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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2007-10-04, Page 27It’s a sure sign of fall when the crops are in full harvest and the farmers move on to the land to till the soil. Farm folks gather to celebrate our rural heritage at the counties’ plowing matches. Time is always set aside to visit the International or the Outdoor Farm Show to catch up with the latest farm innovations or just to visit friends. Anne Laviolette, a resident artist at the Goderich Co-op Gallery has mustered an assortment of images to show off the culture and tradition of the annual plowing matches. Her collection of works is done mainly in acrylic. Visitors are welcomed to the gallery with a harvest window display, complete with a genuine antique walking plow, on loan from the Huron County Museum. In preparation for the winter season ahead, there is also a miniature hand-made lumber sled hauling timber from the old Baechler Mills, as fashioned by Syd Lawson, a long-time and well- known local senior. Laviolette’s paintings attempt to present the busy sense of commotion and celebration of the harvest season at a local plowing match. Her images of people, animals and bustling activity invite comers of all ages to enjoy this special show. As a University of Toronto Honours Biology, Medicine and Psychiatry graduate, Laviolette enjoyed a full and rewarding career in medicine. But, she always loved to paint, both spiritually and emotionally. “Early on,” she says, “I favoured floral creations and found relaxation and satisfaction in expressing my love of nature through watercolour sketches and paintings. Colour, shape and composition as well as subject matter naturally include these kinds of meanings for me, so that encouraging such expressions in others was a natural part of my work.” As she moves into another stage of life, she is devoting more energy to her artistic passions. “Over the past three years I have spent more time at my easel,” she declares, “And now I work primarily in acrylics.” “The ‘big skies’, the farms and terrain of Huron County are a continuing source of joy to me. The landscape is never still; it is sometimes very flat, now and again gently undulating, but always wonderfully changing across the seasons.” Laviolette’s show accompanies a complementary retrospective of mainly pencil sketches by guest artist Gwen Smithers-Kiar from childhood days to the present. Both shows run through Oct. 31 at the Goderich Co-op Gallery, 54 Courthouse Square, Goderich. Doors open Monday to Saturday 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. There is no admission charge. A participating artist is on hand daily. For more information, call 519-440-0523. Her face sold his first commercial photo. Over six different magazines in Canada and the States featured her and a friend enjoying a holiday moment on the beach in front of the Point Farms resort in their publications in the early 1900s. Florence Sallows, first daughter of Reuben R. Sallows, was among Reuben’s favourite photographic subjects as he strove to break into the emerging commercial photography markets of Canada, the States and Britain. It is Flo’s face that is subject of a new exhibit opening at the Reuben R. Sallows Gallery in Goderich on Oct. 5. This woman’s existence was documented by her famous father’s camera from the time she was an infant until his death in 1937. The exhibit, “…this fascination with Flo:” a portrayal of Florence Sallows through the creative lens of her father, captures this lively young woman in settings as varied as the Huron lakeshore and the heart of Algonquin Park. While Florence posed against a backdrop of dark cedars for her father’s camera, the famous Group of Seven artists explored the same wilderness untouched. Sallows documented, with Flo, the interaction of man’s presence on the wilderness. Both achieved commercial success with the subject of their work. For the month of October only, the Sallows Gallery will also be featuring the exhibit – A Lifetime – Day by Day: Five Women and their Diaries – from the Archives of Ontario. The combination of the two exhibits promises to provide a unique peek into being a woman in the early 1900s in Ontario. Sallows’ photographs of his daughter, friends and family reveal the reality sought by the commercial magazines of the time while the words of Martha Hastie, Beatrice Edgar, Phoebe Holden Gregg, Bessie George Stewart and Frances Tweedie Milne give voice to its realities. Phoebe and Bessie’s diaries are interconnected because they are mother and daughter. Bessie’s writings contain local Huron County references because she wrote from her husband’s farm in Clinton. This travelling exhibit will only be at the Sallows Gallery until Oct. 31. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Saturday – noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2007. PAGE 27. Singing and signing Popular Canadian folk singer Valdy and Canadian Idol contestant Kati Durst signed a guitar to be auctioned at the Teddy Bear Dream Auction this past weekend in Blyth. The performers entertained at the 19th annual event, presented by the Huron County Child Abuse Prevention Committee. Doors opened at Memorial Hall for the silent auction at 6 p.m. The live auction followed at 8 p.m. with local auctioneer Richard Lobb. Entertainment began at 9 p.m. Masters of ceremony for the evening were Rob Bundy and Floyd Herman. (Vicky Bremner photo) Happy 25th Anniversary Shirley and Alan September 25, 1982 All our love and best wishes ~ your family Golden Anniversary You are invited to join our family in the celebration of the 50th Wedding Anniversary of our parents, Ken and Dawn White at an open house Saturday, October 13th, 1-4 pm at their home in Brussels. The couple requests no gifts. A donation of a non-perishable food item for the Huron County Food Bank would be gratefully appreciated. Blyth Rd., Auburn 519-526-7759 NOW LICENSED UNDER LIQUOR LICENCE ACT OF ONTARIO Stickers Family Restaurant Monday - 6:30 - 4:00; Tuesday & Wednesday 6:30 - 8:00; Thursday, Friday & Saturday 6:30 - 9:00; Sunday 9:00 - 7:00 Saturday, October 6 All-You-Can-Eat Fish Fry 5 pm - 9 pm Friday Smorg. ~ 5 pm - 8 pm Sunday Smorg. ~ 4 - 7 pm Plowing match artfeatured in Goderich Sallows photographs shown through October BUY? SELL? TRY CLASSIFIED A walk in the city Joan, Linda and Norma Mair (from left), formerly of Brussels, were in Toronto last weekend participating in The Weekend to End Breast Cancer. Their team, Breast Step Forward, raised $18,522 for the cause, while just over 5,500 people participated, raising a grand total of $17,300,000 to support breast cancer research. (Photo submitted)