Usually the arts scene in Hudson is quiet after Christmas and into early spring, but this year there are lots of activities. Visit the Hudson Artist's website to see who is scheduled for the lobby exhibit at the community centre each month and check out villagetheatre.ca for the many scheduled shows. We highlight some of them in our section on Village Theatre - lots for kids and lots of variety.

            For our featured artists section we have chosen to bring you the works of the late Traudl and Peter Markgraf who developed their style while living in the Hudson area and who then moved back here in their retirement. Below is "Lake Louise," an example of the work which became very popular and which made them two of most successful artists in Canada.

            "Lake Lousie" is a serigraphy, a signed original print. These works are typically printed by the artists in a small edition of around 100 and there is no other original. The print itself is the original work, and each signed and numbered print is unique, with slight differences in shading, colour and composition. Peter and Traudl used the silk screen process to create the prints and applied their own special techniques to achieve a continuous shading that gives the prints their characteristic dreamlike shading. Look for the featured artists section in this issue for more details.

            While the political arena in Hudson was in turmoil and the commercial sector was weak, there was a lot of good news in the arts. Many of our arts organizations have come out of a challenging period during the recession and are now either stable and able to continue their work or looking to expand. Many have brought in new people to help run theri organizations and there is a lot of talk about new facilities and activities.

            The Village Theatre are in transition with a new artistic director after the resignation of founder Heather Markgraf. The summer season is to be announced soon and the board of directors continues to examine ways of better fulfilling their mandate to bring professional theatre to our community.

            After a brief existential crisis, the Hudson Players Club has some long term and experienced members in charge and the club will be focusing on the light comedy that has historically been its mainstay. The club can produce large-cast plays and cast excellent actors to put on shows that professional theatres simply can’t do because of the high cost of hiring large numbers of professional actors.

            The Hudson Artists mounted a very successful fall show at the Community Centre and many of their artists are attracting attention outside the region. In addition to artists such as Daniel Gautier, Susan Porter, Heather Dubreuil and John Vazalinskas have had exhibitions. What is really needed is a local studio or Gallery that can showcase local artists and offer some of their works for sale. Anyone who visited the fall exhibition could see that high quality work from local artists is available at very affordable prices.

            The picture of the mannikin-musician comes from the second annual Hudson Music Festival “Boom” event. The festival organizers invite supporters and other Hudson music notables to a musical event in a Hudson mansion. Musicians play in different rooms and guests go in sequence to the rooms to hear them. Last year the event was in the Murphy home on Main Road in Hudson Heights and this year it was in the estate on the lakeside of Main Road between Oakland and Crescent. The group is actively planning next year’s Music Festival and always comes up with some new ideas.

            The fall also saw Spitfire Dance at the War Museum in Ottawa and at Hudson Village Theatre. Written, produced and directed by long-time Hudson resident Clint Ward, it is a new musical presentation featuring historical notes on the role of women pilots in World War II and songs from the era. Clint writes about his experience creating and putting on this show in the section about Spitfire Dance in this issue.

            The Greenwood StoryFest was the biggest and best-attended ever and it had the most high-profile guests. The events featuring Margaret Atwood and Romeo Dallaire were sold out by late summer and Greenwood had to limit the sale of StoryFest season passes because many of the other events were popular as well.

            Greenwood hosted a dinner for Margaret Atwood at the Greenwood property in the historic ding room and Margaret Atwood presented her work at matinee and evening events at Village Theatre. Margaret Atwood talked about her work and answered questions from the audience. She was charming, funny and gracious. Romeo Dallaire’s event at the Community Centre was sold out as well and even artists who are not well-known in the area, such as Paul Thmpson, the artistic director of Theatre Passe Muraille, drew a large audience. The Greenwood committee has developed a knack for identifying and inviting interesting writers and theirreputation among the writers is such that most of them accept the invitations and look forward to visiting Hudson.

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