Museum Art Show features many new artists this year

November 27, 2013 · 0 Comments

The 10th Annual Holiday Treasures Art and Craft show and sale at the Dufferin County Museum launched Friday, with many new artists featured this year.

The main gallery of the museum will display the work of many local artists, who all create something a little different. A wide range of products were available for sale, many that would make excellent holiday gifts for family and friends.

Unique handmade paintings, jewelry, knitted clothing, holiday decorations, stockings, quilts and wreaths fill the space, but not everything is holiday themed.

Blacksmith Anthony Moore of Live Iron Forage in Holstein is one of the newly featured artists at this year’s show and sale, displaying an outdoor iron sundial.

Another new artist was Debra Gibbs who is displaying her line, FINE Porcelain, mugs, plates and bowls all made from china porcelain. The unique material, Gibbs says, makes the dishware light as well as durable, with an interesting colour pallet, also of her own design. It also makes the dishes microwave, oven and dishwasher safe.

Fiber artist Angela Roberge also joined the show this year, selling knitted items like scarves, shawls and ornaments. The mother of three, including infant twins, doesn’t find a lot of time to knit these days, but it’s something she’s loved to work at for most of her life.

Taught by her grandmother at the age of 6, Roberge says she started to experiment with more complicated patterns later in life.

“I went to school downtown so I spent a lot of time on the bus, and that’s where it kind of started,” says Roberge.

She says she never follows patterns without making some kind of variation of her own, but prefers to create her own patterns from scratch. Roberge dies her own yarn and is trying her hand at spinning yarn.

“The more stitches, the crazier the pattern, the better.”

Many of these new artists say they’ve attended the show in the past to find Christmas presents, and find it to be a great success.

The show and sale runs until Sunday, December 8.

By Emily Wood

Tradition lives on – Leah Mitchell has been creating traditional quilts for 20 years, from bedspreads to placemats and even wall hangings. She is now starting to create her own patterns, which she is able to sell.

Unlikely inspiration – Angela Roberge finds inspiration for her knitting patterns in some unlikely places. Having spent time downtown for school and working with street youth, she generates a lot of ideas based on architecture.

Handle with care – Carol Nesbitt of Glen Williams Glass studio displays her intricate glass work. Different colours and patterns can be seen in many of the pieces, a skill Nesbitt has been honing for the past 18 years.

Modern day blacksmith – Anthony Moore displays his iron sundial at the show, a piece that took several days to create from flat iron pieces.

Photo by Alex Sher
The Dufferin County Museum and Archives is hosting its 10th Annual Holiday Juried Arts and Crafts Show & Sale from November 23rd to December 8. Artist and Photographer, Ellen Cameron who specializes in Equestrian Photography was on hand for the event’s preview night on November, 22nd displaying her work which is so realistically captivating and mystifying, the imagination is challenged to determine the “how” behind the work. Every artist has their secrets and viewers will have to visit the show to decide for themselves!