she has really been able to focus on her painting.
Eisner is a plein air painter. She paints mostly in oil and prefers local themes like sunflower fields and barns but she has also painted Cezanne’s mountain (Mont Sainte-Victoire), in France.
“I’ve been to Europe three or four times. I’ve painted in Italy and France. I love when people come up and talk to you, even if it’s in a different language, it’s a real way to connect with people through art.”
Eisner has been working out of Mill Street Art Studio, where she will be showing her work during Artists on Location from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. There is a map available showing the location of all participating artists, available at the info booth at Creemore Station on the Green.
Chris Nelson, mixed media artist
Glimpses of nostalgia
by Bonnie MacPherson
Chris Nelson describes himself as a self-taught mixed media artist.
Nelson’s work is based on nostalgic glimpses of his life, growing up in the 90s and 2000s.
“The images come from road trips, friendships and relationships. Adding colour and texture is part of the process of releasing emotional energy,” he says. “My art is unplanned. I don’t know exactly what a piece will be when I start out.”
Nelson’s website describes his work as “informed by expressionism and abstraction, allowing instinct and spontaneity to guide each composition with natural forms and shifting moods emerging through abstract gestures and colour relationships.”
Nelson says of Pickle Lake, one of the pieces Nelson will be showing at Creemore Arts Fest is, “I lived in Vancouver for six years, then during COVID I lost my restaurant job and decided it was time to come home.”
On the long, long drive from Vancouver he passed by Pickle Lake.
“For some reason, the name just struck me as funny,” he says. “The 1,803 km in the painting is a reference to the distance to Barrie. I had no idea Ontario was so huge until I did that drive.”
Another of Nelson’s signature pieces is titled This is a Male Unicorn.
“This one is about my life, growing up gay,” he explains. “When you’re younger, you think you’re so different and you just want to fit in. I loved to play My Little Pony with my best friend, who was a girl. Eventually, you come to realize that being different is kind of a gift.”
Nelson is currently working on a series of landscapes incorporating fabric and beads along with his usual acrylic, charcoal and pastels.
“I wanted to push more mixed media,” he says. “The texture brings another dimension. I always have to keep adding something new every two or three months or I get bored. Right now, I enjoy sitting on the floor cutting up bits of fabric and retreating into my thoughts.”
The Barrie native says, “It was not in my trajectory to be an artist. I went to school for public relations and human resources. Then, 12 or so years ago, I moved to Alberta and my roommate was a painter. She showed me a few basic things and I fell in love with abstracts. Currently, I work at Georgian [College] in a program that helps students who need to upgrade to get into college programs. Whenever I encounter someone who wants to study design or jewellery making I really encourage them. I feel like going to school for art is something I missed out on.”
Nelson would love to be a full time artist, but is less enamoured with the notion of starving for his art.
“As I’m getting older, having a regular job that still allows me the flexibility to work on my art is very appealing,” he says.
A gallery of Nelson’s work is online at chrisnelsonstudio.com. During Creemore Arts Fest, his art will be on display at 235 Mill St.
Heather Smiley paints en plein air with fellow members of the Blue Mountain Foundation of the Arts.
Surrounded by beauty
by Bonnie MacPherson
We are fortunate to live in a very special place, according to artist Heather Smiley. When she’s not busy volunteering with the Blue Mountain Foundation for the Arts or teaching workshops, Smiley devotes her time to capturing local landscapes in oil on canvas.
In a typical week, she spends 20-30 hours painting.
“I never grow tired of it,” she says. “If I say I need a break, I’m talking about 10 or 15 minutes, then I’m right back at it. Art is really important to me.”
On her website, she writes, “Painting the landscape that surrounds us is like having a conversation. I am looking and listening to the landscape around me; my painting is my response to the emotion, colour, light, and atmosphere evoked by the surroundings I stand in.”
A native of the Ottawa Valley, Smiley spent time in Toronto and out west before settling in Collingwood 25 years ago. She studied fine arts at York University where she was captivated by abstracts and modern art. After taking time out to raise a family, Smiley returned to painting, with an emphasis on landscapes.
“I felt I didn’t know enough about the fundamentals of painting, so I started at the beginning,” she says. “I love to paint en plein air, or from a sketch I made on site. I take loads of pictures as my husband is driving and these occasionally become reference points for new paintings, but my first choice is always to paint on location.”
“I’m forever finding new favourite spots...” she says. “Sometimes, I’ll just stop on the side of the road.”
One of the pieces Smiley will be bringing to Creemore Arts Fest is a moody sky, viewed from the 10th Line.
“It started out to be one thing, and became something else. There are so many beautiful vistas in the hills around Creemore, Meaford, Thornbury and Blue Mountain, and along the Georgian Bay shoreline.”
Smiley says there are a few of her earlier pieces that she would never sell, but on the whole, she is rather unsentimental about her work.
“If a painting isn’t good enough, it goes in the garbage or I paint over it,” she says. “I don’t do a lot of commissions, because I find that I tense up and I’m never happy with what I paint. My family is supportive but generally do not express opinions about my work.”
On a bulletin board in her studio is a quote from Barbara H Long , which she has adopted as her motto. “Let us play. And lead us not into domestication. And deliver us from dusting.”
This will be her first time participating in Creemore Arts Fest. Her paintings will be on display at YF Patisserie, 134 Mill St. Visit HeatherSmileyArt.com.
Ainsley Garbutt in her home in studio.
Seizing the moment
by Bonnie MacPherson
Painting is an escape for Ainsley Garbutt.
Always drawn to the arts, the Collingwood native majored in ballet at George Brown College before deciding that, as much as she wanted to be part of that world, it just wasn’t practical. A dance colleague suggested that since Garbutt was always the one who did everyone’s hair and makeup for performances, she should consider a career as a stylist.
After several years working in salons in Toronto and Vancouver, she returned to the area to be closer to family. Along the way, she had little time for her art, but the desire was always there.
Fifteen years later, Garbutt is a mother to two boys and owner of Blonde Hair Studio. With her sons involved in hockey, lacrosse, soccer and baseball, and the demands of running a business, she doesn’t have a lot of free time.
“Fortunately,” laughs Garbutt, “I thrive on stress. On the weekend, I’m at the rink at 7 a.m. with one kid, then I have a few hours before the other one goes in the afternoon. That’s when I get most of my painting done. Or sometimes, after everyone else is in bed I’ll do some painting but the light isn’t great at night.”
Last year, when she visited Creemore Arts Fest, her four-year-old told her, “Mommy, you should do this.” She had only recently started painting again, but she said to herself, “these people find the time to do it. Why can’t you?”
“Painting is a whole other world, as you rediscover who you are, beyond looking after other people. When I was new to painting, I tended to mimic other artists to learn technique,” says Garbutt. “Now I paint what I like, how I feel, whatever I find appealing. Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of semi abstract skyscapes.”
Garbutt’s medium of choice is acrylic – perfect for a time-starved artist. Some of her smaller pieces come together in as little as a day, if the mood strikes. Larger pieces can take several weeks.
“I’ve sold a few pieces on Instagram, but this will be my first actual show, and I’m feeling a bit nervous,” she admits. “I’m not a shy person but there is something about having people look at my work that makes me feel very exposed. There is something very raw about art, like people are peering into your soul.”
Garbutt’s paintings come from a place somewhere between reality and dreams. She says, “I’ve learned to appreciate the whimsy and romance in everyday things.”
She describes herself as a book collector and coffee lover. A voracious reader, she has consumed more than 60 books in the past year.
Garbutt is all about seizing the moment.
“We lost a daughter and that taught us not to squander the good things,” she says. “I don’t save things for special occasions. I wear the fancy clothes and use the good dishes. Life is the event and any occasion can feel special if you make an effort.”
Keeping her art affordable is important to Garbutt. Some of her smaller pieces sell for as little as $65.
“Value doesn’t come from the price you put on something. It’s whether it speaks to you. Whether you value it,” she says.
Garbutt’s paintings will be on display at The Flying Squirrel, 2 Francis St. E. Follow her on Instagram at the.ainsley. edit.
