Canvas crush

Find inspiration (and dreamy scenery) at plein air and participatory art festivals across Atlantic Canada

BY SHELLEY CAMERON-MCCARRON

You may find them—brush and easel in hand—artists working to capture the ethereal beauty of a weathered fishing shanty or the elegant grace of an historic home. Perhaps you’ll see them painting golden light glowing over a solitary lighthouse or illuminating roaring tides.

Atlantic Canada, synonymous with natural beauty, provides a dreamy, dramatic backdrop for plein air and participatory art festivals. Here are a few to check out:

Paint Peggy’s Cove

Some 40 artists will converge on Nova Scotia’s most iconic fishing village, July 8-10 for Paint Peggy’s Cove, one of three marquee experiences during the Peggy’s Cove Area Festival of the Arts. During this three-day plein air festival, visitors can stroll the small village just south of Halifax to see artists at work, on the wave-worn oceanside granite rocks, on streets, painting houses, trees, fishing boats, and, of course, the lighthouse—arguably the province’s most famous.

Patricia Lindley, festival board member and plein air lead, says the event offers artists a terrific variety of scenery,from traditional coastal views to rugged landscape, beautiful in all weather. “All those scenes are there and very accessible,” she says. “The artists are also very much available to watch. A special feature is you really do get up close and personal with the artists.” Lindley says artists are encouraged to interact, to meet and talk to people as they paint. Local volunteers provide on-site support for the artists, including taking their finished pieces (plein air paintings are finished outdoors and can be done in a few hours) back to a large, festive Mongolian yurt positioned by the lighthouse, where the work is available for sale. A nearby children’s tent offers free activities and local artisans are on hand with demonstrations. Lindley says Paint Peggy’s Cove is open to all artists who wish to apply, and artists can paint wherever in the village they like. Peggy’s Cove Festival of the Arts also includes an opening night, this year on July 6th, and a popular open studio tour held the weekend following Paint Peggy’s Cove. Visitors on this self-guided tour follow a map to over 40 locations around the St. Margaret’s Bay area, spanning from around East River to Prospect Village, and mostly along coastal Highway 333. peggyscoveareafestivalofthearts.com/ festival-events/paint-peggys-cove/

Parrsboro International Plein Air Festival

The opportunity to collect a beautiful piece of art, to watch top artists at work, and enjoy the natural beauty of the Parrsboro Shore and world-renowned Bay of Fundy are all part of the appeal of the Parrsboro International Plein Air Festival, happening June 22-26, says festival chair Michael Fuller. “It’s five days of painting with artists from across North America,” says Fuller. “They are heavy hitters. The work is excellent.” The event, Canada’s largest plein air festival, accepts 30 juried applicants (including a small percentage filled by Atlantic Canada artists) from around 100 applications.

This year, the Nova Scotia festival is hoping to embrace the return of international artists. During the event, visitors can find a favourite artist in a field, along the shore, or stationed wherever inspiration

Painting at Advocate wharf.

strikes and are able to ask questions or get tips as they watch them paint the area’s natural beauty. The first three days, the artists spread out around the region, within a 45-minute radius of Parrsboro. They go as far as Five Islands and Advocate Harbour. “It’s a big area, and people will find the inspiration point for them, perhaps fishing boats in Advocate Harbour, the lighthouse in Cape d’Or, the beach on Spencer Island, or waterfalls.”

The festival, started by Parrsboro Creative in 2017 and offering the largest award purse in Canada, then tightens the geographic area so artists can get three chosen works done and submitted (of the three submitted works, one must include a nocturne entry done after sunset) for the Saturday evening gala, where works are graded by an internationally-recognized judge. Works are on display and for sale during the main exhibition Sunday.

Sunday also sees a “quick draw” event where festival artists and any artist who wants to paint around the town of Parrsboro during a two-hour time limit. These paintings are judged and available for sale. parrsborocreative.com/pipaf-2022

Art Across the Marsh

Entering its 23rd year, the Art Across the Marsh Studio Tour is a popular cross-border initiative that takes place in the Tantramar Marsh area around Sackville, New Brunswick and Amherst, Nova Scotia. The art tour had its origins when Rob Lyon, Ghita Levin and Donna Sharpe decided to open their studios to exhibit their work and cross-promote each other. It was very successful, and they asked other artist friends to join them the next year. Since then, the studio tour has grown and averages 20-30 studios exhibiting up to 50 artists.

The tour stretches the border region of New Brunswick-Nova Scotia and includes Dorchester, Sackville, Jolicure, Baie Verte and Port Elgin on the New Brunswick side and the town of Amherst plus the Amherst Shore area on the Nova Scotia side. The studio tour hosts a range of professional artists featuring painting, pottery, jewellery,

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textiles, weaving, stained glass, photography and more. “The Tantramar Marsh area has a long history of inspiring artists. Sackville and the border region are home to a very vibrant arts community,” says Lyon. Art Across the Marsh typically runs the third weekend in October with 2022 dates set for Saturday, October 22 and Sunday, October 23, 10am to 5pm both days. artacrossthemarsh.ca

Art in the Open

From the “March of the Crows”—a raucous, dusk-time parade of people clad as crows, cawing their way as they walk from Charlottetown, PEI’s Confederation Centre of the Arts to Victoria Park (where real-life crows do gather)—to installations like last year’s giant spider web strung between trees, Charlottetown’s annual Art in the Open, this year August 27th from 4pm to midnight, showcases fun, innovative and inspiring visual arts. Since 2011, the festival has been a summer highlight, featuring temporary sculptures, installations, and performance. It focuses on visual arts in three streams: professional artists of national standing, local artists including emerging artists, and community organizations. The event’s a partnership between the City of Charlottetown, the Confederation Centre Art Gallery and This Town is Small. Art in the Open is almost exclusively outdoors in public parks and outdoor spaces, and people are encouraged to wander the city, often with a chance to speak with artists.

“You’re experiencing the city from a different angle, an artistic angle,” says Pan Wendt, one of the festival’s outgoing curators. Wendt says they try to keep the event to between 30-40 projects so it’s possible for visitors to see everything.

Popular aspects include Victoria Park’s woods paths lit up to explore artistic projects after dark and 21 “campfires”— portable fireplaces lit at 8 pm where people can hang out.

• The Lunenburg Arts Fest (formerly Paint Sea on Site), July 16-17, is an annual plein air event entering its 21st year. Hosted by Lunenburg Art Gallery Society, visitors can watch around 50 artists painting around Lunenburg, NS, with work showcased and for sale in an outdoor tent on the Fisheries Museum of the

Atlantic wharf. The festival also involves other artists working live in different mediums. • Paint the Town, Annapolis Royal, NS, August 13-14. arcac.ca/paint-the-town-festival.html • TataAir, a plein air weekend in

Tatamagouche, NS, based out of the

Grace Arts Centre, home of the Ice

House Gallery, takes place in late

August (updates/dates at theicehousegallery.com). Artists receive maps of the surrounding area, reaching from the

Malagash coast to Brule to Warwick

Mountain, with work sold in the evenings. • On June 4th, in New Brunswick, the Fredericton Trails Coalition hosts the 2nd annual “Art on the Bridge” along the Bill Thorpe Walking Bridge with local artists live painting. tourismfredericton. ca/en/events/art-on-the-bridge-0 • Throughout the summer, rotating artists make the great outdoors their studio during the Summer Artist in Residence

Program in the Fredericton Botanic

Garden and at Killarney Lake Park. fredericton.ca/en/news/city-hall/2022-summer-artist-in-residence-program Take a self-guided walking or driving tour to over 50 art murals on buildings through Moncton region. experiencemoncton.ca/article/art-murals-tour • In Sackville, NB, marvel at the Street Chalk Art Festival August 26-27th. sackville.com/sackvillechalk • The Bonavista Biennale is a large, month-long, rural-based public art event that takes place every two years on

Newfoundland’s Bonavista Peninsula (next in 2023) with works by Newfoundland and Labrador, Indigenous, and other Canadian and international artists at sites across the peninsula, plus workshops, talks and more. bonavistabiennale.com/