Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1981-03-11, Page 21Kincardine artist says � � hJOderiCh Qoderich classy BY JOANNE BUCHANAN Artist Mark Fletcher says Kincardine, the town he has claimed as his home for the past four years, offers him the perfect working atmosphere. His watercolors, he 'Says; are inspired by the natural elements of the lake and the surrounding farm land. He also finds that a small town can be very relaxing. Although Mark realizes that his strongest market is in Toronto, he says he just doesn't enjoy the city. At this point in his career, he • claims he is willing to sacrifice this market to work in a small town. "I just don't feel I would work as well in Toronto," he says. Mark has 29 of his watercolors on display this week at the Studio Gallery located at 65 Montreal Street in Goderich. This gallery has been in operation less than a year now and is run by professional photographer,. Bob -Nephew. _ "Bob is running a really nice gallery and I hope peopleappreciate it. Everything is in good taste. You won't find any shopping mall black velvet paintings here," says Mark. While Mark's watercolors have been on display at the gallery, the crowds have been good. Close to 100 people went through one Sunday. But more important than that, the response to his work has been posidv.e_ Mark says it is difficult to tell, but he thinks he is one of the more successful artists compared to ethen his age, His_ wprk is scattered throughout the province, \, ' he has been involved in several solo and group exhibitions and he has won quite a few awards for his work, including one from Visual Arts Ontario and a best watercolor award at the sixth annual Mississauga juried exhibition. Mark has been working in art since 1975. 'He-firsttook ananterest in it'wheen-he"came- under the influence of Canadian, print maker David Blackwood at Trinity College in Port Hope. It was at Trinity thathe began combiningart work with his regular. studies and he won several awards for his work at that college. He later attended the University of Guelph, majoring in fine arts and geography. He now considers art his profession although he admits that an artist's life is up and down. From time to time he works at other things to help pay the bills but says 'so far. I've been very successful at making a living.' Art can be very time consuming and Mark says sometimes he works a 12 to 14 hour day out of his:south shore road studio in Kincardine. It's the mental thought process of designing and laying out a painting that takes the most time. Mark mostly works in watercolors but he has done some oils and is now trying out some pop art. He doesn't like to be sub- jetted to any one particular style. He says he prefers to go in and out of different subject matter as his moods change. Mark has done some work for people on. a commission basis and enjoys this but says he prefers the person hiring him to look over his other work and make sure he has the right style and temperment for what is tp be painted. His studio,: while •it .. also lus living quarters, is,always opento peo file who are interested in his work. It's very important to have his art work exposed, feels Mark This way he can get feedback which will help him develop as an artist. However, he prefers to work through galleries rather than fairs and craft shows. He has been involved in a few outdoor group exhibitions but he says these are very nerve wracking. "You have a lot of very expensive in- ventory sitting outside and the elements can turn on you," he explains. .Mark sees framing as .6 necessary evil. It's expensive but it makes a more at- tractive finished product. Framed pain- tings are also more saleable: This past summer. Mark had an exhibition of his work at The Studio in Kincardine. It was fairly successful and he says it's niceha to m ve alocal arket and the .support of the Kincardine people. :Mark, who .liv,:ed-all. wer-the-country-w! e growing up, first came to know Kincardine when his ,parents started up a beef cattle operation in Bruce County. The four years he has lived in Kincardine is the longest time helms ever lived in one place. Mark concludes that it is up to himself now. just how far he wants. to take his art an dhow good it will become. . • 133 YEAR -10 1 NAL - STA WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 1981 SECOND SECTION omen's Day Out group needs you! Eight years ago, with the help of a local initiatives grant from the government, three Goderich women opened up the Friendship Centre in a small building on East Street. Shortly afterwards, the Centreevolved into what is now known as, the Women's Day Out group and adopted a new meeting place in the MacKay Centre on North Street. Women's Day Out is exactly what its name implies. It offers an opportunity for women, especially those tied down by small children, to get out of the house once a week and meet with other women over coffee. But Women's Day Out is more than just a big coffee-klatsch. It offers astructured and informative program for women. Every Wednesday morning, the group. meets at MacKay Centre at 9:30. Children brought along are taken downstairs where they are looked after by two babysitters: General socializing takes place until 10 a.m. and then, from 10 until 11 a.m. a guest speaker is featured. These speakers usually taik on a subject of—i—ntetest—II women.They often give denannstrations_nd.donate_ door.Prizes as.. welt . • This week the wo#nen will hear from chiropractor Scott Macauley and the following , week, Elke Patrick will travel from Kincardine -to speak on calligraphy.. Last week the group was given a demonstration in hairdressing. In the past, topics have included cake decorating,. flower arranging, women's legal rights. and various other educational topics. • Sometimes the Women's Day Out group. tours local industry, visits craft shows or • goes bowling. And each December it holds a Christmas•party. "The funny thing is though," explains - publicity director Rosemary Corriveau, "that the better the programs become, the fewer women attend.• It's embarrassing when you have a really good speaker and only a handful of women turn 'out to listen." Right now the group averages 15-20 women but they have had as few as six turn out. There are no membership fees. Women pay $1.25 per meeting and are not obligated to attend every week. However, costsare increasing The group must pay rent for MacKay Hall and buy coffee, tea and cookies as well as paying for babysitting services. They need to average 18 women per week just to break even. • "I'm sure there must be women out there who are just dying to get out of the house for awhile but don't necessarily want to join a club," says Rosemary. She feels that the Women's Day Out group is especially good for- those women who are new to town because it helps them become acquainted with other women. The group's _chairwoman, Darlene Keown agrees. "I had been here for five months and didn"t know anyone except for Irene Bain. We decided to go to Women's Day Out and met lots of people," she says. The women agree that it may be difficult f or -a newcomer to attend the first meeting all by herself but can assure her she will be welcomed. "She can just show up on a Wednesday morning or she can call myself (524-2589) or Darlene (524-4689) and we'll meet her there," says secretary, Barb Desjardins. 'Many of the women in the group have been newcomers to town at one time. , Many of them are young mothers with pre- schoolers but there are grandmothers too. The atmosphere isrelaxed, informal and friendly. "It's good for the children too," says Rosemary. "If they're not already going to nursery school, it's a chance for them to mif witli"other children and play with toys and games." Right now the Women's Day Out `executive' consists of a group of five women who don't want to see the group fold. Besides Rosenmary, Barb and Darlene, they include Irene Bain who acts as treasurer and Joanne Payee who looks. after the refreshments for each meeting. These women get together once every four months to plan the group's programs. These programs are published at the beginning of each month in the Tid Bits column of the' Signal -Star and are also posted on the bulletin board at Suncoast mall. Once in awhile; the -women plan<a-balks.._ .._ sale or white elephant sale to help offset their costs. And last year, one of the women in the group won the Signal -Star recipe contest: "The prize money kept us going for quite awhile," says Rosemary. But it will take an interest on the part of the women in the community as well as money to keep the group goingin . the future: -...... Hairdressing demo Story and photos by Joanne Buchanan Last Wednesday at Women's Day Out, Sheila Stanley demon- strated hairstyling on Joanne Chambers. Each week the Women's Day Out group features special guest speakers on topics of interest to women. Mark Fletcher, an artist from Kincardine, has a display of 29 watercolors at The Studio, 65 Montreal Street, Gaderich until this Saturday, March 14. The Studio is run by professional' photographer Bob Nephew and has been In existence for less than a year. (Photo by Joanne Buchanan)' St. Samgoeson tour. St. Sam and the Nukes, Ted Johns' updated version of the nuclear power comedy which premiered at The Blyth Summer Festival last summer, will begin a tour of Southern Ontario with a single performance at the Blyth Centre for the Arts on Monday, March 30 at 8 p.m. Johns, the funny and pro- vocative playwright who delighted audiences last year with his wonderful per- formance in The School Show, has done it again, this time with a satire centering on the lives of the people who work at the Bruce Nuclear Power Development, the largest nuclear power sta- tion in the world, their fears and joys, their fights and their triumphs. "Glowing reviews have generated interest in Ted Johns' new work about a nearby nuclear power plant. St. Sam and the Nukes open- ed to the praise of both pro and anti nuclear energy au- diences!' — The North Bay Nu: ret There are five characters in the play. Howard,.. the plant manager, an im- aginative and creative nuclear physicist in his youth, is now ensconced at Hydro, supported and pro- tected by his special assis- tant Paul, an intelligent and informed trouble shooter, a young man on his way to the top. On the home front, Howard is engaged in a hilarious ongoing battle of wit and conscience with his wife Joan, also a scientist, who has the background to go through the morass of statistics and expensive advertising put out by Hydro and make a case for her pro- found unease regarding nuclear's long term unknown effects. To add fuel to the fire, Hol- ly his niece, moves in with them and shows no sign of leaving. Her summer job as a tour guide at the plant has captured her imagination. She explores the history of nuclear power, its triumphs and its disasters, infuriating Howard and 'demanding answers from Paul. Into this scene bursts Sam, a new kind of capitalist, a Henry Ford of the eighties with a scheme to save the economy of Kincardine, the Bruce and Ontario. Sam says, if you've got the power, use it! Together this wild quintet turns world issues into per- sonal issues ana back again, weaving between farce and • fear and the all too human reactions to the nuclear dilemma. "St. Sam teaches the, au- dience more about nuclear reactors than they will learn in.a lifetime, yet it manages to thoroughly entertain at the same time.—Mark Czarnecki, Macle Th Magazine. After playing Blyth, the play will tour to, Hamilton . Place, Kincardine, Meaford, Mount Forest, Paisley, Fergus, Stratford, Petrolia, Kitchener, Pickering, Port Putting a jigsaw puzzle together can be serious business. Here, Shelley Stanley con - Hope, the Grand Theatre in templates her next move. She was playing downstairs hi the MacKay Centre while her Kingston and Arnprior. mother paiticipated in a Women's Dag; Out meeting upstairs. While their mothers are upstairs in the MacKay Centre for the Women's Day Out meeting, the children play downstairs under the watchful eyeof two babysitters. Here, Vera Larder, who has been a 'f, bysitter with the group for five years, gives some instruction to Cathy Wade and Jody Fedor.