Art Kitchen

Maggy Solenthaler shows the zine that she created.

New venture aims to build community through art

Building community engagement at the grassroots level has been a longtime passion for Christine Renaud. Her new project is the Art Kitchen in Picton, where she is hoping that the process of making art will forge new bonds between people in the County, regardless of social or economic status. The Art Kitchen is held every Monday from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Prince Edward County Learning site in the Sobey’s Plaza in Picton. There is no charge, and it is open to all. The idea for this came after her friend Candace Wilkins started an Art Hive in Belleville a couple of years ago. “There are Art Hives all over the world, and the idea is not only to make art, but that making art is therapeutic,” said Renaud. “So I started looking into it and I thought it would be a really good thing for the County.” She opened the doors to the first Art Kitchen session on Family Day in February and over 30 people showed up. “It was wild, but everybody was having a good time,” she said. Since then the attendance has fallen off a little to around 15, a number that Renaud finds manageable.

Participants have access to good-quality art material, and can do things such a pencil sketching, watercolours, collage making, embroidery or origami. People can also bring their own materials and work on their art in a community environment. It was important for Renaud to have good materials available for people to use. “You will get better results from your work, and while the focus is on the process and not the product, generally speaking, you want people to be using good material,” she said. Renaud has been using supplies from her own stock of materials—she used to run art workshops from her home—and purchased some following an initial crowdfunding appeal. She has also received supplies through donations, including some high quality canvases. “We had one family come and make these beautiful paintings that they were so excited to take home to hang in their living room or bedrooms,” she said.

(L-R): Christine Renaud looks on as Ruth Gangbar explains how her mobile is being constructed.

The Art Kitchen project is geared towards adults, but parents are welcome to bring their children. “It’s about people of all ages being artists,” said Renaud. “The people who have come with their children have been fabulous. The children are really into it and they have access to really good material, so they are getting nice results from the things they are making. But this is not for little wee kids.” Renaud sees this project as both therapeutic and community-building. “Creating things is a human activity,” she said. “It can be a guy who likes to fix old cars, a person who likes to sew. People just do this because they want to. I feel it’s something we’re actually missing— just creating things—if we don’t do it. Also a lot of people who can’t express themselves in other ways, they can express themselves through art, so it becomes a form of communicating with other people.”

Renaud sees the Art Kitchen as being very similar to her previous work with Food Not Bombs, which provided free community meals at the Picton Town Hall. “I feel that most things these days a commodified and it’s rare that you can go someplace and gather with people and it doesn’t cost you something moneywise,” she said. “This is also a barrier-free and safe space. You might have people here who are very good artists and some who are just learning, and people who just want to be creative, older people, younger people. I wanted to open this up to all of the community.” Now that the fate of the Picton Town Hall is looking more secure, Renaud hopes to one day combine Art Kitchen and Food Not Bombs by holding a day-long event at the hall that will include a free community meal as well as making art. For now though, she is thankful for the space provided by PELC. “It’s great to have this right on Main Street, and right beside the laundromat. You can do your laundry and come over here and do some art.”