Look

By Anna Horsnell This month, well-known Wolfville artist Steven Rhude is presenting a new series of oil paintings at Harvest Gallery. His inspiration grew from those things he cares about, something certain to hold onto in our year of turmoil. Those things are love and landscape. “I was getting all kinds of requests to participate in online shows with COVID themes which I thought were predictable, so I ignored that and observed some of the things that are familiar to not just me, but all of us in this region. The Wolfville trail remained open and that’s where I started…
Read more

Anna Horsnell Before paper or canvas, there was painting on silk. Different from other paints which adhere to the surface, silk allows dye to flow into the fibre and bond with the proteins, becoming a part of the silk thread itself. Dye also does different things on silk than on other fibres such as cotton. All of this is intoxicating stuff for someone like textile artist Susan Corbin, who loves to play with colour. Corbin designs and creates clothing with hand-painted and printed silk. “I dye silk with various shibori methods (ways of resisting dye by folding, tying etc.). I…
Read more

Nova Scotia Landscapes in oil, watercolour, and graphiteSubmitted Cluny Maher: The Hound is Loose is currently on view at Harvest Gallery in Wolfville. The show runs until October 11. Cluny Maher was born in 1941 in Frampton, Dorchester County, south of Quebec City in the province of Quebec. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts (1963) and a Bachelor of Education (1964) from Loyola College in Montreal, he taught for twelve years in the public school system. In 1973 he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Sir George Williams University (Concordia). In 1977 he moved to Nova Scotia with his…
Read more

By Ted Morris, Student Native Plant Conservationist If you’re a fruit lover, then you probably get excited for the summer when berries are in season and available at markets and grocery stores. If you’re like me, your first quart is finished on the walk or car ride home from the store. What I’m learning this year though is that you don’t have to purchase all the berries you eat this season from a store. Foraging, which is searching for wild food sources, is a great way to collect delicious wild fruits without having to pay a cashier. If you know…
Read more

By Ken Schwartz Two Planks is getting back to work. It’s hard to believe in a way, and we have many hurdles to get over in the months to come, but the artists at Two Planks are getting ready to work with each other again in September. The first step will be a week-long workshop with eight company members at the Ross Creek Centre in September. During that time we will be developing our new fireside adaptation of Jekyll and Hyde (set in an imaginary Canning of 1911), a production that was interrupted by the pandemic in March. This week together will…
Read more

By Anna Horsnell North Mountain United Tapestry is a little gem worth discovering north of Berwick. Perched cliffside in a small church overlooking the Bay of Fundy in Harbourville, they are a collaboration of artisans, musicians, farmers, and interested community members. Together they have created a gallery, gift shop, café, and popular farmers’ market. Artisans’ Market Director Debbie Greenwood kindly took the time to introduce the six local artists whose work is showcased exclusively through Tapestry this summer. Each artist has a gallery space for major artwork with smaller pieces found in the gift shop, where they are joined by…
Read more

By Tacha Reed The Avon River Heritage Museum may not have its doors open this season, but we’ve certainly kept busy behind the scenes, making the most of the unexpected, as we look ahead and adapt for the future. We recently reached a tremendous milestone, earning accreditation status with the Association of Nova Scotian Museums. One major perk that comes with this status is that we are now able to share our entire collection of artifacts and photos online through Novamuse.ca. Throughout the summer two students have been working behind the scenes photographing, scanning, and entering each artifact into the database….
Read more

By Wendy Elliott As a kid Geof Turner remembers seeing magical animals on the lawn outside the Charles Macdonald Concrete House Museum in Centreville. The magical creatures are still there thanks to Turner and other dedicated board members, and the unique museum is always worth visiting. Exhibits change each season at the museum and this year one highlight is a recent donation. Old Dyke Road is one of Macdonald’s largest paintings.The beautiful pastoral work was received about six weeks ago from a local family, and summer curator Davlyn Laing says the gift “was so exciting and we are so grateful.”…
Read more

By Anna Horsnell Amber Juby and Vanessa Raven-Vipond are passionate about art. They are also dedicated to their community of Kingston-Greenwood. Together they have thrown their enthusiasm and energy behind the non-profit society, NOVA Seven Arts Council, more simply referred to as 7Arts. The name says it all. NOVA is the acronym for New Opportunities for Valley Artists, and Seven sums up the focus on painting, drawing, photography, writing, music, design, and craft. The 7Arts mission statement is “to engage our local community by providing an inclusive, creative environment that will teach, support and promote the arts and art education…
Read more