The Art Cellar - located at the Black Prince Winery. We were pretty lucky that the day we visited there was an art show going on in support of the Dunes Trail project at Sandbanks Provincial Park. This show featured 50 local artists with everything from pottery to encaustics. It was really great to see so much art and talent displayed in a relatively small space. On hand during our visit was Brandy Gale.
Brandy Gale one of the artists who was supporting the Dunes Project. Brandy told us that she loved the area so much that after driving through Prince Edward County she returned the next week and bought a home there. Brandy has a studio there which is part on the arts tour. Her studio had an amazing 600 plus visitors come through there Labour Day weekend. We immediately liked Brandy and her art. You can visit http://www.brandygale.com/ to learn more and see some of her beautiful creations.
Amelie Hand painted Silks - this was an impromptu stop on our part. We whizzed by and came to a quick halt and moments later were greeted by a true treasure of Prince Edward County. Amelie Konning de Bourbon moved to PEC 16 years ago. Born in Indonesia raised in Holland where she attended the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and received a degree in fine arts. Her lovely studio looks out over west lake, we couldn't help but think what a gorgeous view to wake up to each day. Not only does Amelie 'paint' silks with everything from scarves to dresses she also paints on canvas and does encaustic art. Her silks are created using french dyes that Amelie applies in beautiful patterns. We had never seen encaustic art until earlier that day at the Art Cellar. Amelie was more that happy to tell us that encaustic art has been around since the middle ages and the techniques used to create it. Easily we could have spent hours with Amelie and I believe she probably wouldn't have minded. Armed with the knowledge of how encaustics art created Charlene was inspired to try her hand at it. Not that Charlene was lacking any inspiration from the beauty we had already encountered on our travels around PEC.
Amelie is located in Bloomfield - you can't miss her gallery which is adjoined to her home which she shares with her husband a former school principal. I know if you stop by you'll not only love what you see and no doubt you will walk away with something - it's hard to resist! Please see her art and silks at http://www.ameliesilks.com/
Side Street Gallery - Amelie told us if we continued along the Parkway to make sure we stopped in Wellington and visited the Side Street Gallery. We were heading toward Wellington anyway and soon found ourselves looking around the main floor of the gallery. We were about to leave the gallery when the owner Paulette Greer suggested we went to the second floor. The building itself is lovely and rich in history dating back to 1862 having once been owned by Orangemen, then later used as school house, and then a municipal building. Upstairs we were delighted to find an exhibition featuring two local artists one being David Greaves. Before I tell you about David I have to say if you are in Wellington visit Paulette - she's a wealth of information and it seems like everyone else we met just somebody you could easily spend hours chatting with. http://www.sidestreetgallery.com/
David Greaves - if it wasn't enough to have met Brandy Gale, Amelie, and Paulette the lovely owner of the Side Street Gallery we then met David Greaves. I really can't say enough about David. He is an absolutely wonderful artist and was just terrific to chat to. Born in Yorkshire, England he later came to Canada and worked in art studios before eventually just going it on his own. Davids art on display really captured Yorkshire it made me feel like I was there. Having been born myself in the south of England and remember as a boy visiting Yorkshire I felt right at home with his art. I could have easily packed up the wall of art and taken it home with me - it is that good. David is as personable as his art. Charlene really liked David too. Once finding out that she too is a fellow artist he warmly encouraged Charlene to keep it up and work on her niche. Later after leaving the gallery I read the pamphlet that I had picked up and found David is a self taught water colourist who's work is influenced by John Yardley and John Buckley. I could spend an awfully long time going on about Davids art but you can go check it out yourself here http://www.davidgreaves.ca/ - my favourites for sure can be found in his travel gallery.
Funktional art and Design - by chance which seemed to be the word of the day we ended up in a little shop in Bloomfield long after closing ooops! But, owners Dean and Michael never let on if they wanted us gone it was quite the opposite. We really liked there shop loaded but not crowded with all sorts of interesting art, and funtional art from artisans with everything from glass wear and pottery, to jewelry. They own a gallery too but we never made it there, it was closed so we put it on our 'to do' list. Michael and Dean told us about the house they were having built with recycled and reclaimed materials - something that I really support. Not that has anything to do with the art but I think it speaks to their values which speaks volumes about these gentlemen. Of course it gives me one more reason to say; if you are in Bloomfield stop by see David and Michael they're going to have something that you are going to find irresistible. and you're going to take it home with you! Don't take my word for it - check them out at: http://www.shopfad.com/
