There's a tightly-knit creative enclave in the Upper Saint John River Valley of western New Brunswick, Canada. Meet our artists and artisans, musicians and performers as well as entrepreneurs and leaders. (These interviews, currently on hiatus, first appeared in the Woodstock NB newspaper, the Bugle-Observer.)
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| Jaye Hargrove (left) and Beth DeMerchant point out some of the restoration highlights of a Dolores Bohan folk-art mural, a detail of which is also pictured here, which was rescued from a local school cafeteria. |
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Ann Brennan making an appropriately costumed entrance
at her book launch in September 2014. Photo courtesy Brigitte Marsden |
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“I ♥ the Tar Sands” at Bath’s Gallery 262 was a multi-media installation by
Michele Kazakos that included pottery, animal skulls, bird feathers, iron work
and frames of reclaimed wood. At the “Evening Salon” reception in September 2014,
attendees chatted with the artist and performer, seemingly pleased
with the environmental statements put forth by her work. |
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| Talking about this watercolour featuring Woodstock’s St. Gertrude’s church, artist Suzan Carsley remarked that one of her next paintings will feature three adjacent houses in that part of town that hold some fascination for her. “I never grow tired of things around me here,” she notes. |
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Sewell and her quilting friends get together at her home a few times every week.
“Here I have the room and the equipment,” she comments. “I guess that’s why everyone
comes here.” Beverley Page, in the background, is a regular.
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At the McCain Art Gallery’s Chalk the Walk event at Florenceville last month, Harrington, in foreground, used his graffiti skills to “tag” his name. Look carefully< at his complex chalk art, which is nearing completion, and “PHILLIP” becomes evident.
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Over the years since its founding in 1984, the McCain Gallery has attracted
many high-profile touring shows. Here, executive director Victoria Hutt talks about “Maritime Folk Art”, from the collection of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery which was shown in September 2014. |
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| Thompson, here playing a unique double ocarina for visitor David Dolan, says that “the adventure video game ‘Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time’ has made this instrument newly popular.” |
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Slipp, at left, in his workshop turning the outside of a new bowl on the lathe.
Centre, from top, the bowl after the first turning then going to the second, inside phase.
At right, rough bowls take at least four months to dry in the “bowl bank”. |
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Mrs Stanley in her studio. Looking back on her eclectic career in art, she says “the more I do, the easier it gets.” |