Community Arts Council of Creston
With no public gallery in Creston and our communities spread out geographically, we hosted The Valley View Exhibition during Arts and Culture Week 2005 -- a grand way to celebrate art in our communities!
It was not only a celebration of art in life but an example of how art brings a community together. As a result of this event, the show continued for another month, then the building was used again to host the Basin Best Tour. Our guest book signatures number over 1,500 names. The building now is called by many “The Art Garage”.
Below: High school
students visiting the Exhibition |
With a few dedicated
volunteers and donation of the building by a local
businessman, the show and arts resource centre came to life
with works of artists from the local high school as well as
emerging and established artists from Yahk to Riondel The
walls soon filled with paintings of all media, sculptures,
fine woodwork, carvings, stained glass, jewelery, masks,
weavings, decorated gourds, ceramic creatures, pottery,
raku, candles and wrought iron work.
The Creston Museum donated images and stories on posterboard with which we decorated panels in the resource area in the garage. This area was used for the demos as well as a place for posters for coming events, clippings and images of past art and culture events and for groups to promote their services and membership information. Help came from every direction with donations of plants and furniture and everyone agreed this would be a great thing to have in our community. |
| A local
artist, James MacDowell painted there everyday, creating two
large pieces while chatting with visitors. Local schools
brought classes of children from elementary to high school
and one day 49 children showed up for the pottery demo!!
We had samples of CD’s and books by local authors and musicians. We hosted a Literary Evening (below) showcasing several local authors and poets, we had demos from encaustic painting, carvings, pottery, airbrush, acrylic and watercolour to computer generated images and handiwork by one of the embroidery guild ladies. An artist trading card day was held outside in the sun attracting the attention of passers-by.
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Tourists were delighted to find us there, the Chamber of Commerce sent people to us and we sent people to other artist galleries and stores in the town. |
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The tea and coffee pots were always on, and a sense of community emerged as people dropped in, visited and chatted, sat, wandered through and talked about how great it was to see so much variety and quality in one place. We had people coming to ask us directions, to get advice, seeking personal help, hanging out because they were lonely, offering help or wanting to talk about art and culture.
Left: a group painting being done by the Creston Art Club Right: Needlework demonstration |
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