Art scene revival

County galleries reopen to public

The public face of the County’s vibrant arts scene has been mostly absent during this time of COVID-19. Book launches and author talks, and gallery openings and art shows, have been shifted to an online presence, with participants joining in on Zoom meetings or browsing through websites replete with photographic representations of the artworks. The buzz and excitement that accompanies an author speaking to a roomful of fans, or the electric atmosphere as an artist displays his or her work in public for the first time has no online analogue. Thankfully, though, County galleries have been given the green light to reopen, while following recommended health guidelines. Oeno Gallery, which has a well-established online presence, is now open to visitors by appointment and will launch its Summer Array show on Friday. Hatch Gallery in Bloomfield opened its doors by appointment beginning in June and is now admitting a small number of visitors to its summer exhibition of works by Paul Sloggett, Henry Saxe and Dan Solomon. Owner Dave Hatch said there has been a lot of interest in the gallery. “It’s been a very busy four weeks. People have been excited to get out. They have been isolated in their homes for 14 weeks and looking at the same four walls. They are not spending money of travel this summer, and they’re thinking about maybe getting a piece of art, something new and colourful for the place,” he said. Hatch Gallery officially opened to the public on Saturday, and saw a good number of people come in to take a look at the art in person. There was a limit of six visitors to the gallery at any time, and they were required to wear masks and leave their contact information in the event that contact tracing was needed. While the gallery does have a website, Hatch prefers showing the artwork in person. “I like to be in this particular gallery because of the way it presents the work, and I’m committed to the old-school way of working the gallery, meeting people and letting them see the work on the wall.” He had expected sales to be practically non-existent this year, but he has been pleasantly surprised that the demand for artwork is actually greater than it was in 2019. This is artist Paul Sloggett’s first show of the year, and he said the enforced isolation due to the pandemic had a bit of silver lining to go with the cloud of uncertainty. “As a painter, it was kind of the perfect time because we’re used to working on our own, so being isolated was pretty normal,” he said. “But keeping up with the news was terrifying, so I found the work was really helping me to keep my mind right. I did these pieces that had a certain amount of playfulness and joyfulness in them, and the work I did during COVID was to kind of heal myself. They made me feel better, and I hope that feeling gets transferred to the viewer.”

Artist Paul Roorda at the opening of his exhibit at 2 Gallery in Picton. His paintings of old and weathered walls evoke the feeling of a landscape with clouds in a large expanse of sky.

This past weekend also saw the opening of works by Paul Roorda and Huy Lam at 2 Gallery on Picton Main Street. The gallery has been open since early June and owner Jim Turner said that the pandemic has made it necessary for him to pivot to an online presence earlier than he had planned. “The focus for this year was that we were going to start building the brand, do more outreach and use more social media. That had to change very quickly and we had to revamp the website, and we had a virtual reopening,” he said. “It takes time to establish an online presence, and a business can’t be ultimately successful if they don’t necessarily have an online following. That takes time and effort and advertising dollars. We haven’t had the opportunity to build an online presence as much as we would like, and we need the walk-in traffic as well to make this work.” He said that his online buyers fit into two broad categories: a younger demographic that is used to online buying, and the established collectors, who are very experienced with a certain artists and who follow their work. However, there is still something to be said for seeing the work in person. “If you are a collector who enjoys interaction with the gallery owner, the artist, and attending openings, you really want to see the work, to see the brushstrokes, to see the way it was composed and built, a lot of which you can’t necessarily tell online.”He said that visitors to the gallery have been very understanding about following health guidelines, and the large gallery space allows for adequate social distancing.

Artist Karole Marois will be launching a sequel to the show on the theme of water that she held at the Armoury last year. It is a mostly self-funded show that will take place at 223 Main Street in Picton, at the former Arts on Main location, and will open on July 21. Marois has a strong passion for water, and the show, For the Love of Water, explores the healing connection with water. The show will combine her paintings with poems by Lindsay Brant of Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, and a poem by Conrad Beaubien. “It is a kind of visual way to express that we are all one with water, and the poetry really enhances the visuals,” she said. “This is a theme I am really obsessed with and it touches on the environment and the protection of water in Lake Ontario. In fact, where we live we have a shore well, and it is important that water is clean, and it means more to me now than ever before, and I explore the emotional side of it, the healing factor.” Marois has had all of her other planned shows postponed or cancelled, but she really wanted to have a show where she could interact with the public, and also welcome other local artists. With help from Sarah Doiron of the Picton BIA and support from Libby Crombie, she has rented the space for three weeks to hold her show. She will have at least 10 paintings on display, some of which are up to seven feet wide, all showing some connection to water. The spaces is large enough to have some benches situated in the middle to guide the flow of visitors and allow for social distancing. “I love the in-person experience,” she said. “For me, sales is not the motivation, It’s more the experience. I like when people feel something.”