Arts Trail, Final Stops

It’s official, as of today, thanks to visits to Peta Hall Gallery and Round the Bend Gallery, I’ve been to every gallery and artist studio on Prince Edward County’s Arts Trail. The tour, which has spanned many months, has truly been a journey of discovery and I look forward to repeating it often.

At Peta’s, I caught the artist working on a bowl on her potter’s wheel. Despite the interruption she kindly took the time to walk me through her studio and to talk about her participation in Clay, an exhibit that opens tomorrow evening (Saturday, June 13) at Blizzmax gallery in South Bay.

For the show, African-born Peta created a number of works inspired by her travels to places like Burma, Mozambique and Tanzania, which she says are more sculptural than a lot of her other work. In the shape of huts and houses, many of them wood fired, she explained that they act as a sort of meditation on the question of “where is home.” (Clay runs until June 28. For info call 613.476.7730.)

Not far outside of Picton, along the shores of Picton Bay, artist Andrew Innes’ gallery is situated on his lovely tree-ringed property. The setting is peaceful and must be inspirational. Indeed, one of Andrew’s assemblages (three dimensional mixed media constructions) that I admired was clearly inspired by the view.

At his intimate gallery, Andrew shows his own vivid watercolours, pencil drawings and assemblages along with sculptures by Bunny Bates and works by Kingston-based glass artists, Mariel Waddell and Mischka Hunter.

If you attended the Quinte Arts Council's annual juried show, Expressions 2009, you might recognize Andrew’s works as he won the Juror's Choice Award for his work entitled Waiting and Wondering.