Sherwood to open Blyth Festival Art Gallery season, Student Show this weekend
BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN
As the Blyth Festival marks its 50th anniversary season this summer, the Blyth Festival Art Gallery is one year behind, marking its 49th anniversary this year with a full and ever-expanding offering in the Bainton Gallery.
This will be the second season back in Memorial Hall after last season’s exhibitions from photographer Hannah Dickie, fine artist Kelly Stevenson and a collective of Ontario’s best potters - a line-up of artists who were originally scheduled to exhibit in the summer of 2020.
Last season also marked the launch of the Poetry in the Gallery series, which will continue in a slightly-expanded format this season. There will be a night of student poetry on April 13, followed by poets Nancy Pottage on June 28, Jillian Morris on July 20 and Chelsea Gamble on Sept. 7. All readings will be at the gallery in Memorial Hall and begin at 7 p.m.
This season will also represent a chance to remember the gallery’s roots for its volunteers, as, in the past six months, two of the gallery’s co-founders, Ron and Bev Walker, have passed away, leaving behind a legacy of their own art, as well as the story of the gallery itself, which has fostered and propped up so many local artists over the years. Bev passed away last October and Ron followed in March.
The season begins with the annual Student Show, a personal favourite of President Carl Stevenson. The show opens on Saturday, April 6 with a special gala opening at 6 p.m. that evening with many of the student artists in attendance.
The show will feature art from Huron and Perth Counties’ two school boards, created by students in Grades 9-12. There will be mixed media pieces, as well as sculptures, photography, drawing, painting, printmaking and digital illustration. It will run April 6-27.
Next, the time-honoured tradition of the Community Show will return to the gallery’s walls. It will run from May 11-31.
In June, the professional exhibitions will begin with an artist who is no stranger to Memorial Hall. In fact, his portrait of a poppy field adorns the wall as patrons enter the main level of the Memorial Hall theatre.
A new exhibition from Greg Sherwood will open the professional season. He has exhibited at the gallery before, first as one of three artists who contributed to “The Selective Eye” in 2002 and then as a solo artist for 2015’s “A Trick of the Light”.
Sherwood’s new show will kick off the season, beginning on Saturday, June 15 until it closes on July 6.
The second show will mark the Blyth Festival Art Gallery debut of Owen Sound-based artist Tony Miller, who creates paintings, sculptures and prints.
Miller, who is a Black artist who was raised in Owen Sound, says in a profile on the Bliss Studio website, that “...the psychological effects of the school system, religion and superstition and my one-time almost non-existent identity have influenced me. I have come to appreciate the beauty of my culture, in addition to other cultures for the purpose of creative development.”
According to that post, Miller’s work has appeared in more than 40 group and solo exhibitions.
The show opens on Saturday, July 13 with an opening reception at 6 p.m. and closes on Aug. 10.
The final show of the season is a group show entitled “Anything But Hysterical’ that will be accepting art from all mediums from female-identifying artists.
Kelly Stevenson, whose work has been featured at the gallery twice before, including last year’s “How Far I’ve Fallen”, will be curating the exhibit.
The window to submit art was scheduled to close on March 31, but has since been extended to Saturday, April 13 by 11:59 p.m.
The show will open on Saturday, Aug. 17 with an opening reception at 6 p.m. that night. The show closes on Sept. 7.