Art in the County

Signature art show moves online

Since 1993, Art in the County (AITC) has built its reputation as the County’s premier art show. With artworks ranging from oils to acrylics to fabrics, stone, wood and photography, it represented a wide swath of the artistic energy in the County. This year, however, the show has had to change tack with the prevailing winds of COVID-19 and the public health recommendations of physical distancing. The show will go ahead, but the art will be presented in an online forum. “In these strange and unprecedented times, it’s very important for us to still maintain support for our local artists, and I’m sure they have all hurt during this period as well, as their galleries are closed,” said AITC chair Amy Shubert. “We contemplated moving it into August, and we really felt unsure about physical distancing at that point, about how people would feel about getting in close contact with each other. We didn’t just want to end the show for a year, and we thought let’s just move forward online, as it’s kind of the way of the world anyway, so we’re giving this a try. We very much hope to be back in the gallery again next year, but we didn’t want to let this die for a year. We’re carrying this on and I think it’s going to be a marvellous challenge for all of us. This is such a major arts event for the County, and we really wanted to continue this on.”

So far the reaction from the artistic community has been overwhelmingly positive. In addition, there has been great support from the major sponsors, although the uncertainty of these times has led to a number of the smaller sponsors being unable offer support at present. The other challenge was making sure that the jurors, who had been selected before the pandemic crisis hit, were comfortable with viewing and selecting the works online. The jurors are photographer Peter Dušek, printmaker Otis Tamasaukas, and painter Lenni Workman. “They are all very excited and applauded us for continuing on with it,” said Shubert. The jurors will be provided with photographs of the artworks, and videos of the three-dimensional pieces. Artists will be able to get help from AITC executive director Janna Smith and committee member Natalie Piper when submitting images or videos of their work, so that it will be a level playing field for everyone. “Janna and Natalie have the capability to make sure the artwork will show well and they have found a marvellous way to showcase the art and make it very easy for people to register for it,” said Shubert. “We want to make sure this is as high-end a show as it’s always been, even though it’s not actually in person. I’m very excited to put something different out there. Hopefully we can sell quite a few pieces. It’s hard to tell since everything is so different at this point.”

AITC chair Amy Schubert (R), seen here at the 2019 Opening Reception with Jurors’ Choice Award winner Shani Mootoo.

Juror Peter Dušek is looking forward to participating in the show, and has had some experiencing with jurying work online. “It’s actually very tricky. The computer screen can’t mimic the texture that you see in a painting. It has a limited range of tones. Sculptures and 3-D work is even more challenging and video would be a very strong help for that,” he said. “But it’s still an interesting challenge to translate any media to a computer screen. The one thing that isn’t a challenge is that you can see the intent and the message the artist is trying to portray—that doesn’t get muddied and comes across pretty clearly. To me, art is a language, so I’m looking for someone who has something to say, and says it eloquently, something with feeling which moves the viewer.” He adds that viewing a piece online eliminates the size impact of a work of art, as it is only as big as the computer screen. “One difficulty is judging the scale of the work, because based on its size, art can have an emotional effect.”

AITC is now accepting submissions, with a closing date of June 5. The works will be selected solely by the jurors, who will also select the pieces for Honourable Mention and Jurors’ Choice Awards. Nominations are also being accepted for the Community Art Builder Award. Details can be found at artinthecounty.com. The winners of the awards will be notified online and through social media. Unfortunately, the popular People’s Choice Award will not be given this year, as there is no secure means for public voting.