Huntsville Festival of the Arts (HfA) celebrates its 30th anniversary this year with 30 shows and events lined up for its summer season.
Among those are several public art projects, including the return of the Group of Seven canoe murals and the popular Play Me, I’m All Yours piano.
HfA executive director Dan Watson was before Huntsville’s general committee seeking the municipality’s support via free use of public spaces for these projects.
“Our public art activities are…free and they’re an accessible point of contact that can spark the interest in appreciation in the arts, which is part of our mandate. We also feel that some of these public art activities enhance the visitor experience and Huntsville’s brand as a creative community and they contribute greatly to the cultural vibrancy of our town,” said Watson.
The art projects planned for this year are:
Group of Seven canoe murals: Artist Gerry Lantaigne, who initiated the Group of Seven Outdoor Gallery, will lead a group of other local artists in the creation of seven more canoe murals between June 21‐26 in River Mill Park. The 2021 canoe murals will be on display in the park from June 1-30, followed by the new 2022 murals from June 27 through October 1.
Kareen’s wellie garden: This garden, featuring painted boots filled with flowers, was created by friends of Kareen Burns in her memory. Burns was a former member of the HfA board of directors and a strong advocate for the arts, in particular fringe activities. The boots will be displayed at the pergola gardens in River Mill Park from June 1 to October 1.
Play Me, I’m All Yours piano: A working piano will be painted by local artists Natasha and Naomi Banks, in a motif celebrating the HfA’s 30th anniversary. The piano is placed in Civic Square in front of the Algonquin Theatre from May 20 to September 30 for any passerby to play.
“We’re really thankful for the partnership that we have with the Town of Huntsville in so many respects,” said Watson. “It’s a model for how arts organizations and municipalities can work together.”
Several councillors expressed support for the projects, as well as the overall work the not-for-profit Festival does in the community.
“I truly believe these are the things that makes Huntsville punch above its weight,” said Deputy Mayor Nancy Alcock, echoing a comment made by a friend who visited Huntsville and HfA’s Snow Village last winter.
Councillors Brian Thompson, Tim Withey, and Jonathan Wiebe also said they support the art initiatives.
“I want to thank the Festival and yourself for the things that you do, especially the free things you do for the community,” said Mayor Karin Terziano. “That’s a benefit to everybody and I think any way we can help with that, we should.”
Committee agreed to waive the park permit fees for these projects.
HfA has 22 shows scheduled at the Algonquin Theatre in July and August this year, noted Watson, in addition to shows at other venues and events in the community, including the return of Nuit Blanche North on July 23.
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
