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Monday, July 24, 2017

The Pontiac Artists' Association 2017 Artist Residency (Part I)

From July 17-21, 2017 I attended the 2017 Artist Residency a Project of the Pontiac Artists Association.

The following three group photographs are shared here with permission from the photographer. They were taken on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evening by artist and professional photographer Cheryl Dolan. Visit her website at  http://cheryldolan.blogspot.ca/

Photograph by Cheryl Dolan, (artist, photographer, and member of the Pontiac Artist' Association)

Photograph by Cheryl Dolan, (artist, photographer, and member of the Pontiac Artist' Association)

Photograph by Cheryl Dolan, (artist, photographer, and member of the Pontiac Artist' Association)


Artists + Community

It's hard to know where to start when you are trying to recount a week of art making with a group as gifted, organized and generous as the Pontiac Artists' Association and I think the best place to start is where we finished on Friday morning.

We finished on Friday morning with an artist talk by Geraldine Taylor on the importance of "community" for artists.


Artist, art collector, curator, gallery owner Geraldine Taylor holding an Evergon photograph
This unique and vibrant artists' community in Pontiac that goes by the name of the Pontiac Artists' Association (PAA) undertakes the following activities:
 These great folks have built a BIG tent and are always looking for new ways to invite more people in - other artists, art lovers, art patrons - all are welcomed because, as Valerie Bridgeman says, " We do it to increase our network of artists, to share and encourage, and to foster artistic growth in the Pontiac. And of course, to make new friends!"

Feedback at the end of the day (with Rob Hinchley)

And it takes a village to build an organization such as this. There are countless volunteer hours required to undertake each activity listed above and PAA members all pitch in. During the residency, PAA members prepared and provided all of the accommodations and meals and much, much more.

What I witnessed is a thriving, dynamic, multi-disciplinary artist community that welcomes all newcomers to sit at their table and feast on the buffet of creativity that flows throughout this region.

The annual membership fee is only $20. The benefits are priceless. Consider joining them by clicking this link here: http://www.artpontiac.com/member-join.html
My Home Sweet Home

The log cabin that would be my home away from home for the week.

The Pontiac Artist Residency hosts the visiting artists in the homes of PAA members. How lucky I was to find myself staying at the beautiful home of Wayne and Elaine!

They had a log cabin (reconstructed from historic logs of the original Macrae farm) located at the back of their property and it was incredible!

Interior of the log cabin


The pond and sand beach in front of the cabin

The Week Long Exchange of Art and Ideas

This is what the week looked like. Over the next few days, I want to share some details on some of these workshops (listed below) that I participated in, the artists that I met and some great lessons learned

Monday, July 17 
  • Book making with Valerie Bridgeman
  • Demonstration of chain saw sculpture techniques by Peter Van Adrichem
  • My workshop "Sketching and Paying Attention" by Cindi Moynahan-Foreman

Tuesday, July 18
  • Artist’s talk: Catherine Timm, Fiber Artist 
  • Pocket Assemblages with Kate Strickland
Wednesday, July 19 
  • Mark Making Workshop with Karen Mackay  
  • Dinner at Cafe 349 
Thursday, July 20 
  • Printmaking and nature-based plein air workshop “River Works” with Rob Hinchley.
  • Dinner at Dale’s, Calumet Island. 
Friday, July 21
  • Artist’s Talk with Geraldine Taylor about her work on the 1983 "Company of Artists and Patrons" Portfolio and her belief that art is not necessarily created by an individual, but by a whole community. 
  • Demonstration of chain saw sculpture techniques by Peter Van Adrichem
  • Vernissage: The Nature of the River: an exhibition of works created during the Residency week at Art BrĂ»lant and Impressions in Shawville, Quebec
 
Our vernissage

 
Our vernissage


My workshop documents

Dale’s studio on Calumet Island.

1 comment:

  1. It looks like it was a week well spent. Thanks for sharing this really interesting and informative article.

    ReplyDelete