In spite of everything, we are having our annual “Art From the Heart” exhibition at Joshua Creek Heritage Art Centre, it will be online. Planning this year is a luxury because we have weeks. For the first time the gallery will be filled with the work of our own Community Living Artists. It is an exhibition about challenge. We are all challenged in some way or another, but these artists are very special in that they add courage and focus to their challenges. They listen and respond to what we invent, freeing up their artist within. They have no fear. We marvel at the ingenuity and purity of what they produce. Their work truly comes from the heart.
In the foyer, we will display the work of Tsochoy Go. He came as a gifted co-op student in 2012. He can draw and paint what he sees, what he imagines and what he is asked to illustrate, in all mediums: watercolour, acrylic, and he can draw digitally on a tablet. His enormous mural for the Tesla Festival is hung and his large board with holes for photos is erected in the garden. Together he and I have published seven books. I write, he illustrates with incredible characters. The most recent COVID Tales, is the most timely and entertaining of all.
Over the years, the gallery has hung the work of the amazing artists of Creative Village Studio in Toronto, under the direction of Harold Tomlinson. It has been closed by COVID-19, but we will hang our collection of their work in the Porch Room.
To bring awareness of challenge is what this show is about. Everyone is challenged someway or other. Courage and creativity can light the end of the tunnel. The step by step lessons belonging to the pictures will be in a binder for everyone to enjoy. They are fun and heart filling. Geared for all ages and stages, they range from doodles to playing with lake stones, torn paper and collage. Word games on a story board are amusing: car pool, barn owl, flower pot. A mandala with a heart in the centre, is surrounded by favourite things, with an outer layer of wishes. Others are “What is the difference between a stone and a leaf? What is your Zodiac Sign?
The world has famous naïve artist,: Grandma Moses, Maud Lewis. Now we want to raise awareness of the beauty and appreciation of art.