Purple Hills Arts & Heritage Society
the
spring 2014
Grapevine
2014 LOBSTER DINNER PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Yvonne Hamlin
The penning of my first “President’s Message” finds me reflecting on our just-held annual lobster dinner as well as the exciting projects unfolding for the next year, but mostly being grateful to be heading such a wonderful team of Board members.
It is always amazing to me that our people- all volunteers of course- can seamlessly cater a lobster dinner for well over one hundred people. And we should all be proud that we enjoy the support of our membership and their friends, who attend this always sold-out event and make the atmosphere of the night so welcoming and fun. The Artists in the School program, fully sponsored through our donations, allowed every child in grades 5 through 8 in the local Creemore school to engage with artists in printmaking in April. Don’t miss the article in this newsletter by Gail Caswell, our Board member who spearheaded this endeavor, and the photos of all those smiling faces!
Our Board is now in the midst of organizing the 2015 Garden Tour, which will be held on June 27th of next year. Is it too early to mark your calendars? Don’t think so - the committee has nearly completed the search and selection process to bring the best of gardens in the Creemore and surrounding area to you. The Board is also putting the finishing touches on the 3rd annual Creemore Festival of the Arts weekend, being held on October 4th and 5th, 2014. Our next newsletter, which will be in your hands by mid-summer, will detail the exciting line-up being planned. Sara Sniderham, who is curating the signature all-Canadian contemporary art installation at the Station on the Green for us that weekend, is the subject of the Artist’s Profile in this newsletter. She is almost finished selecting a dozen wellknown artists and illustrators, whose work is celebrated nationally and internationally, for this event. Our fifteen member Board is very hands-on, but we always looking for volunteers. If you think you would like to help out, email us at info@phahs.ca.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR CREEMORE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS Oct. 4 – 5, Station on the Green, Creemore Log Cabin & Artists on Location throughout the Village
Eighty-five people attended and sampled nine soups. The star attraction was Andy Barrie, who entertained us with his most memorable interviews as a radio host.
MEMBERS’ RECEPTION Oct. 4, 5 - 7pm, Station on the Green
We said goodbye to our chief – SueAnn Wickwire, as well as five Board members, all of whom are missed. We then welcomed five new Board members. They are: Bryan Davies, Jim Harkness, Chris Hession, Maureen Quigley and Jim Stacey.
GARDEN TOUR Jun. 27, 2015, Creemore & Environs
All wonderful additions who are already taking on significant roles in this Society.
CREEMORE CHILDRENS’ FESTIVAL Aug. 2, Creemore
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2014 Thanks to all those who made the delicious soups (not to mention the brownies!) we enjoyed at the luncheon following the annual general meeting on March 30th.
ARTISTS IN SCHOOL PROGRAM Awesome…..cool... were the unanimous squeals of excitement from the student audience at Nottawasaga Creemore Public School seeing their friends’ artworks! This is the 6th year for the Artists in School enrichment program made possible by PHAHS. Lucky pupils in grades 4 By: Gail Caswell to 8 studied the fine art of printmaking. Local artists, Jordan Eveland of Creemore and Sabrina Parrish of Duntroon, delivered the weeklong excitement. Senior classes produced intaglio prints, first creating personal designs. Using fine carving tools, these designs were carefully etched into linoleum printing plates. The final limited edition prints were completed using a fine art printing press as well as burnishing tools to transfer the inked designs onto damp paper. One of a kind creations called mono printing, involved the grades 4-6 applying ink onto a Plexiglas
HAVE YOU RENEWED YET? If you have not had a chance yet, please take a minute now to renew your membership for 2014. Your membership dues and donations make all the difference to the programs we support. Visit www.phahs.ca.
plate. Drawing, blocking, or texturing techniques alter the inky surface. Each single print was transferred onto paper by gently lying the papers overtop, then rubbing with a burnishing tool. Beautiful! Using the silk screening method, the smaller grade 5 class created strong thick-lined designs. Artworks were refined with opaque black drawing tools to prepare for printing. Off site emulsion was applied to the silk. In a darkroom, intense white light reacted to the black lines burning away the emulsion to expose the line designs. Squeegees then press the coloured ink through the screens onto the t-shirts and canvas below. Tremendous preparation and organization by the teachers made this experience possible. A big thank you to them. It is a pleasure for Purple Hills to make possible this outstanding teaching program that benefits students, teachers, parents and community.
ARTIST PROFILE SARA SNIDERHAN
Sara Sniderhan studied classical drawing and oil painting, in Toronto and Florence, with renowned artist Michael John Angel. Her work is represented by Ingram Gallery in Yorkville, Toronto and has been By: Sara exhibited in Toronto, New York, Sniderhan Calgary, Winnipeg and Hamilton. Sniderhan received an Award of Excellence from the Portrait Society of America and American Artists Magazine awarded her a scholarship to attend their Weekend With the Masters conference in San Diego. Last year, Sniderhan’s painting Algonquin Bride was a finalist for the Kingston Prize for Portraiture. In 2010, Sara appeared on the Bravo! Series Star Portraits. Her painting of Canadian actor Enrico Colantoni was chosen to become part of the National Portrait Gallery of Canada’s permanent collection. Sara is currently working toward her 3rd solo exhibition in May 2015 and a group exhibition in L.A in October 2014. Sniderhan works primary in oils and occasionally in mixed media materials. She explores human emotion, making a connection with the viewer. Sara predominantly paints the people in her life and is often
inspired and influenced by the literary fiction she reads. An active arts educator, teaches oil painting workshops in Toronto and Creemore and delivers demonstrations and talks to art societies. In 2013, Sara founded the Kensington Art Academy (KAA) in partnership with St. Stephen’s Community House in Toronto. KAA offers free of fee weekly classes and weekend workshops to at-risk youth in central Toronto. As a child, attended a free art school program in Hamilton (her birthplace), an experience she says “exposed her to all disciplines of creative arts, affirmed the possibility of pursuing art as a career and bolstered her confidence”. Sara has worked in community settings, delivering free arts programming for the past 19 years. June 2013 saw Sara, her artist husband Peter Mitchell and their 2 children, Jackson (7) and Isobel (5) move from Toronto to Mulmur. The family bought a vacant, 22-acre piece of land on which Peter has been building their house. Drawn to the natural beauty, abundant wild life, proximity to Toronto and influx of new families to the Clearview area, they are very happy in their new home. Sniderhan is excitedly working in a new role, as curator of an exhibition for the Purple Hills Society! The exhibition, showcasing 11 of her favorite Canadian artists (as well as a few of her own pieces), will run during the Creemore Arts Festival and the Small Halls Festival at the Station on the Green.
IN T VI EW PO E IT AG ER
CASHTOWN CORNERS
H
For perhaps a hundred and fifty years, a highway junction north and east of Creemore has been known as “Cashtown Corners.” In the middle of the 19th century, the first rail service in Simcoe County – the Ontario, Huron, and Simcoe Railway – ran between Toronto and Collingwood. Settlers in our area and further west, who had goods to be shipped by rail, travelled east along Nottawasaga Side Road 9-10 (now County Road 9) to reach the nearest station: Sunnidale (now New Lowell). At the crossing with the Second Line (now the Airport Road or County Road 42), an enterprising entrepreneur, Elias Leonard, opened a tavern at which many a wagon stopped. By: Chris Raible
In that era, ready money in short supply, folk commonly bartered goods for services, or, in many a tavern, for whiskey. Leonard, however, would have none of it. Nor could customers quench their thirst for credit. He readily supplied desired refreshment, but accepted only coin in payment. All transactions were strictly for cash. In time, a small but thriving hamlet developed at the intersection, known by no other name than “Cashtown.” (Even the one-room school, a few hundred yards north, was called the Cashtown School.) However, times changed. In 1879 the Hamilton and Northwestern Railway came through the middle of Creemore. Elias Leonard immediately closed his tavern and moved into the village, opening an inn (now the Sovereign Restaurant) and soon other establishments. Leonard’s former community dwindled over the years, and today has all but disappeared. Currently there is little more than an occasional roadside stand and a closed gas station and coffee bar. But the name continues – a reminder of a hard-money era – its history testified by its highway signs: “Cashtown” and “Cashtown Corners.”
GALLERY SCHEDULES MAPLESTONE GALLERY — Jun. – Sep. — New work and jewellery by Suzanne Steeves and other Canadian artists. MAD & NOISY GALLERY — Jun. 9 – Jul. 14 — "Summer Solstice" Opening Jun. 9, 2 - 4pm
— Oct. 11 – Nov. 10 — "Celebration" - Opening Oct. 11, 2 - 4pm — Oct. 1 — Creemore Centric canvasses & birch boards go on sale. COLOVERATION — Jun. – Sep. — New works by fine artist Ruth Ann Pearce.
— Aug. 23 – Sep. 22 — "Reaping" - Opening Aug. 23, 2 - 4pm
BOARD MEMBERS president...........................................Yvonne
Hamlin Breithaupt secretary.............................................Miriam Vince treasurer............................................David Wilson past president...............................Cheryl MacLaurin
vice president...................................Fran
OTHER BOARD MEMBERS Gail Caswell, Bryan Davies, Jim Harkness, Sara Hershoff, Chis Hession, Sue McKenzie, Ruth Ann Pearce, Maureen Quigley, Jim Stacey, Nanci White NEW PHAHS MEMBERS ❧ Pam Belshaw ❧ Marie & Michael Dunn ❧ Marnie Hillier ❧ Christopher Martin ❧ John Millar & Emily Worts ❧ Stuart Robertson & Margaret ❧ Webster
managing editor................................................................................................................................Yvonne
Hamlin White design & production..............................................................................................................................coloveration contributing editors.....................................................Yvonne Hamlin, Chris Raible, Sara Sniderhan, Gail Caswell photographs....................................................................................................................Bryan Davies, Gail Caswell editor....................................................................................................................................................Nanci