By Jaime Myslik
ABOYNE – The Insights Juried Exhibition of Fine Arts is holding its 39th show until Sept. 3 at the Wellington County Museum and Archives.
At the June 13 opening night Insights committee member Dick Marvin said the show was eclectic this year.
“It’s certainly representative of all of the six categories that we have in the show,” he said. “The jurors have been able to pull together something that works extremely well.”
This year’s show received 288 submissions from 134 artists. Jurors John Kissick, Janice Mason Steeves and Tammy Ratcliff then chose 61 pieces to include in the show.
“An artist can enter four pieces but only two will get into the show,” Marvin said. “It’s a little demographic in that respect … it gives more people the opportunity.”
Artists could submit pieces in six categories: fibre and material arts, 3-dimensional arts, works on paper, painting with water media, oil painting and mixed media and photography.
In addition to being selected for the show, seven artists were given awards.
Guelph-Eramosa resident Clive Lewis received the Richard Pilon Works on Paper Award.
Pilon, an Eden Mills artist, recently passed away and the Insights committee chose to dedicate this year’s Works on Paper Award to the long-time exhibitor. He worked with pencil and paper.
“He won that Works on Paper Award last year or he was the recipient of the award and so we just felt that we should honour him,” Marvin said. “It’s only a small thing that we’ve done.”
Lewis knew Pilon and they had shared a gallery so he thought it was “neat” to win the award.
“It’s a validation that just says ‘yeah you done it right,’” he said. “You done good.”
Lewis works with engraving and this year’s piece is entitled “Snug,” which shows a tent in the middle of a rain storm.
“My partner and I go camping all the time,” Lewis said.
“And one evening, you know you don’t want it every night, but it’s kind of neat if there’s a really heavy downpour and you’re in a tent and it’s just the sound and you’re nice and warm in there.
“So that’s what I was thinking of when I did that.”
Fergus artist Maggie Vanderweit was also one of the seven award winners, receiving the Elora Arts Council Award.
“I’m shocked because I have won the fibre award and I’ve had some fibre pieces in for years and years … but to win … an award that was open to all the categories is even more meaningful,” she said. “So that’s wonderful.”
Vanderweit is a textile artist.
“Since I was a little girl I’ve been sewing and making things with cloth and I also weave and … I started out … in my adult life becoming a traditional quilter and then branched out into contemporary textile art, so beading, printing, stamping, painting, dying, varieties of things on cloth,” she said.
The piece she submitted is called “All of Us and Aliens Too.”
“It’s in a series that I have with chairs in it, all the different ways of putting the chairs on the cloth and that’s called ‘Room at the Table,’” she said. “I think a chair for me symbolizes having a voice at the table and also listening.
“So this idea that some people are aliens, are too weird to listen to, probably is not a good idea. Although all of us carry that idea it would nice if we could sit at the table and listen and talk inclusively, openly together.”
Vanderweit said she’s from the local community and it means a lot to be chosen for Insights.
“These are my artist friends and community,” she said.
Other award winners include:
– Marilyn Clarke of Guelph for the Fibre and Material Arts Award;
– Mandy Deskur-Murray of Elora for the 3D Arts Award;
– Judy French of Elora for the Oil Painting and Mixed Media Award;
– Sonia Jacyk-Bukata of Guelph for the Insights Award; and
– Jane Longman of Fergus for the Ellen Langlands Award.
