SOUTHERN GEORGIAN BAY LIVING Arts and Crafts: The Georgian Bay Centre for the Arts

Arts and Crafts:

The Georgian Bay Centre for the Arts

BY ANDREW HIND PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF THE GEORGIAN BAY CENTRE FOR THE ARTS

Owen Sound’s new Centre for the Arts offers classes, artist studio spaces and the Palette Café. Their popular lockdown-inspired craft kits are available for curbside pickup – everything you need to complete a project in one kit.

While the Centre focusses on crafts – like metalworking, printing and jewellery making– all forms of art are embraced, including painting.

M

orag Budgeon is a craftsperson – handcrafted jewellery, specifically – so she’s creative by nature. But the Executive Director of the Georgian Bay Centre for the Arts admits she has had to stretch her creativity to new extremes to help her newest endeavor gain traction during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We opened just months before Covid hit – unfortunate timing,” says Budgeon, laughing. “But the community is starving for an arts centre, so the reception has been great, and we’ve managed to adapt as the situation has unfolded.”

Founded in September 2019, the Georgian Bay Centre for the Arts is a registered non-profit organization designed to fill a specific need in the community. “While serving as manager of the Owen Sound Artists’ Co-Op, I recognized that there was a dearth of opportunities for people who would like to learn a craft. People had to go out of town to take up an art form or to expand their skills,” explains Budgeon.

Housed in a 6500-square-foot former bingo hall, the Centre for the Arts addresses this need by bringing together artists of diverse mediums under one roof to teach new and aspiring artists. Classes are primarily focused on crafts, ranging from pottery and jewellery to printmaking, stained glass and - the medium of choice for Budgeon’s partner at the Centre, Alan McIntosh – metalworking.

In addition to serving as a teaching venue, artists can rent space in one of five studios in the Centre, each fully stocked with specialized tools and equipment: printmaking (the Centre has three printing presses, including one donated by Transcontinental Printing Inc.), pottery, jewellery, stained glass, and a final swing space for other artistic disciplines. >>

The Centre hosts workshops and classes, taught by artists in the respective fields.

Facilities that have studio space and artistic tools for rent are difficult to find outside of large urban centres, making Georgian Bay Centre for the Arts ambitious and visionary. There’s nothing else like it in the region.

Georgian Bay Centre for the Arts has been enthusiastically embraced by the community. Not only have people signed up to take classes and workshops, but many have stepped forward to generously donate tools, supplies and equipment.

Covid presented a challenge, descending as it did just as the Centre was getting its feet under it. Classes had to be cancelled during periods of lockdown, depriving the Centre of its core function. But rather than despair, Budgeon and McIntosh channeled some of the creativity that drives their artistic endeavors into finding new ways to reach Owen Sound’s arts community.

“One idea we came up with that has proved popular is our curbside craft kits, which people can buy on our website and which comes with everything you need to complete a project,” Budgeon explains. “It’s been very popular. We’re doing 600 kits right now, each containing five crafts, for a local children’s service group.”

Budgeon and McIntosh also took the Covid-imposed quiet periods to greatly expand the Centre’s Palette Café, which will (fingers crossed) have a patio this summer.

With schools cutting back on arts programming, the Centre envisions itself as a place to foster creativity among youth. Both founders believe the Centre will be a driver of future economic growth for Owen Sound. The opportunity to get paid to teach their craft will attract artists to town. Many will open gallery spaces, which in turn attract tourists and benefit the entire community. And, in an era when schools are cutting back on arts programming, the Centre will help to ensure the local arts scene remains vibrant well into the future.

“A place like this attracts artists. It encourages skills development and collaboration and being around other artists is inspiring for creative people,” enthuses Budgeon. “In the short time that we’ve been open we’ve become a creative heart in Owen Sound.”

gbarts.ca Location: 938 2nd Ave East, Owen Sound, Ontario Phone: 519 371 2200