Exhibit honouring local artist launches at Town Hall

April 6, 2023 · 0 Comments

Written By Paula Brown

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Town of Shelburne is paying tribute to local artist Darlene Hassall with an exhibition looking back at her work.

Family members, past students, art collectors, and community members gathered at the Town Hall Art Gallery on Sunday (April 2) to mark the opening of the exhibit, titled “A Retrospective of Darlene Hassall Work in Oil.”

“I’m quite thrilled that it’s here, and we selected pieces we thought would look good in this space,” Darlene’s husband, Peter Hassall told the Free Press. “This exhibit gives the people in town a chance to see who she was and what she did, and hopefully give inspiration to go out and create something of their own.”

The tribute exhibition of Darlene’s work came about when former Shelburne councillor Lynda Buffett approached Hassall’s husband about displaying her work in the town following her passing last year.

“I feel so good we did this in memory of Darlene and it’s amazing to see so many people here,” said Buffett.

While a resident of Shelburne for nearly a decade, Darlene was originally from Montreal and attended Concordia University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design. She spent 40 years developing a career in business before making a return to her art in 2005 by painting during her spare time. In 2012, she became a full-time artist.

During her career as an artist, Darlene participated in over 30 juried exhibitions and 25 art shows. She also sat on the board and executive committees for local art groups and was part of the art in the School Program with the Dufferin Arts Council.

Darlene died in August 2022 at the age of 71.

Members of the local art community who knew Darlene, and admirers of her work, were in attendance for the exhibit’s opening on Sunday.

Joan Hope, owner of Dragonfly Arts in Orangeville, where Darlene had her studio for a few years, spoke with the Free Press about Darlene as an artist and having her work once again on display.

“She was such a dynamic, wonderful artist, and as a teacher she was very creative and avant garde,” said Hope. “She was very good about going to shows so I think a lot of artists have seen her work, but for the community at large I hope they see
her uniqueness.”

Mono resident Anne Swift-Peters owns three of Darlene’s paintings, including a piece from the “Masters Through My Eyes” collection, and was a past student of her art classes.

“It’s really important to honour her and her talent, and it’s good for people to be able to see her work, maybe for the last time,” said Swift-Peters. “I liked her colours and the whimsy in a lot of her paintings. The way she looked at people, you knew who they were.”

Darlene’s work has often been described as whimsical, abstract and colourful.

“Her inspiration came from the world. She always walked around with a sketch book, and she’d look at something and draw it to go home and paint it,” said Hassall. “She wasn’t stuck to one genre of painting; it was just whatever she wanted to paint, she painted.”

Each piece of Darlene’s art in the exhibit is available for sale, with all proceeds being donated to the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

The exhibit will be on display at the Shelburne Town Hall Gallery, located at 203 Main Street East, until May 7.