Art's Hudson, page 2

A former featured artist who continues to make her mark is Gail Descoeurs. She will exhibit together with Valerie Harper on Montreal’s St. Denis Street this July. Get details from the invitation below and visit Gail’s website for examples of her work and more information about the artist.

The annual Hudson Music Festival is back but we’re not sure in what form. In previous years we’ve had the announcement of the schedule and artists in June but so far this year only three major concerts have been confirmed. Check out our article on the festival for the details.

The opening Gala concert will be at St. Thomas Church while two other concerts, including the closing event, are scheduled for the big tent in Jack layton Park. Above is what the setting looked like last year. The tent is 60 x 90 feet and so can hold several hundred people.

According to the Hudson Gazette, logistical help from the town in the form of staff who worked overtime on Music Festival events will no longer be available. We’re wondering whether this will result in fewer of the stages and free events during the Hudson Street Fair. The latter is going ahead on August 2nd, presumably with less music and more fair.

Once again this summer issue we are highlighting an artistic product available from Hudson’s Pure Art Boutique. The concept is always the same. Identify indigenous art that might appeal to people in the wealthy west and organize a sales channel so the indigenous people can supplement their income from the sale of their art.

In many cases the artists are women struggling with subsistence farming to feed their families. They use their spare time to create items for sale at the Pure Art boutique and other outlets and are able to raise the living standard of their families in this way.

This issue describes how the concept works with craft items from Tibet. In this year of the horse, small horse toys are especially popular. Our article gives the details of this Tibetan initiative.

In our winter issue we introduced featured artist Vivianne LaRiviere. A multifaceted artist and painter, she runs the website thesongroom.ca and was renovating an old outbuilding at the back of the property she rents on Cote St. Charles in St. Lazare. The renovations are now complete and the upstairs of the building houses a bright, airy studio with a view over the surrounding hills and countryside.

Above is Vivianne in her new studio, surrounded by some of her works. She uses the space herself but would also like to see it become focal point for the artistic community, with artists using the space for work, for inspiration, for workshops or meetings. Toward th end of our issue you will find a page dedicated to this concept. If you’re interested, don’t hesitate to contact Vivianne and help her make this new resource all that it can be.

In September, it’s Studio Tour time. In our feature on this year’s Studio Tour you will find the artists who are participating, samples of their work, and where their studio or their exhibit is located.

One of the best-known artists on the tour this year is Daniel Gautier, a featured artist from two years ago, who paints surrealistic sea scapes. His home on Cote St. Charles is also his studio, and it is well worth a visit.

Below is the cover from this year’s Studio Tour flyer. Check out our pages and select the artists that interest you. We have found it’s hard to visit more than half the studios in one day. And that event will finish off an artistic summer - we’re already looking ahead for features for the fall edition - the fall promises to be busy.

previous page