New Boundaries in Windsor is a non-profit organization that usually provides learning opportunities for mentally-challenged adults. Now they are opening the garden gates for everyone to participate in their current project and hoping public interest in their new community garden will grow.
Called the "No Boundaries Community Garden", Windsor and county residents are invited to take ownership of one of the 27 raised-bed allotments that will be available this spring on New Boundaries' property. Each space will have wooden boundaries to improve overall garden management, but the project name means there are no restrictions on who can participate.
Working in conjunction with the West Hants / Uniacke Community Health Board, the group recently invited residents to a planning meeting to explain the project and gauge interest. Half of the spaces are now assigned and three additional spaces are being created specifically for New Boundaries to help improve the centre’s nutrition and local food delivery.
Milbury says the idea stemmed from some of the Community Health Board members wanting to support a project that would yield a wide range of health and social benefits for participants. "Gardening is obviously a great way to support physical activity and produce cost-effective healthy, local food. It helps people pay more attention to what they are eating,” says Milbury.
“Participants can share each other’s bounties and knowledge, and also have a great social activity where they are learning as they go.”
It’s also a great opportunity for those who usually engage in solo gardening at home to branch out. “If I am in the garden working by myself sometimes I feel alone and abandon it for some other activity to be with others,” says Milbury.
“You can enjoy tending to your garden while being social and reap all the benefits that go with that.”
Project Co-ordinator Jessica Moore adds some residents may not be able to afford to manage a garden alone, or have a brown thumb and want some mentoring to improve without having to fork over a lot of start up cash. “This is a perfect way for them to dig in,” she says.
Moore also hopes to see some school-age children participating in the project to help raise awareness of nutrition and physical
activity for those children who may not have an interest in sports. “It’s also about helping to grow their confidence. “Growing your own vegetables gives one an enormous sense of accomplishment that
usually comes with the temptation to eat them.”
With a variety of ages participating, the opportunities to share traditional gardening methods rooted in Hants County also increase. “Historically local families are growers. They have a lot of farming and harvesting expertise in their families that would benefit future generations and promote local food security,” said Moore.
The community gardens will be organic, which means no use of any synthetic additive in a raised-bed soil in favour of organic
fertilizers, leaf mould, compost and compost teas to feed the soil. Non-pressure treated lumber will also be used to create the beds and a shed will be constructed to securely store garden tools.
And, yes, the project’s tart-up funding did originate from a Community Development Grant (SEED funds) provided by the community ealth board. A group in Hantsport also got some funding from the board to help establish a community garden near Churchill House. Milbury anticipates the funding will cover a third of the Windsor garden's expected costs so the Centre will be hoping for an influx of financial “green” to cover the rest. The project committee will soon begin consulting with local landscaping companies and suppliers to assess resources and donations in kind. Members of the community are also encouraged to donate materials and garden tools they no longer have a need for.
Contact Sandra Milbury, West Hants/Uniacke Health Board or Jessica Moore at 798-2210 for more information.
Submitted by Heather Desveaux
Do you have a creative story to share about our local community? Reviews of art shows, plays or cultural events? If so please send your article and any photos along to hcacfestivalofart@gmail.com and we will help to spread the word!
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Thursday, March 8, 2012
The Smell of Art is in the Air!
Many of us artists and artisans are relieved by winters arrival because it means a break from the constant back and forth between production and sales. This time allows us a chance to relax and experiment again, taking us down new paths, creating brand new work. After several months of a slightly more relaxed schedule I know that I suddenly have the spring itch to get out there and show the world what I've been making during my hibernation.
One event that has been creating a great deal of excitement locally is the Avondale Art Fair. This juried show will be accepting 100 artists for their one day outdoor event being held in pastoral Newport Landing, overlooking the Avon River and its spectacular tidal bore. On Saturday, June 16th this charming little village will burgeon into the best art fair venue around! The organizers are looking to showcase exceptional artwork that will include paintings, jewelry, pottery, glass, sculpture, fiber, leather, photography and more! DEADLINE MARCH 15th 
Another event I'm personally really looking forward to is the 2nd Annual Art vs Craft, taking place in Halifax July 21st & 22nd at the Forum. This show is for the more quirky creative folks, like myself, who might be a little bit out there with our creations. Since this show is held in such a large space it has the ability to feature a wide variety of artists and there will definitely be an emphasis placed on including really unique creations. DEADLINE MARCH 23
Another wonderful local show, now in it's 14th year, is The Great Little Art Show. This 3 day show running April 27th-April 29th has proven itself an important means for promoting visual arts in West Hants, creating a venue for both professional and novice artists to display and sell their work in a semi-formal environment. Sales of the exhibits provide the Avon River Heritage Society with the needed capital it requires to keep the museum operating from year to year. DEADLINE APRIL 10th
This spring there are a lot of local great shows scheduled and many have application deadlines coming up quickly.
With only 1 day left to apply, interested young folks should get themselves in motion for a chance to take part in a Gifted Young Artist Retreat hosted by Ross Creek Centre for the Arts. The centre is inviting talented high school students to apply for a unique opportunity for young Nova Scotian artists to collaborate across the arts. Nova Scotia educators (including the Department of Education and the NS Teachers Union) will be holding a Summit on Gifted Education and Talent Development at Mount St. Vincent University on May 23–25. Ross Creek Centre for the Arts is inviting NS high school aged arts students to apply for a week-long experience to collaborate with their peers under professional guidance, culminating in a presentation at the Summit. This is an amazing opportunity for young creative individuals! If this sounds like a perfect fit for you, then quick, ask a teacher and and an artist for their endorsement so you can take advantage of this amazing experience! DEADLINE MARCH 9th
One event that has been creating a great deal of excitement locally is the Avondale Art Fair. This juried show will be accepting 100 artists for their one day outdoor event being held in pastoral Newport Landing, overlooking the Avon River and its spectacular tidal bore. On Saturday, June 16th this charming little village will burgeon into the best art fair venue around! The organizers are looking to showcase exceptional artwork that will include paintings, jewelry, pottery, glass, sculpture, fiber, leather, photography and more! DEADLINE MARCH 15th
Another event I'm personally really looking forward to is the 2nd Annual Art vs Craft, taking place in Halifax July 21st & 22nd at the Forum. This show is for the more quirky creative folks, like myself, who might be a little bit out there with our creations. Since this show is held in such a large space it has the ability to feature a wide variety of artists and there will definitely be an emphasis placed on including really unique creations. DEADLINE MARCH 23
Another wonderful local show, now in it's 14th year, is The Great Little Art Show. This 3 day show running April 27th-April 29th has proven itself an important means for promoting visual arts in West Hants, creating a venue for both professional and novice artists to display and sell their work in a semi-formal environment. Sales of the exhibits provide the Avon River Heritage Society with the needed capital it requires to keep the museum operating from year to year. DEADLINE APRIL 10thSo, those of you, like myself who have enjoyed a winter of creating - it is now time to photograph all that work and start applying so that you too can share your creations with everyone else this spring!
Good luck!
Submitted by Tacha Reed, originally posted on www.pistaciapages.blogspot.com
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Local Artistic Opportunities on the Rise
Just in case you missed this article in the last issue of What's Going On? here it is again!
Local Artistic Opportunities on the Rise
BROOKLYN BAKERY TO Host 6-Week ART Show
by Heather Desveaux
It almost goes without saying that artists thrive on opportunities to create, so it is not surprising to learn they also encourage new ways to promote what they produce. Art shows increase opportunities for artists to sell works but also motivate them to create more, according to the President of the Hants County Arts Council, Tacha Reed. "Regular shows give me access to other artists, who in turn provide me with inspiration and a sense of belonging. Both are essential ingredients to my creative process," she says.
Reed credits the annual Great Little Art Show, organized by artist Andrew Fisher, hosted by the Avon River Heritage Society and now in its 14th year, for providing a drawing board for the Arts Council to organize its own annual group show, Festival of Art, now held in October. Reed says the frequency of art shows is very important to artists in rural areas such as Hants County. "In the city it is so easy to go out and make contact with other artists, and living here we are naturally limited to a handful of the art-related functions so the more of these functions we are able to participate in, the better." She adds, "I personally would love to have a hand in creating a constant space for artists to be able to come together to exchange ideas and create."
Reed isn't the only one. In recent memory, the Utata Gallery and Inspire Art School, both artist-run facilities in Windsor, have unfortunately had to close their doors. It's left local artists feeling a little frustrated, but more determined to have a permanent home. After Utata closed, HCAC members tried to find places that would "fit", like the upper level of the Avon Spirit Museum during its summer season, the Fort Edward Gallery, and HCAC member Jaki Durocher's Inspire Art School, where the group held its meetings until it recently closed.
Enter Brooklyn business owner Joan McKenzie. McKenzie, a dairy farmer turned real estate contractor who sought to have a building for community-use when she was planning her bakery business. Located in the former Brooklyn Home Hardware, the turn of the twentieth-century building she purchased features a unique space that needed to be used for something equally appropriate.
McKenzie aptly named her business the Bread Gallery. "I've dabbled in artsy things, but I mostly come from a family of art collectors and admirers," says
McKenzie. "So I thought it would be neat to mix the two together and it seems to be working out so far," she said.
McKenzie intended to start hosting art shows when she opened the bakery last May, but opted to not bite off more than she could chew. The Bread Gallery hosted its first small show in December with two local artists. A larger HCAC show featuring twelve members' works will open on March 9 and run until the last week of April. This way, participating artists can also be in the Great Little Art Show at the ARHS Museum in Newport Landing: a traditional, key fundraiser for the museum being held April 27-29.
Reed says the partnership with the Bread Gallery makes sense because
artists are also entrepreneurs. "Thanks to other local entrepreneurs, like Joan
opening the gallery, Kelly Mitchelmore hosting fundraising events like Paint Windsor, and Kathy Monroe planning the Avondale Art Fair, Hants County
artists now have several opportunities to show and sell their work locally," she says. "Over the last year the HCAC has received a great deal of support from the local community and many other arts and culture-based business have stepped forward to join as members." Last year the group changed the venue for the Festival of Art to the historic Vaughan Shand Centre, another recently renovated historic building intending to promote its own unique blend of personal and community awareness.
With her 1950s Airstream housing her mobile art boutique currently
located in Ellershouse, Reed has her own plans to renovate her garage to an open studio where she will be joined by folk artist Jim Tracey when she re-opens in the spring. "I can't take the Airstream everywhere so it would be nice if we didn't always have to travel such long distances to share our work with the public." - §
Participating artists at The Bread Gallery are:
June Brown
Carlos DaRosa
Dora Davis
Terri Greencorn
Andrea Hardy
Gerald Jank
Carol Morrison
Sharon Olgilvie
Tacha Reed
Sue Robinson
Pauline Sullivan
Jim Tracey
Local Artistic Opportunities on the Rise
BROOKLYN BAKERY TO Host 6-Week ART Show
by Heather Desveaux
It almost goes without saying that artists thrive on opportunities to create, so it is not surprising to learn they also encourage new ways to promote what they produce. Art shows increase opportunities for artists to sell works but also motivate them to create more, according to the President of the Hants County Arts Council, Tacha Reed. "Regular shows give me access to other artists, who in turn provide me with inspiration and a sense of belonging. Both are essential ingredients to my creative process," she says.
Reed credits the annual Great Little Art Show, organized by artist Andrew Fisher, hosted by the Avon River Heritage Society and now in its 14th year, for providing a drawing board for the Arts Council to organize its own annual group show, Festival of Art, now held in October. Reed says the frequency of art shows is very important to artists in rural areas such as Hants County. "In the city it is so easy to go out and make contact with other artists, and living here we are naturally limited to a handful of the art-related functions so the more of these functions we are able to participate in, the better." She adds, "I personally would love to have a hand in creating a constant space for artists to be able to come together to exchange ideas and create."
Reed isn't the only one. In recent memory, the Utata Gallery and Inspire Art School, both artist-run facilities in Windsor, have unfortunately had to close their doors. It's left local artists feeling a little frustrated, but more determined to have a permanent home. After Utata closed, HCAC members tried to find places that would "fit", like the upper level of the Avon Spirit Museum during its summer season, the Fort Edward Gallery, and HCAC member Jaki Durocher's Inspire Art School, where the group held its meetings until it recently closed.
Enter Brooklyn business owner Joan McKenzie. McKenzie, a dairy farmer turned real estate contractor who sought to have a building for community-use when she was planning her bakery business. Located in the former Brooklyn Home Hardware, the turn of the twentieth-century building she purchased features a unique space that needed to be used for something equally appropriate.
McKenzie aptly named her business the Bread Gallery. "I've dabbled in artsy things, but I mostly come from a family of art collectors and admirers," says
McKenzie. "So I thought it would be neat to mix the two together and it seems to be working out so far," she said.
McKenzie intended to start hosting art shows when she opened the bakery last May, but opted to not bite off more than she could chew. The Bread Gallery hosted its first small show in December with two local artists. A larger HCAC show featuring twelve members' works will open on March 9 and run until the last week of April. This way, participating artists can also be in the Great Little Art Show at the ARHS Museum in Newport Landing: a traditional, key fundraiser for the museum being held April 27-29.
Reed says the partnership with the Bread Gallery makes sense because
artists are also entrepreneurs. "Thanks to other local entrepreneurs, like Joan
opening the gallery, Kelly Mitchelmore hosting fundraising events like Paint Windsor, and Kathy Monroe planning the Avondale Art Fair, Hants County
artists now have several opportunities to show and sell their work locally," she says. "Over the last year the HCAC has received a great deal of support from the local community and many other arts and culture-based business have stepped forward to join as members." Last year the group changed the venue for the Festival of Art to the historic Vaughan Shand Centre, another recently renovated historic building intending to promote its own unique blend of personal and community awareness.
With her 1950s Airstream housing her mobile art boutique currently
located in Ellershouse, Reed has her own plans to renovate her garage to an open studio where she will be joined by folk artist Jim Tracey when she re-opens in the spring. "I can't take the Airstream everywhere so it would be nice if we didn't always have to travel such long distances to share our work with the public." - §
Participating artists at The Bread Gallery are:
 |
| HCAC Group Show opening March 9th at The Bread Gallery |
Carlos DaRosa
Dora Davis
Terri Greencorn
Andrea Hardy
Gerald Jank
Carol Morrison
Sharon Olgilvie
Tacha Reed
Sue Robinson
Pauline Sullivan
Jim Tracey
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