Blyth Festival Art Gallery brings art to theatre-goers

   When James Roy founded the Blyth Festival in 1975, he wanted the Festival to be more than just a theatre so by the second season, an art display was set up in the basement/lobby of Blyth Memorial Hall. As the Festival grew, so did the art gallery and when an addition was added to Memorial Hall in 1990, the Bainton Gallery became a dedicated space for art exhibits. The art adds to the pleasure of those attending the theatre and the plays bring a larger audience for the artists, many of them local.

   As it heads into its 42nd year, the Gallery has a newly-renovated home and has announced its lineup of exhibitions for 2017.

   The annual Student Show featuring work from art students in Perth and Huron County secondary schools opens May 25 and runs until June 8.

   The public is invited to submit art for the annual Community Show, a non-juried (open) exhibition from June 10-23. Work for the show will be accepted at the gallery from 9 a.m. to 12 noon on June 10.

   The first of their professional series of exhibitions runs from June 30 to July 31. Featured artist Michelle Zarytshansky is a graduate student at the University of Waterloo, presently working on her Master of Arts degree. Her exhibition, Perfect Imperfection, will present a number of large abstract paintings, using sharp back and white geometrics with subtle textural components to create startling images.

   From August 4-28, the gallery will exhibit Reflection from the Sands, works drawn from the daydreams and abstract thoughts of Seaforth artist Darren Woluschuk.

   Darren Woluschuk produces vivid life-like images interwoven into a surreal landscape, showing how the images that we surround ourselves with inevitably spill out into our daily lives.

   The final show runs from September 1-23. Julian Mulock, a nationally renowned Toronto artist will present a series of paintings of Silent Spaces, each executed with architectural precision, yet inviting and warm. Image you have just walked into a room, empty now, but bathed in light and shadow.  What or who had been in that now silent space?

   All exhibitions are organized by an enthusiastic group of volunteers and are displayed at the Bainton Gallery in the recently renovated Blyth Memorial Hall. The gallery is open the same hours as the Festival Theatre Box Office. Admission is free. Donations are appreciated.

  For more information, email beechwood@cyg.net or telephone 519-345-2184.