Call for Proposals for 4th Line Theatre’s 2022 Digital Festival of Light & Dark

4th Line Theatre is seeking project proposals from local artists for original or existing artworks to be featured in the 2022 Digital Festival of Light & Dark.

Mosun Fadare in 4th Line Theatre's 2018 production of Beverley Cooper's The Other: A Strange Christmas Tale directed by Kim Blackwell. Photo by Wayne Eardley - Brookside Studio.

The Digital Festival of Light & Dark will foster virtual engagement between local artists and community members from Millbrook, Peterborough, Lakefield, Port Hope, Cobourg and surrounding areas.

“I am thrilled to bring back the Festival of Light & Dark for a second year. Last year the response to the works created was overwhelming. In 2021, we supported 12 artists and this year we are excited to see what types of projects will be submitted,” said Managing Artistic Director Kim Blackwell.

Proposals may feature one or more of the following art forms: dance, film, theatre, music, visual art & photography. Priority will be given to artists who explore the concepts of light and/or the darkness, in whatever medium they choose to work.

4th Line Theatre will award micro-grants of $250 to each successful applicant. Proposals must include a 300-word description of the proposed project and the Artist(s)’s CV/Bio.

The deadline to submit proposals is Nov. 24, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. All proposals must be emailed to 4th Line’s Artistic Administrator, Jess McDougall, at jess@4thlinetheatre.on.ca

Successful project applicants will be notified by November 29, 2021. Artists will then have two months to prepare a video or film which runs five minutes or less, that showcases their new or existing piece of video art.

The videos will be released on 4th Line Theatre’s YouTube channel for viewing as of Monday, January 24, 2022. These videos will be available to the public to view at no cost.

For more information regarding the festival, please contact Jess McDougall by phone at 705-932-4448 or by email at jess@4thlinetheatre.on.ca.

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Art Gallery of Peterborough Launches Inaugural Youth Art Mentorship Program

The Art Gallery of Peterborough has launched its inaugural Youth Art Mentorship program, announced on Thursday.

Spencer J. Harrison in his studio. Photo courtesy of the Art Gallery of Peterborough.

This program will give youth entering their final years of high school the opportunity to gain hands-on experience and insights into the arts profession.

Led by artist, activist, and educator, Spencer J. Harrison, students will explore the profession through educational and training workshops, all culminating in a group exhibition at the Art Gallery of Peterborough.

This program is comprised of two phases. Free Portfolio Reviews, designed to offer critical feedback to youth. Youth must register for this program by Nov. 24.

Successful applicants in the juried Call for Submissions will work with Artist Mentor (Spencer J. Harrison) and their peers to develop a body of work to present in a group exhibition at the Art Gallery of Peterborough. Applications for this program open on Dec. 1.

This program is open to all youth currently enrolled in Grade 11 and 12, living in the City and County of Peterborough.

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Christmas at the Marshland Centre Returns With Hand Picked Artists After a Year Off

The 15th Annual Christmas at the Marshland Centre show will be returning to Lakefield the weekend of November 13 and 14, 2021.

Art featured at the 2019 event. Photo courtesy of Christmas at the Marshland.

The annual show and sale event was not held last year, due to COVID-19 restrictions.

There will be approximately 20 local artisans taking part, showcasing and selling creations like gourd art, pottery, paintings, wood turning, jewellery, woven items, silk scarves, knitted socks, felting and paper art.

Ceramics artist Mary Sullivan has been part of the show for the past four years. She makes beautiful hand made functional pieces with stoneware clay. Her pieces feature whimsical characters designed to make you smile. She says that the excellent quality of the art that is for sale at the Marshland Centre makes this event very special.

“The show has a limit on how much of one type of art is shown and that makes for a much more varied event,” she said. “It is in a beautiful location and it is laid out like a gallery with everyone’s work complementing each other’s throughout the room.”

Christmas at the Marshland Centre will be held at the Marshland Centre at 64 Hague Blvd. in Lakefield and will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 13 and 14.

Due to COVID masks must be worn at all times and there will be restrictions on the number of people allowed inside to allow for social distancing.

For more information contact Barbara Bellchambers at 705-652-5115 or at Christmas.marshland@gmail.com

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New Non-Profit Organization Launches in Peterborough

Hearts 4 Joy, a non-profit organization servicing adults over 21 with intellectual exceptionalities, celebrated their official launch on Sunday.

Artists Carly, Derek, Jessica, Jory, Josh, Kacee, Karsen and Luke celebrate Hearts for Joy official launch with MPP Dave Smith on Sunday. Photo courtesy of Hearts 4 Joy.

Hearts 4 Joy is a volunteer-run group that meets three times a week in President Norma Christensen’s backyard to create hand-crafted items.

Christensen and a group of parents started this group to help their kids and others gain independence, build relationships and gain experience in a workplace setting. Profits from sales go to paying participants a wage and purchasing more supplies.

“The idea is to provide something that families with intellectually exceptional young adults can have something to aspire to or become interested in,” said Christensen. “They can develop some real working skills and that’s what we hope to grow in the future.”

The group is currently working on their fall and Christmas inventory.

“We try to use recycled or environmentally-friendly supplies,” said Christensen.

The group sells hand-painted journals, wine glasses and lanterns. Their seasonal items include decorative pumpkins for Halloween and gnomes and Santa plates for Christmas.

“This gives them the idea that they all can be so productive,” said Christensen. “We just need to find the thing they’re passionate about. It’s about providing them those opportunities so that they can learn and they make money while they do it.”

Christensen hopes that soon their organization can find a space to host their meetings and store their inventory so they can continue working even through the winter.

“I actually considered moving my furniture outside so we could work in my house,” said Christensen. “We’ll do whatever it takes to keep it going.”

Hearts 4 Joy is having a pop-up sale at Avant-Garden shop on Sherbrooke Street, Saturday from 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

You can e-mail hearts4joyptbo@gmail.com for questions or more information.

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SPARK Photo Festival Opens September 1

The SPARK Photo Festival opens this Wednesday and runs through September 30 in more than twenty venues throughout Peterborough City and County, and in Fenelon Falls, Lindsay and Northumberland County.

Toronto’s Lucas DeClavasio and his photo “Focus” won the “Focus on Coffee” photography competition held by Spark Photo Festival in March. Photo courtesy of SPARK Photo Festival.

There are over 25 exhibits showing the works of over 100 photographers, some returning photographers who have participated in every SPARK festival as well as several first-time exhibitors.

“We’re delighted to see the enthusiasm and excitement of the exhibiting photographers who have persevered through delays and uncertainty since our April 2020 Festival was postponed due to COVID-19”, said Festival Director Jennifer MacKenzie.

The prize-winning images for the 2021 Themed Juried Exhibit Nourish: To Eat, To Drink, To Enjoy will be announced on opening night.

Tune in to social media at 8:30 p.m. on September 1 for the reveal of the top four entries as selected by a jury from the submissions by photographers from across Ontario. The Nourish exhibit will be displayed outdoors on George Street, south of Venture North.

SPARK Photo Festival is made possible by the presenting sponsor LLF Lawyers, the City of Peterborough and the Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough and Electric City Culture Council through the Peterborough Arts Alive Grant and by the official media sponsor Global Peterborough, The Wolf and Fresh Radio.

Visit sparkphotofestival.org, SPARK Photo Festival on Facebook and Instagram for all of the latest Exhibit details, including new venues, opening hours, receptions and workshops.

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Two-Spirit, Indigenous Artist Caeleigh Lightning Featured at Watson and Lou

Prints by local artist Caeleigh Lightning are now available at Watson and Lou located in downtown Peterborough.

Photo courtesy of Caeleigh Lightning

Lightning is a 21-year-old, two-spirit, indigenous artist who came to Peterborough to attend Trent University.

“I have mixed ancestry,” said Lightning. “On my moms side we’re am Samson Cree Nation from Maskwacis, Alberta and on my dads side we’re from Dublin, Ireland.”

“I try to communicate a lot of my experiences as a mixed person with those two cultures in my art,” she said.

Lightning hopes that her art shows different identities and bodies, and allows people to accept the beauty in individuality and uniqueness.

Photo courtesy of Caeleigh Lightning

She recently graduated from Trent University’s Indigenous Environmental Studies and Sciences program and is now heading to Concordia University to complete her Masters of Design.

Art was never considered a realistic career path for her.

“I started incorporating art into a lot of my projects at Trent,” she said. “Anything that I wouldn’t really know how to put into words, I would ask if I could communicate it visually instead.”

She says that by her professors giving her that opportunity she began to consider herself an artist by trade.

Photo courtesy of Caeleigh Lightning

Copies of her prints are now available to purchase at Watson and Lou, a shop located downtown Peterborough that carries locally made goods.

“Having my work in a shop with other local artists I admire has been surreal,” she said.

“When I was younger I didn’t see this as a possibility, I didn’t think people would be interested in my art,” she said. “My sister always used to tell me to take myself more seriously. I used to not even call myself an artist.”

Lightning’s art can be found at Watson and Lou or on her art account on Instagram.

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Local Artist Turns Creativity Into a Fundraiser for Millbrook Food Share

Millbrook local Tracy Campbell is putting her creative juices to work for good by selling art prints to raise funds for the Millbrook Food Share.

Produce grown at the community garden in Millbrook. Photo courtesy of Tracy Campbell.

Campbell, originally from Nova Scotia, moved to Millbrook from Bowmanville with her family about three months ago.

“I was looking for some way to get connected, some way to get involved - kind of looking for that social outlet that’s been missing over the last couple years,” said Campbell.

She saw an ad in the newspaper calling for plot holders and volunteers at the community garden.

Plot holders at the garden pay a small fee to ‘own’ a part of it where they can grow their own flowers or produce.

The center of the garden is filled with flowers grown by the local garden club and the rest is maintained by volunteers who grow produce for the Millbrook Food Share, a member agency of Kawartha Food Share.

Campbell, who took up digital art in December as a way to give Christmas gifts to her family, began to take pictures of flowers at the community garden and transform it into digital art.

She is now selling a limited number of prints for $20 and donating the profit to the Food Share. She has nine copies left and will be selling them until August 1.

One print being sold by Campbell. Inspired by the flowers at the community garden. Photo courtesy of Tracy Campbell.

Prints are 8.5 x 11 and can be bought by messaging Campbell on Instagram @trayseelynne or @tracycampbellcreations.

Campbell will deliver the prints to anyone local to Milbrook, the Durham Region or Peterborough.

“I would love for this to be a repeat fundraiser,” said Campbell.

She says that she hopes to be able to create more pieces of art inspired by things in her community and share the money with other local organizations.

The Millbrook Food Share is open on the second, third and fourth Tuesday of every month.

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Hunter Street Mural Celebrates Multiculturalism in Peterborough

Artists Miguel Hernández Autorino and Cassandra Lee completed a mural on one of four designated plots on Hunter Street as part of the Renaissance on Hunter Road Mural Project.

Miguel Hernández Autorino and Cassandra Lee sit on their Hunter Street Mural. Photo Courtesy of Hernández Autorino.

Hernández Autorino and Lee created a piece called “Picnic By The Water” inspired by the Canadian landscape and nature which Hernández Autorino says is the most beautiful part of the country. He wanted the piece to encompass the multiculturalism that is so important in Peterborough.

Before the piece was completed, community members from countries like Korea, Singapore, the Philippines and Egypt were invited to paint “Hello” in their country’s language on the mural.

A community member paints “Hello” on Picnic By The Water. Photo Courtesy of Miguel Hernández Autorino.

Those that participated came from the New Canadians Centre where Hernández Autorino was a client when he arrived in Canada from Venezuela in 2016. He is now a volunteer for them.

“I hope this piece brings awareness to all the different cultures that are in this town,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity for people to see that we exist and we are a part of this community.”

Picnic By The Water is positioned on the biggest of the four plots that are a part of the Renaissance on Hunter project and Hernández Autorino considers that a big accomplishment.

“It is really inspiring for me as an immigrant artist,” he said. “It’s the first time I feel like I’m achieving something big. I’m an advocate for all the immigrants that are in the same place - we work so hard but sometimes it feels like we don’t get noticed.”

Picnic By The Water can be viewed on Hunter Street in the temporary sidewalk spaces created by lane closures between Aylmer Street and Chambers Street.

This project is presented in partnership with the Downtown Business Improvement Area, Green Up, Artspace Peterborough and the City of Peterborough. It was funded through the City’s Public Art Program.

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Local Artist Wins Top Art Award

Local artist Lynda Todd painted to first place with “Blossom” in the Spirit of the Hills Art Association competition announced Thursday.

Lynda Todd’s entry, “Blossom” is a 36x60 inch painting selling for $900 on Spirit of the Hills Art Association’s website. Photo Courtesy of Lynda Todd.

Todd’s painting was one of 16 entries in the “Fine Art” category. Results were based on an online voting system by the public.

Born legally blind and mostly colour blind, Todd’s personal challenges did not deter her from earning the top slot.

"Blossom represents how an idea became a reality,” said Todd. “As a legally blind and colour-blind artist, I visualized each petal as the skills, knowledge and actions to reach my dream and occupation as an artist blossomed.”

Todd’s entry on the cover of Occupational Therapy Now. Photo Courtesy of Lynda Todd.

The winning entry was published on the front cover of Occupational Therapy Now for their May/June 2021 edition.

“My life has blossomed every single day since moving to Peterborough,” said Todd. “One thing keeps leading to another, so many doors have opened now that I have the independence to get around myself and embrace city life. I want to help spread the word and inspire others to try it all.”

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