Sunday, September 12, 2010

In Praise of Small Galleries



I am a big fan of small galleries. The are often the first home for artists. (myself included) and, they bring creative sparkle to the Ontario countryside.

Let me tell you about two such places.In the picture below you will see 'mamma bear'(Mrs. Fredericks) chatting it up with Ernie Pattison. Ernie runs the Old Schoolhouse Tea Room in Ormsby Ontario, and his brother Gary along with Lillian Oakley operate the Old Hastings Gallery.

The Pattison brothers are both twins and professional musicians. They have made their careers in Toronto and in later years have migrated back to their roots around Ormsby.

Funny how talents run down through families. Intriquingly, Joni Mitchell and the Pattison brothers share the same grandmother. Joni dedicated her song "Clouds" to this departed lady, and when you go into the Ormsby schoolhouse you can read of this story complete with seeing a picture of the old one.



Small town galleries are loaded with local charm and they profile the best of local art.



Lillian tells me that the local artists Gallery Room is a work in planning and in another year she expects to see it complete with paintings created by regional artists.

For the geographically challenged, Orsmby is a small village south of Bancroft, and North of Madoc. We chanced upon it, after taking an Ontario Ghost Towns drive.

If you wish to visit the Orsmby Old County Gallery website (with the tea room represented on one of the pages within), please click here.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you for posting your comments.
ATTENTION SPAMMERS: Comments with links to other websites, will not be accepted.

A message for anonymous posters: Comments will be accepted provided they are thoughtful and articulate.

Reciprocating comments between posters will not be accepted. Sorry - I have no intention of giving readers the opportunity to engage in flame wars. It won't happen.

Fredericks-Artworks Blog, copying policy


The Canadian Copyright act, section 29 reports on fairdealing, that it is not an infringement to reproduce someone else's work for research, study, criticism, review or to report. Which pretty much sums up what this site is about. All content sources, be they artists, printed references, and website url's are respectfully identified on this site. http://http//www.canlii.org/en/ca/laws/stat/rsc-1985-c-c-42/latest/rsc-1985-c-c-42.html

Mission Statement
A Portrait of the Visual Arts in Canada, is intended to celebrate the richness of Canada's visual arts, and to promote the arts in Canada.

Statement of Intent
I make every effort to credit the sources of information used in this blog and to obtain the permission and cooperation of all the works presented by living artists. I try, as much as possible to use works from public sources eg. national and provincial collections, of deceased artists. If for any reason, any artist disapproves of anything written about them or their work the artist is encouraged to request withdrawal of the content.