Back room show

Artist Terry Culbert at Arts on Main

Last April, Arts on Main returned to its home on Main Street and it has enjoyed a successful season with increased traffic through the gallery as well as more art sales than ever before. The building used to be a car dealership in an earlier life, with a showroom at the front. Cars were brought in through a back room, which had a ramp that could be lowered to put the vehicles in the basement for storage. When Arts on Main first occupied the building, the ramp was levelled off and the back room, which had no heat of its own, was used as a storage area. With the new tenancy, the arts collective decided to rent that space, in six-week blocks, to other artists during the fair-weather months. That has proved to be a wise decision, because the back room is now rented for the remainder of this year and for all of the following. Artist Terry Culbert will be the next artist to show his work in the back room. He was originally part of the arts collective and was a member for eight years, but as of a couple of years ago began to pursue an independent path. He has remained as a friend of Arts on Main and volunteers in the gallery three days every month. During these stints, visitors often would ask about his own work, and he would reply that only members’ works are on display. Starting October 29, he can begin to point them to the back room. “I’m very excited. The back room is a neat little spot, and it’s going to be all mine. I can hang my own show, and it’s quite a thrill,” he said.

Culbert is an acrylic painter, with a whimsical style all his own. Depictions of smoking clergymen, nuns on skis, saturnine cows and sweater-clad sheep in vibrant and bold colours are some of his signature pieces. “A lot of these come from my imagination. Right now, I have 18 little ones that I’ve just completed for the show in the back room. I always do cows; I have a birdwatcher. I absolutely love baby lambs, that’s my favourite animal in the whole world,” he said. He also does commissioned paintings, sometimes of a specific scene, and pet owners frequently ask him to do pet portraits. “The portrait is done in my whimsical style, and they like that and the brightness of the colours that I use.” In addition, he is collaborating with his wife, Barb Högenauer, under the portmanteau name of HOGBERT. Barb creates a textured background and Terry paints a whimsical scene over that. Several HOGBERT pieces will be part of Culbert’s show in the back room. The show runs until December 8. Culbert assures visitors that a wide door to the main gallery is left open so that the back room does receive some heat, and there is an electric heater should the weather turn somewhat colder. Arts on Main is located at 223 Main Street, Picton.