It was showtime in Alexandria on Friday, April 14, and Saturday, April 15.
The Collectif d’artistes/Glengarry Artist’s Collective held its first Big Show since 2019 with a display of new visual and written art. Not only did the usually annual event return this year, but it was also held at a new location, the Community Living Glengarry building on Macdonald Boulevard in Alexandria.
The collective has about 75 members and work from 37 of them was on display at the Big Show. Several students were also guest artists at the event. All members must live in either North or South Glengarry to be members of the collective. The Big Show serves as a fundraiser for the organization.
About 200 people attended the opening vernissage on April 14.
“It was packed!” said Collective President Bobi Leutschaft-Poitras.
Photographer Alison Hall had two of her works, “Growing Strong,” and “Outside In,” on display at the Big Show. She said photography to her is a way of capturing subject matter and lighting which will never be the same again.
“It’s a moment in time,” Hall said.
Clay artist Brenda Sutton-Mader had tile and pottery items on display, but she also had two very distinct sculptures created using a Japanese method called Roku. The finished items are removed red-hot from a kiln and then buried in the ground with straw and other combustible materials which leads to a colourful, metallic finish on the clay.
“I’ve been working with clay for over 30 years. It’s a medium that I gravitate towards,” Sutton-Mader said.
Leutschaft-Poitras is primarily a poet, but in 2016, she decided to begin painting.
“My kids were growing up, I decided to take a painting course, and I just never stopped,” she said.
Leutschaft-Poitras sees painting as an extension of poetry. At the Big Show, her painting “Dementia” was on display, portraying what she believes represents the challenges associated with the cognitive condition.
For further information on the Collectif d’artistes/Glengarry Artist’s Collective, go to their website at https://cagac.ca/ or Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/glengarryartistscollective .
The Big Show photos by James Morgan
