Loading...
Village Squire, 1973-05, Page 23nizable art that decorates public buildings), is the sort of thing that thousands of artists in this country and even Ontario can produce quite capably, amateur and professional alike. I think we have a fantastic opportunity to decorate our public buildings." Mr. Mariatt, who took training as a commercial artist and worked in the field before going to work for the government and large companies and later running a stare with his wife before going back to work for the Ontario government in assessment work, dev- otes his full-time to art now. After being transferred to Goderich under the provincial assessment office he got fed up with the beaurocracy and went out on his own with painting and Green Gal- lery Designs, which produces as one of its products, a series of hasty notes fea- turing Huron County scenes. "I'm a relatively u>sophisticated per- son in terms of dealing with people through painting" he says. "I know I could paint what I like to paint but whether it would sell cr not is a dif- ferent matter. It's all very well for artists to take on the attitude 'well we must elevate the public's taste'. You're not going to elevate anyone's taste in anything whether it be in clothing or painting by going against what the public will buy. So in the meantime you provide them with a painting that they can identify with and put on the wall of their home." "I think when you're railed in a city environment as I was" Mr. Marlatt says, "you come into an area like this with some preconceived thoughts that farm people are not cultured. That's not so, far from it. That was probably true 25 years ago, generally speaking. But today farm youngsters are getting the same quality of education and are exp- osed to life as well as kids used to only in the cities. "And I think the reaction shown to- ward this project is indicative to the changing attitude towards painting by people who are town or city oriented. They have had no objections and in fact have been very encouraging. "Naturally", he says, "people are very reluctant to put up the tax money to put up an art gallery or art museum. This is the sort of thing you leave until the last until you've got the essential services like sewerage and water supply. Art galleries are sort of icing on the cake." Still, he sees an art museum or gallery probable for Huron in the future. Mr. Marlatt says ideas for paintings in this area are all around us. He sees opportunities particularly in the area of helping illustrate history. He sees LIP grants and Opportunities for Youth grants as the choice to so some of these things, not only in painting but in other areas, to revive our past. He had heard recently, he said, of an old pottery somewhere around Benmiller. "Wouldn't it be wonderful if someone could dig up some of the old patterns in making new pottery?" "If we could find a potter to do this and give him a little bit of funding through LIP of something else, I'm sure he could be self-sufficient in a year or two. And the tourists would just eat this up. "I have great enthusiasm for the revival of early pioneer skills and crafts in our county, for two reasons: one for the historical importance that it has and two for the obvious economic bene- fits to the whole economy. If we can bring tourists into the area to buy some- thing different, hundreds of other bus- inesses are bound to benefit, all down the line." But that's all in the future, and as the interview ended the immediate problem for the artists is cleaning out their studio wrapping up their project and getting back to their regular work. For Mr. Marlatt, it's back to promoting Green Gallery designs. For Claudia Elliott its a summer of work locally with the recreation committee in God- erich. For Mr. Niblock, the native of Ire- land who studied art there before coming to,Canada first to Toronto and later to Goderich, the summer will be involved more in selling antiques. No doubt all three, however, will be pai- nting whenever possible during the summer, and in the future all three will be in the forefront of the new lit- eracy of Huron county. LUCKNOW, ONTARIO 528-2906 ANTIQUES, GIFTS, HANDCRAFTS Come in and browse in the old-fashioned country store atmosphere OPEN FRIDAY NIGHTS TILL 9:00 P.M. \\V/ ANTIQUES HANDCRAFTS Fine imported furniture * brass * mirrors * clocks COUNTRY KITCHENS Imported Jams, Jellies, Relishes * Candies * Scottish Shortbread BOOKS Reprints of 1880 Bruce and Huron Atlases * Bruce County Histories * Cook Books * Scottish Clan Maps * Tartan Books * Craft Books Handweaving * Apple Dolls * Handmade Toys * Leathercraft * Candles * Wood Carvings * Pottery * Dried Flowers * Hand- made Soap LAMPS Old and new coal oil and Aladdin Lamps * Complete range of lamp parts * Colonial Lamps CRAFT SUPPLIES Petal Dip * Candle Making Supplies * Macrame * Craft Kits * Models * Reeves Oil Paints * Artists Supplies GIFTS Complete giftware line, featuring glass * china * coffee mugs * wedding, anniversary and shower gifts Rustcraft Greeting Cards and Gift Wrap 0 / / 0 / / 24