Blyth Festival Art Gallery to host summer-long Community Show
BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN
While the Blyth Festival Art Gallery will not be returning to its traditional programming of three professional artist exhibitions this year, there will be art on the walls of the Bainton Gallery at Memorial Hall with a summer-long Community Art Show.
This comes after more than two years without exhibitions at the gallery due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. According to a press release from the gallery, the gallery committee chose to focus on one, season-long community show this year that will coincide with the opening and closing of the Blyth Festival box office at Memorial Hall. The entirety of the Festival season in 2022 will be taking place outdoors at the new Harvest Stage at the Blyth Campground, meaning Memorial Hall won’t be as busy as it is during a traditional season of Blyth Festival plays.
“Art needs to be felt to be experienced, to be emotionally connected to the viewer. What better way can we do that, than to once again visit the gallery space, to experience and celebrate local art while taking in what downtown Blyth has to offer?” asked Gallery Committee President Carl Stevenson in a press release issued by the gallery.
In an interview with The Citizen, Stevenson said he really felt that having art back up on the gallery walls would help bring people to downtown Blyth at a time when the Festival’s shows are off-site at the Harvest Stage.
This comes after the gallery hosted a virtual artist showcase last year through its social media pages in conjunction with the Festival itself. Stevenson said the showcase resulted in about $5,000 in sales for local artists, with some of the proceeds being donated to the Festival.
The gallery will be open during the same hours as the Festival’s box office: non-show weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., matinee show days from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and evening show days from 1 p.m. to show time.
Local artists who want to participate in the non-juried exhibition can drop off their pieces at the gallery on May 28. Drop-off hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. that day. More information is available on the Blyth Festival Art Gallery’s Facebook page or by e-mailing blythfestivalartgallery@gmail.com.
Artists can submit up to two pieces each for a fee per piece. However, if an artist sells a piece off the wall to a patron, the gallery committee is permitting the artist to exhibit a new piece in its place at no additional cost.
Stevenson says that, after two years, it is just great to know that art will be on the gallery walls once again. The hope is that the gallery will return to its full season in 2023 at the Bainton Gallery at Memorial Hall, featuring three professional shows, the Community Show and the Student Show.
Stevenson said that, because foot traffic at Memorial Hall will be lessened as a result of the shows not being produced there this season, the committee didn’t want to entertain a full season with professional artists. The members wanted to wait until theatre performances returned to Memorial Hall to move ahead with the full slate of programming.
The exhibitions originally scheduled for the 2020 season have all been retained for 2023, Stevenson said. The three professional shows will come from Blyth-based artist Kelly Stevenson, Lucknow-based photographer Hannah Dickie and eight of Ontario’s master potters who will collectively exhibit their ceramic work at the gallery in an exhibit curated by Seaforth-area potter and long-time gallery supporter Rob Tetu.
Since it has been several years since the aforementioned artists submitted their work and exhibition documents, Stevenson said the themes and art presented in 2023 may change as the artists and their work have evolved and changed over the years.
The summer-long Community Art Show will open on June 1 and close on Sept. 24.