Brenda Thebeau
Brenda Thebeau holding the lion page that changed her life. Insets: other art journal pieces.
“My new work is far less personal… but it’s all about exploration.”
“My new work is far less personal… but it’s all about exploration.”
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.)
Loyal to oil: Artist of the Month at Creek Village Gallery
Artist Wanda Black
Even Black's flora can be quite captivating as demonstrated here in a detail from
a larger painting (bottom) which invites the viewer to imagine the story beyond the canvas.
The lush images at top form a tryptic.
a larger painting (bottom) which invites the viewer to imagine the story beyond the canvas.
The lush images at top form a tryptic.
‘I used to carve and display in the back of a barber shop.’
Francine Simard Levesque
Art in the Valley Studio Tour celebrates Canada’s 2015 Craft Year
Next weekend, June 6-7, 2015, the Art in the Valley Studio Tour is saluting Canada's Craft Year with special events and open houses from the Grand Falls area to Woodstock and points between and beyond. Some of the highlights: From top left, Francine Simard Levesque’s 7-foot sculpture (a portion of which is shown here) at her studio in Rowena demonstrates her meticulous technique; necklace and earrings inspired, according to Perth’s Japheth McKinney, by a sudden “craving for watermelon”; a particularly fine ceramic piece by Wendy Johnston (formerly of Woodstock), part of an extraordinary show at the McCain Art Gallery in Florenceville; pigs do fly, occasionally, on the broad lawn in front of sculptor Kerry O’Toole’s gallery in Grafton; wood-turner Randy Hathaway’s lighthouse-inspired showroom on the banks of the Tobique. Bottom: necklace by Sarah Smith Stewart recently on display at the Creek Village Gallery in downtown Woodstock.
(These items subject to prior sale or may not be available for purchase.)
(These items subject to prior sale or may not be available for purchase.)
‘I’ve become a YouTube junky. That’s how I learned the craft.’
Jeweller, artist Japheth McKinney
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McKinney is fond of fluid, colourful pieces like this which are produced using a pouring medium combined with acrylic paints. Once the paint compound is applied to the canvas in layers, the whole piece is tilted to produce the bleeding effect. "I just love the intensity," he says. |
‘I had a hard time finding a market. Now I can rely on word-of-mouth.’
Artist Craig Smith Dow
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The artist surrounded by canvases in his Somerville NB studio which will be open to the public Saturday, June 6 and Sunday, June 7, 2015.
PHOTO © CRAIG SMITH DOW |
Looking back: an encouraging audience trend, a new cultural corridor, a gap in youth education
In the last two “seasons” of this column, I have completed 35 interviews with artists and crafters, writers, musicians and performers as well as entrepreneurs and cultural leaders in the Carleton County NB area. It’s been fun and invigorating.
Artists are rarely without strong opinions and creative ideas. The viewpoints that have jumped out at me through these interviews are, first, the strong local support and enthusiasm for the arts, then, the promise of cultural tourism and, lastly, the importance of appropriate arts education opportunities at all levels in our public school system.
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| Some of the players and some of the work that are making the upper St. John River Valley a cultural hot spot: clockwise from top left, artist Judith Saunders, watercolourist RoyTibbits, quilting by Kookie Sewell, glass art (detail) by Alice Sahagian, carver and basket weaver James Buxton, Victoria Hutt of the Andrew & Laura McCain Art Gallery, Peter McLaughlin of the Second Wind Music Centre, unfinished acrylic painting (detail) by artist Ann Kittredge, pen and ink with watercolour (detail) by Jean Haywood, artist Suzan Carsley. |
‘I don’t usually take just one photo ─ I occupy the area.’
Photographer, poet John P Rairdon
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| For this scene near the downtown market in Woodstock NB, 57 images were combined to create a midnight panorama. “February is the longest month of the year,” says Mr Rairdon. “We trudge along in the darkness, clinging to any source of light to guide us into spring.” |
‘I’d like to make a suit of armour someday.’
Chain maille jeweller Connie Wilkinson
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| “It’s the prep work that is most time consuming,” notes Ms Wilkinson. Here, clockwise from left, she coils copper wire using an electric drill ─ once completed, a coil like this will have consumed about two feet of wire; the coil is cut into individual circular pieces; each coil is then “knitted” to a specific pattern. |
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