Art in Sydenham

Wilma Kenny | Nov 12, 2009

Photo: Alana Kapell (L) & Pat Dawson: the artwork between them is by Winona Elliott

The imagination and collaboration of three local women, Pat Dawson, Alana Kappell, and Ginny Trousdale, is bringing a whole new art scene to Sydenham. Ginny has turned the upstairs of Trousdale’s General Store into a studio/workshop space, while across the street, the Mill Street Gallery presently holds a fascinating group exhibit of encaustic work by eight area artists.

Encaustic is an ancient technique: paintings are built up with layers of melted, coloured beeswax. The resulting pictures are brilliantly coloured, with a luminous, transparent quality. As part of the show opening, Alana offered a day-long introductory encaustic workshop upstairs at Trousdale’s, and had to add a second session to accommodate all the applicants. Both days, participants enjoyed lunch provided by Pat at the Mill Street Café.

The Dawsons’ Desert Lake Gardens headquarters in Sydenham includes office, storage and kitchen space, as well as a restaurant. After a more ambitious beginning, the restaurant has cut back to serving dinner Saturday evenings, and catering special events. It is an attractive space, but Pat was looking for some way to dress up the empty walls when Alana Kapell, an Inverary-area artist, asked whether she could show some of her work there. Before long, Pat and Alana developed the idea of using the restaurant area as a gallery: Pat would provide the space and staffing for the gallery hours, and Alana would organize the shows. It didn’t take long to find the artists: this area is rich with artists who are eager to find places to show their work: the gallery is already booked for all of next year, and is now accepting exhibition proposals for solo or group exhibits in 2011.

Now, on Saturday nights from 5 to 9, Mill Street operates as a café, serving three-course meals featuring fresh, local produce, while Tuesday to Thursday from 10-4, the restaurant dining room is open as an art gallery. The present encaustic show will run till the end of December, and a new show will open in early February featuring Keith Skelton’s work, entitled "Photographs on Things Girls Do."

Meanwhile, Ginny Trousdale had been looking for some way to make different use of the space above her store. An artist herself, she developed the idea of a studio space that could be available for small groups to use for workshops. The room is ideal for anyone who can manage a short flight of stairs. It has two north windows and one east, good track lighting and lots of electrical outlets.

Presently, Ginny’s not charging rent for the upstairs workshop space, but it will not be open during the cold months, because it’s a hard place to heat. Anyone interested in holding a workshop there, should submit their proposal to Ginny at Trousdale’s General Store, 613-376-7622.

The Mill Street Gallery’s objectives include: to offer a venue to exhibit two dimensional work of a professional quality done by Sydenham and area visual artists, to provide an accessible venue which encourages the appreciation and development of all arts in Sydenham and area, to generate public interest and facilitate dialogue among artists and audiences, and to encourage the development of young artists in the community. Artists will not be charged a fee or commission, but are responsible for their own advertising, events, etc. May 05, 2010 is the deadline for submissions for 2011, and further details can be found at: http://millstreetgallery.blogspot.com.