Don’t miss out!
GROUP OF SEVEN COMES TO AMHERSTBURG - JULY 1ST
Colleen and I strongly believe that investing in the Arts is a powerful way to enhance an already incredible community. By “Arts” we most specifically are referring to music, literature and visual art. The opening of the River Bookshop solidly demonstrated our love for books and authors and we have also shown our love of music by hosting the Windsor Symphony -another event coming up on August 14th.
Now, we have struck an exciting new partnership with Art Windsor-Essex (formerly the Art Gallery of Windsor) and their very creative Executive Director, Jennifer Matotek. AWE’s
objective is to open minds and hearts to new perspectives, ideas and ways of thinking. They have succeeded in Windsor for years and are now moving forward with an ambitious new
strategy to extend their collection and expertise into Essex County. We are thrilled that Amherstburg is the first beneficiary of AWE’s growth into the county.
Hopefully, you have already heard about "Look. Again! Outside:Amherstburg". From July 2022 through July 2024 five reproductions of art -from the collection of AWE - are being placed throughout downtown Amherstburg. This year, the focus of the pieces will be the Group of Seven with new pieces to be added next summer. Thanks to AWE and funding by the Ontario
Trillium Foundation, Amherstburg will get to experience some incredible art in our ownbackyard. The reproduced art works to be displayed this year include works by the Group of Seven and local artist Mary Celestino. Two of the pieces to be highlighted are below: Cormorant Colony, Middle Island by Celestino and Tide Pools, Vancouver Island by Arthur Lismer.
Mary Celestino, Cormorant Colony, Middle Island, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 157.0 cm x122.0 cmGift of the Celestino Family, 2015., 2015.003
Arthur Lismer, Tide Pools, Vancouver Island, 1960, oil on canvas board, 41.0 cm x
51.0 cmGift of the Willistead Art Gallery of Windsor Junior Women's Committee, 1962, 1962.020
The second part of our innovative project is a pop-up art exhibition commencing on July 1st - Group of Seven - Not Formed in a Day.
The Group of Seven were a group of Canadian
landscape painters from 1920 to 1933 consisting of Franklin Carmichael, Lauren Harris , A.Y. Jackson, Frank Johnston, Arthur Lismer, J.E.H MacDonald, Frederick Varley, A.J Casson,
Edwin Holgate and LeMoine Fitzgerald. The Group’s distinctive art was inspired by the Canadian landscape and initiated the first major Canadian national art movement.
The pop-up exhibition - featuring works from the collections of AWE and a local private collector - will be open to the public from July 1 to July 10 in our “Hole in the Wall’ event space above River Bookshop.
Admission to the exhibition is FREE and will be open daily from 12 pm to 5 pm.
We chose “not formed in a day” as part of the event title because - while the Group is celebrated today - they struggled against conventions of their time and had to overcome real challenges to be accepted by their peers and to be viewed as artists. This struck a chord in that it is not unlike what a lot of people, businesses and communities are going through today as they try to fit in and succeed.
In addition to having the chance to view the collection of sketches and canvasses we will host two other events during the exhibition:
Thursday, July 7 at 6:45 pm - a Zoom presentation from Author Douglas Hunter discussing his book Jackson’s Wars - A.Y. Jackson, the Birth of the Group of Seven and the Great War. This event will be presented at the Hole in the Wall and also via Zoom. Please register by email at info@riverbookshop.com or by calling 226-906-8311 and we will reserve you a space - we will send you a link just before the event.
And then, Saturday, July 9 from 1 pm -3 pm – AWE Executive Director, Jennifer Matotek, will host an informal Q&A on the exhibition while our exhibition sponsor, Cooper’s Hawk, will be sampling some of their delicious wines.
Please join us for these unique events. Only in Amherstburg.
You don’t want to miss it
Richard and Colleen Peddie
Community Builders
