More than 40 artworks by renowned local artist Freda Pemberton Smith will be offered for sale at bargain prices on Friday, October 4 and Saturday, October 5 at the Knox Presbyterian Church Hall on Hamil Street in Vankleek Hill.
“Pemberton Smith was not only a prominent artist in this region, but had successful exhibitions across Canada,” says Bonnie Laing, who is organizing the sale. “One Vancouver art critic called her ‘Eastern Canada’s Emily Carr’.” Proceeds from the sale will go to the local refugee program, Opportunity Knox.
The artworks are being generously donated by Helen Macleod of L’Orignal who bought them when, as a realtor, she was negotiating a real estate transaction. Pemberton Smith’s artwork has sold to collectors for hundreds, even thousands of dollars. But these watercolours and pastel paintings will be offered unframed for under $100.
Born in Montréal in 1902, Freda Pemberton Smith studied at the Barnes School of Art and École des Beaux-Arts in Montréal and at the Slade School of Art In London England. She painted for more than 60 years and exhibited across Canada, from B.C. to Newfoundland-Labrador. Her work is found in numerous collections, including the Edmonton Art Gallery and the Royal Drawing Society in London. She moved to Vankleek Hill in the 1960s but travelled extensively to paint on location. She died in 1991.
“Many of the works in this sale are from the time she spent in the Lower St. Lawrence and in Alert Bay, B.C,” says Laing. “But a lot of them are local scenes of Vankleek Hill and its people.”
The sale will be held from 3 pm to 7 pm on Friday, October 4th and 10 am to 4 pm on Saturday, October 5th, on a first come, first serve basis.
Proceeds from the sale will go to support Opportunity Knox’s refugee program, whose latest refugees, the Syrian Khalil family, arrived from Iraq in June.
For further information, please contact:
Bonnie Laing
(613) 678-5307
