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Art lovers hit the streets for crafty show in Blenheim – Chatham Daily News

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David Fife had a lot of time on his hands after the shutdown began in March, so he picked up a paint brush.

David Fife of Chatham, Ont., shows his painting Beached Buddies at Discover Art Blenheim in Blenheim, Ont., on Saturday, Aug. 15, 2020. Mark Malone/Chatham Daily News/Postmedia Network

BLENHEIM – David Fife had a lot of time on his hands after the shutdown began in March, so he picked up a paint brush.

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The retired Siemens worker from Chatham displayed his work Saturday during the first Discover Art Blenheim show and sale.

“I’ve enjoyed it,” said Fife, 68. “I’ve enjoyed painting for quite a long time now, but now I’m going to get more serious about it and see how it goes. There’s an awful lot of people that still like original art.”

If not for the COVID-19 pandemic, he probably wouldn’t have been at the show. He created approximately 75 per cent of the paintings at his booth since March.

The Blenheim Rotary Club and its Talbot Trail Place park also found a silver lining in the pandemic that’s led to the cancellation of most summer events.

When their annual Art in the Park show had to be called off, club officials adapted by setting up 41 artists and craftspeople at 22 locations around town.

Some artists were on their own front lawns, while volunteers offered their homes to out-of-towners.

“The public’s been unbelievable,” said Fife, whose company is DFife Art. “… It’s been non-stop, all day long. It’s been great. I couldn’t believe how many (people). “

Organizer Debbie Brush estimated 800 to 1,000 people turned out.

They began the tour by picking up a map at Talbot Trail Place and also received a passport that could be stamped by each artist. Everyone with 20 stamps was eligible for a $100 prize draw.

“It’s been a wonderful day,” said Bonnie Kyle of Bonnie’s Handmade Creations. “The people have been fantastic. I think everybody’s been waiting to be able to visit and gather. It’s nice to be able to have a craft show again.”

Kyle’s crafts included many Christmas decorations. Her favourites were some outdoor snowman signs.

“I enjoyed doing the snowman because it made you feel cooler when you were painting,” she said, laughing.

Kyle’s daughter, Christina Bertrand, was selling items from her CB Creative Concepts store in Glencoe. Decorative face masks were the hot items.

“I didn’t want to do them for the first several months,” said Bertrand, a Blenheim native. “I refused. ‘Not doing them. I don’t sell very well. Not happening. This is going to be over soon.’ But it didn’t.

“Now I’ve sold over 800 pieces. I’ve sold almost a hundred today alone.”

Like Fife, Bertrand has made the best of a bad situation during the pandemic. She said more people are shopping at local retailers than before.

“When we reopened after the government said non-essential business can start re-establishing again, I thought I’d have long days with no business, and I’ve been busy non-stop,” she said. “This has given our communities an opportunity to shop local and learn what’s local in their own areas.

“I’ve been two years open and I’ve had so many people go through the doors going, ‘When did you get here?’ It’s been a great opportunity.”

Beth Green of Chatham doesn’t have a shop, but she does have a Facebook page for Beth Green’s Treats & Treasures to promote everything she crochets, knits and sews.

“A lot of it is my own design and creation,” she said. “I try very hard to stay original and true to myself. That way if you buy something from me, you know where to find me and come back and get whatever you’d like again.”

She had good sales at the show, quickly selling out of flamingo drink cozies.

“I’m quite pleased with the turnout,” Green said. “It’s a different adventure from what I’m used to. We usually have the event down in the park. This was like a treasure hunt on its own.”

She was on Nichols Drive, a few doors down from Bernadette Lobbestael of My Pottery Creations.

“I thought I wouldn’t get many people being down at the end of a road, but it’s very busy. Extremely busy,” Lobbestael said.

“And I’ve checked with the patrons and they don’t seem to mind it. They don’t mind walking the street,” she said with a laugh.

Lobbestael had eight shows lined up this summer. All but one were cancelled because of the pandemic.

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Turner Prize shortlist includes art showcasing Scottish Sikh community

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A Scottish artist who uses cars, worship bells and Irn-Bru in her work is among the nominees for this year’s Turner Prize.

Glasgow-born Jasleen Kaur’s work reflects her life growing up in the city’s Sikh community.

She is up for the prestigious art award, now in its 40th year, alongside Pio Abad, Claudette Johnson and Delaine Le Bas.

Turner Prize jury chairman Alex Farquharson described it as a “fantastic shortlist of artists”

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Works by the nominated artists will go on show at London’s Tate Britain gallery from 25 September.

They will receive £10,000 each, while the winner, to be announced on 3 December, will get £25,000.

In a statement, Farquharson said: “All four make work that is full of life.

“They show how contemporary art can fascinate, surprise and move us, and how it can speak powerfully of complex identities and memories, often through the subtlest of details.

“In the Turner Prize’s 40th year, this shortlist proves that British artistic talent is as rich and vibrant as ever.”

The shortlisted artists are:

Pio Abad

Pio AbadPio Abad
[Pio Abad]
Pio Abad's installationPio Abad's installation
[Hannah Pye/Ashmolean]

Manila-born Abad’s solo exhibition To Those Sitting in Darkness at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford included drawings, etchings and sculptures that combined to “ask questions of museums”, according to the jury.

The 40-year-old, who works in London, reflects on colonial history and growing up in the Philippines, where his parents struggled against authoritarianism.

The title of his exhibit is a nod to Mark Twain’s 1901 essay To the Person Sitting In Darkness, which hit out at imperialism.

Jasleen Kaur

Jasleen KaurJasleen Kaur
[Robin Christian]
Jasleen Kaur's installationJasleen Kaur's installation
[Keith Hunter]

Kaur is on the list for Alter Altar at Tramway, Glasgow, which included family photos, an Axminster carpet, a classic Ford Escort covered in a giant doily, Irn-Bru and kinetic handbells.

The 37-year-old, who lives in London, had previously showcased her work at the Victoria and Albert Museum by looking at popular Indian cinema.

Delaine Le Bas

Delaine Le BasDelaine Le Bas
[Tara Darby]
Delaine Le Bas's installationDelaine Le Bas's installation
[Iris Ranzinger]

Worthing-born Le Bas is nominated for an exhibition titled Incipit Vita Nova. Here Begins The New Life/A New Life Is Beginning. Staged at the Secession art institute in Vienna, Austria, it saw painted fabrics hung, with theatrical costumes and sculptures also part of the exhibit.

The 58-year-old artist was inspired by the death of her grandmother and the history of the Roma people.

The jury said they “were impressed by the energy and immediacy present in this exhibition, and its powerful expression of making art in a time of chaos”.

Claudette Johnson

Claudette JohnsonClaudette Johnson
[Anne Tetzlaff]
Claudette Johnson's installationClaudette Johnson's installation
[David Bebber]

Manchester-born Johnson has been given the nod for her solo exhibition Presence at the Courtauld Gallery in London, and Drawn Out at Ortuzar Projects, New York.

She uses portraits of black women and men in a combination of pastels, gouache and watercolour, and was praised by the judges for her “sensitive and dramatic use of line, colour, space and scale to express empathy and intimacy with her subjects”.

Johnson, 65, was appointed an MBE in 2022 after being named on the New Year Honours list for her services to the arts.

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Turner Prize: Shortlisted artist showcases Scottish Sikh community

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Turner Prize shortlist includes art showcasing Scottish Sikh community

Jasleen Kaur's installation
Jasleen Kaur’s installation includes a classic Ford Escort covered in a giant doily

A Scottish artist who uses cars, worship bells and Irn-Bru in her work is among the nominees for this year’s Turner Prize.

Glasgow-born Jasleen Kaur’s work reflects her life growing up in the city’s Sikh community.

She is up for the prestigious art award, now in its 40th year, alongside Pio Abad, Claudette Johnson and Delaine Le Bas.

Turner Prize jury chairman Alex Farquharson described it as a “fantastic shortlist of artists”

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Works by the nominated artists will go on show at London’s Tate Britain gallery from 25 September.

They will receive £10,000 each, while the winner, to be announced on 3 December, will get £25,000.

In a statement, Farquharson said: “All four make work that is full of life.

“They show how contemporary art can fascinate, surprise and move us, and how it can speak powerfully of complex identities and memories, often through the subtlest of details.

“In the Turner Prize’s 40th year, this shortlist proves that British artistic talent is as rich and vibrant as ever.”

The shortlisted artists are:

Pio Abad

Pio Abad
Pio Abad's installation

Manila-born Abad’s solo exhibition To Those Sitting in Darkness at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford included drawings, etchings and sculptures that combined to “ask questions of museums”, according to the jury.

The 40-year-old, who works in London, reflects on colonial history and growing up in the Philippines, where his parents struggled against authoritarianism.

The title of his exhibit is a nod to Mark Twain’s 1901 essay To the Person Sitting In Darkness, which hit out at imperialism.

Jasleen Kaur

Jasleen Kaur
Jasleen Kaur's installation

Kaur is on the list for Alter Altar at Tramway, Glasgow, which included family photos, an Axminster carpet, a classic Ford Escort covered in a giant doily, Irn-Bru and kinetic handbells.

The 37-year-old, who lives in London, had previously showcased her work at the Victoria and Albert Museum by looking at popular Indian cinema.

Delaine Le Bas

Delaine Le Bas
Delaine Le Bas's installation

Worthing-born Le Bas is nominated for an exhibition titled Incipit Vita Nova. Here Begins The New Life/A New Life Is Beginning. Staged at the Secession art institute in Vienna, Austria, it saw painted fabrics hung, with theatrical costumes and sculptures also part of the exhibit.

The 58-year-old artist was inspired by the death of her grandmother and the history of the Roma people.

The jury said they “were impressed by the energy and immediacy present in this exhibition, and its powerful expression of making art in a time of chaos”.

Claudette Johnson

Claudette Johnson
Claudette Johnson's installation

Manchester-born Johnson has been given the nod for her solo exhibition Presence at the Courtauld Gallery in London, and Drawn Out at Ortuzar Projects, New York.

She uses portraits of black women and men in a combination of pastels, gouache and watercolour, and was praised by the judges for her “sensitive and dramatic use of line, colour, space and scale to express empathy and intimacy with her subjects”.

Johnson, 65, was appointed an MBE in 2022 after being named on the New Year Honours list for her services to the arts.

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Claudette Johnson’s art for Cotton Capital nominated for Turner prize

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Claudette Johnson has been nominated for this year’s Turner prize for her work, which includes a portrait of the African-American slavery abolitionist Sarah Parker Remond commissioned as part of the Guardian’s award-winning Cotton Capital series.

Pio Abad, Johnson, Jasleen Kaur and Delaine Le Bas will compete for the £25,000 prize, while the nominated artists will each collect £10,000 as the prize returns to Tate Britain for the first time in six years.

Colonialism, migration, nationalism and identity politics are the key themes running through the 40th edition of the Turner prize, which the jury described as showing contemporary British art “is appealing and dynamic as ever”.

Alex Farquharson, the director of Tate Britain and chair of the Turner prize jury, said this year’s nominees were exploring ideas of identity and would be exhibited from 25 September, before the jury’s final choice.

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He said: “This year’s shortlisted artists can be broadly characterised as exploring questions of identity, autobiography, community and the self in relation to memory, or history or myth.”

Four paintings of people on grey gallery wall

The Turner prize, regarded as one of the art world’s most prestigious awards, is presented to an artist born or working in Britain for an outstanding exhibition or presentation of their work over the previous year.

Abad was nominated for his solo exhibition To Those Sitting in Darkness at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, with the jury commenting on the “precision and elegance” of his work, which takes its title from a Mark Twain poem of a similar name that critiques American imperialism the Philippines, his homeland.

The show also contains references to the Benin Bronzes, after Abad discovered that the punitive expedition of 1897 – during which British troops sacked Benin City and looted thousands of objects, of which about 900 are in the British Museum’ – set off from his home, Woolwich, in south London.

Red Ford Escort in gallery with doily on top

Johnson was nominated for her solo Presence exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery, which the Guardian said “brilliantly questions depictions of non-white figures by such revered painters as Gauguin and Picasso”. She was also recognised for her New York show, Drawn Out, at Ortuzar Projects, which included her Redmond portrait.

She is the latest black female artist who emerged in the Black Art Movement of the 1980s to be recognised by the Turner prize, following in the footsteps of Lubaina Himid (2017 winner) and Veronica Ryan (2022), while Ingrid Pollard and Barbara Walker have both been nominated.

The jury said Johnson had been nominated because of the “renewal of her practice”, after she stopped making work in the 1990s, and the fact she was still “taking risks and trying new forms of practice”.

Kaur’s work in the exhibition Alter Altar, which was shown at Tramway in Glasgow, features sculptures and soundscapes, including a red Ford Escort covered in a huge doily, which references her father’s first car and ideas of migration and belonging in Britain.

Long painted drapes and seated figure

Kaur grew up in Glasgow’s Sikh community in Pollokshields, and the jury said the exhibition was a breakout show that was “generous, celebratory, moving and alive to timely issues, speaking imaginatively to how we might live together in a world increasingly marked by nationalism, division and social control”.

Le Bas’s work, shown at the Vienna Secession exhibition, was described as a “response to social and political turmoil” and includes immersive performance art with theatrical costumes and sculptures.

Farquharson said there was a chance the show may travel to Bradford during its City of Culture year, following the precedent set by Coventry, which hosted the awards in 2021, although that was still “to be confirmed”.

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