Art in the Yard (AITY) has emerged to become one of the highlights of the summer season for artists and art lovers alike.
Now, as organizers get set to celebrate the event’s tenth anniversary from July 7 to 8, this year promises to be the biggest showcase yet.
“We have more artists than we’ve ever had before, with 50 individual artist tents,” said Arlene Saunders, general manager of the centre and committee member for AITY.
“Ten years ago there was about 30 exhibiting artists … for the last two years it has always been filled up before the final entry closing date.”
The event itself has evolved every year, but the vision for it is as clear as it was back in 2002, when Saunders, a water colour artist and small gallery owner, connected with friend Diane Wallace and the concept was born.
“Arlene had been involved in the Oakville art show for years, on the organizational end, and thought it would be a great event for Elora,” Wallace explained.
“She thought it would become an ‘economic engine’ for the village. The first year of Art in the Yard she was involved with her own gallery, and led me through the process; it became the first event the art centre held, preceding the opening of the centre as an arts building.
“She has since become the visionary, trying to improve and enlarge the event year after year, and has been quite successful at doing so.”
The duo wanted to create something that had integrity and worked to benefit the artists. It was a risk, especially given Elora is a small village and they decided to run in competition with the biggest show in the province.
“We were silly enough in the early years to go up against the big Toronto show [the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition],” Wallace recalled.
“Other communities felt having a show on a different weekend was better, as a lot of the talent would be applying for and hoping to show in Toronto.
“We always felt that the province was big enough for two shows on the weekend, and that, as Toronto often works on a quota basis, lots of great artists wouldn’t be accepted there, but may be interested in showing their high quality work in a smaller venue.”
That attitude paid off. Saunders and Wallace created a juried show to be held on the two-acre grounds of the historic building that became the Elora Centre for the Arts, naming it appropriately, Art in the Yard.
The event’s popularity has attracted artists from beyond Wellington County and right across Canada.
“This year we have a goldsmith coming from New Brunswick,” Saunders said.
She attributes that to the fact this show is “originals only and that separates it from other shows. Everything here is original.
“We make sure there is a bit of everything. We have traditional painting and drawing, but we also have encaustic, sculpture, metal sculpture, fused glass, jewelry, functional pottery, fibre and wood-turning.”
Another reason Saunders believes the community embraces this event is the respect shown to the artists.
“The focus has always been to remain about the art and help the artists sell and promote their work, because this is how they make their living,” Sanders said, adding, “We don’t take them for granted. They are the reason we do what we do.”
Encouraging emerging artists is an important aspect of the show. The Student Art Tent is a non–juried exhibition for students who have participated in art classes through the centre over the past years, giving them an opportunity to showcase their work.
For encaustic artist Jane Longman of Fergus, the student area launched her to be come one of the 50 participating Art in the Yard artists for the first time this year.
“I was first introduced to the medium in the Casson room [of the centre], with a group of artists working with encaustic,” Longman explains.
“I have maintained my practice and built up enough work. This is the first year that I had a strong enough body of work to do it on my own,” she added. She will be holding artist demonstrations at her booth to encourage others to get creative.
No one enjoys getting creative more than children, and the Children’s Creative Area is just for kids. Providing safe, supervised arts projects, which allows parents the freedom to shop for art, volunteer coordinator Stephanie Toohill is planning an enchanted woodland theme, creating fantasy origami, magical walking sticks, head horns and fairy catchers, as well as painting on canvasses.
“Outside of the enchanted woodland there will be yarn bombing of the pirate ship ruins, [part of Tim Murton’s Twilight Zoo] where folks will be invited to weave and crochet the poles, plus a community painted door which will then be auctioned and hoola-hoop making for all ages,” said Toohill, an active volunteer with the centre who returns to AITY each season.
“Volunteering at this event is my way of supporting the arts in our community. I believe in the value of children experiencing adults stepping into the realms of imaginative and creative thinking. We can role model leadership with collaborative and expansive thinking to problem solve and celebrate success through trial and error together.”
A new Youth Photo Contest will run throughout the weekend, asking photographers from age eight to 15 years to “shoot the music” of the musicians and musical acts performing that weekend, such as jazz artists Indigo Riff and folk musicians from the Elora Acoustic Café.
“We call this a community arts festival, and we’ve added live music throughout the whole weekend,” said Saunders. “We’re open until 8pm on the Saturday, to have it more of a party atmosphere.”
Added Wallace, “We’re thrilled to have Indigo Riff back again this year … they’ve been with the show almost as long as the show’s been around, as well as some wonderful musicians from the Elora Acoustic Cafe.”
Local food vendors will add flavour to the event, as will a silent auction of art works donated by participating artists.
But Saunders is careful to reassure that “everything that day is to embellish the day, not to take away from the artists or their work.”
While the event may appear seamless, there is countless hours of work behind the scenes, and both Wallace and Saunders attribute much of the success to fellow organizing committee members Sid Feldman, a jack of all trades, and Donna McCaw, whose role it is to ensure the artists are treated with care.
“Artists say this is one of their favorite outdoor art shows because we really bend over backwards for them,” Saunders said, adding a crew of volunteers arrives on the Friday evening to help artists put up their tents, returns Sunday for take down, supervises the artist booths to offer artists breaks, and serves refreshments in the green room, where artists can rest. Throughout the evenings, a security team is on site protecting the artwork.
“This is considered a premium event in the outdoor show circuit,” Saunders said.
McCaw is quick to point out it is the ambiance of the show that makes it special.
“The setting is lovely; the people who present it are a dynamic and fun team, the artists, an interesting group that we get to discover when they are new to us, and often follow and see the growth and accomplishment year after year,” McCaw said.
“Artists get to meet one another, do a reasonably priced outdoor show in a lovely village, and meet a wide range of people, many of whom have a real appreciation for art.”
Building on the sense of an artist community, the show offers two recognition awards open to all exhibiting artists.
The first, the Juror’s Choice Award, goes to the exhibitor who displays exceptional artwork in a professional manner and interacts with the public in a way that educates and intrigues visitors.
The award, in the amount of $200, is provided through the Rhoda Fund, and this year will have particular importance as benefactor Rhoda Lipton, passed away recently. She was a community-minded patron of the arts, and with this fund, created a legacy for arts in Elora.
The second award is the Volunteer’s Choice Award, which allows AITY volunteers to choose their favorite artist booth. The winner of this award has their booth admission fee waived for the following year’s event.
“The strength of this show is that they are surrounded by other quality, professional artists,” Saunders said.
Longman looks forward to her first year as an independent artist, but is equally excited about the show itself.
“I think there is a broad range and I like seeing work where artists think a little more outside the box … the work appeals to all ages and all tastes,” said Longman. “That’s what I like about it; there is something for everyone.”
It’s the reason McCaw continues to volunteer too.
“Art in the Yard is good for artists, this community, the folks who attend, the arts centre, the kids who have fun in the children’s creative area, and the musicians who perform. It is fun … We have made great memories here over the years,” McCaw said.
Art in the Yard runs July 7 from 10am to 8pm and July 8 from 10am to 5pm, rain or shine. It takes place on the grounds of the Elora Centre for the Arts, at 75 Melville Street.
Admission is a suggested $3 donation for adults; children are free. Proceeds support further arts programming at the art centre.
For more information on the artists, musicians or youth photography contest visit www.eloracentreforthearts.ca.
