The Art by the Water exhibition is set to celebrate its 15th year over the weekend.

For this edition, the event’s proceeds will go towards The Simon Chang Foundation for Change, where Canadian fashion icon, Simon Chang, will then donate the funds to help create “The Sensory Bin Project.”  

“We’re very, very thrilled,” said Audrey Riley, Founder and artist of the vernissage. “We have an amazing amount of artwork to show.”

What started with six friends who painted together, now expanded to this yearly charity event.

“Our first show was extremely successful,” said Riley. “Beyond our wildest dreams and hopes.”

“I love Art by the Water,” explained Valeria Szabo, organizer and artist at Art by the Water. “It helps me, it gives me the opportunity to meet people, artists and the people who come to visit.”

“It also gives me a chance to exhibit my art.”

This year, about 200 paintings will be displayed and available for sale inside the historic 200-year-old Beaconsfield Yacht Club from local and guest artists.

“What we’ve accomplished in 15 years, it’s been quite amazing,” said Riley. “So proud that we’re partnering with Simon Chang this year.”

“And for such a good cause,” she added. “Such a worthy charity.”

“I have a foundation, and I love children, I love to inspire people,” said Chang. “This is why I think this is the perfect collaboration.”

A collaboration that will make these bins possible.

The bins will be created by students at Côte Saint-Luc’s Wager Adult Education Centre — then given to other students within the English Montreal School Board (EMSB).

“These are things that (…) children, adults use to help self-regulate their emotions,” said Louise Panet-Raymond, teacher at the Wagar Adult Education Centre.

“This is something that they could go to the back of the class, where the bin will be, with the teacher’s permission, and be able to take out an object and just help them self-regulate, bring them back to a comfortable place emotionally,” she added.

“Some (objects) are squishy, some are very just tactile for different feelings, some are more visual in nature.”

“We all have different needs,” explained Panet-Raymond. “For students, it’s all about self-regulating those emotions and bringing them back to a calmer space.”

The three day ‘art gallery’ happening from April 26 to 28 is open to all, and free to attend.

Donations of any amount are encouraged –- while the artists will give a percentage of their sales to Chang’s foundation — whose philanthropic efforts began in 1986 — and his fashion career this year, celebrating five decades.

“Let’s inspire the young children,” said Chang. “They are our future.”

“I want to collaborate with things that we can inspire them to become better citizens.”

From traditional to mixed media and abstract art –- all Art by the Water visitors will automatically be entered to win one of three paintings, and have a chance to meet Chang, while contributing to the cause.

“Please come and visit us,” said Riley. “And see the wonderful art.”

Art by the Water at the Beaconsfield Yatch Club:

April 26 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

April 27 & 28 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

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The Sault Ste. Marie Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council (MYAC) is seeking submissions and potential performers for the MYAC Art Gala, titled Pastel Palette: a Picnic of Creativity to be held May 11.

MYAC is looking for submissions of visual art and photography by local artists between the ages of 13 and 25, along with potential performers interested in participating in the event, the city said in a release.

Inquires and submissions can be directed to [email protected]. The deadline is May 8.

“I encourage local youth to get involved with the gala and to considering participating or attending,” said Mayor Matthew Shoemaker. “It is a fantastic opportunity for artists and performers in our community to showcase their talents and gain valuable experience, and I want to recognize MYAC for their continued advocacy for young members of our community.”

The theme for the gala is pastel colours. The event will be held May 11 at the Ermatinger Clergue National Historic Site from 1 to 4 p.m.

Tickets are $20 per person (includes appetizers and signature mocktails) with proceeds going to SOYA (Save Our Young Adults) From Drug Abuse.

“I am thrilled to announce the upcoming Youth Art Gala, a celebration that not only showcases the vibrant artistic talent of Sault Ste. Marie but also serves as a powerful platform to engage and empower our youth,” said Jordan Barone, MYAC co-chair.

“This gala is a testament to our community’s commitment to nurturing creativity and providing meaningful opportunities for young artists to shine. I invite everyone to submit art of all forms and join us in celebrating the immense potential of our youth at this inspiring event.”

“Attention all young and talented artists. We’re thrilled to announce an incredible opportunity designed specifically for you,” added Erin Swan, MYAC co-chair. “I am excited to see the amazing art from the community. Get ready to unleash your creativity and make your mark in the art world.

“Don’t miss out on this exciting chance to showcase your unique talent and connect with fellow young artists. Join us on this artistic journey and let your creativity shine.”

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A trio plays a cover of The Eagles hit Take it Easy as a dozen people settle in for an intimate open mic night inside Derrick McCandless and Dawn Mills’s cozy spot off highways 6 and 68 in Manitoba’s Interlake.

Strings of antique-style light bulbs cast a soft glow over the mandolin, banjo and dobro guitar that hang on a wall behind the band. An array of pottery shaped in-house by Mills dots the shelves behind the audience.

The Eriksdale Music & Custom Frame Shop is full of tchotchkes — like an Elvis Presley Boulevard street sign and vintage Orange Crush ad — that create the rustic country-living vibe the couple dreamt up before buying and transforming the vacant space over the past three years.

“I have met so many people in this community through them that I probably wouldn’t have … because of this hub,” says Mills’s cousin Dana-Jo Burdett. 

Mills and McCandless are bringing people together in their rural community in more ways than one — though a return to Mills’s hometown wasn’t always in the cards.

The couple met in Winnipeg in 2011 while McCandless was playing a party at Mills’s cousin’s place. They had plans to settle in the Okanagan in McCandless’s home province of B.C. until he suffered a health scare. After that, they decided to head back to the Prairies.

WATCH | McCandless and Mills channel creative spirit into Eriksdale community:

Couple transform Manitoba Interlake community into music, art hub

11 hours ago

Duration 4:07

Dawn Mills and Derrick McCandless host the RogerKimLee Music Festival in the Manitoba Interlake community of Eriksdale. They also turned a long-vacant space in town into a live music venue, instrument repair and sales store, and pottery and framing services shop.

It was the height of the pandemic in fall 2020 when the pair relocated to Eriksdale, about 130 km northwest of Winnipeg. They bought the old Big Al’s shop, once a local sharpening business that was sitting vacant.

“He was an icon in the community. He was a school teacher. He did a drama program here,” said Mills. “He brought a lot to the town.”

The building has become their own personal playground and live-in studio.

“It keeps evolving and we keep changing it and every room has to serve multi-function,” says Mills. “It’s a meeting place.”

While they love the quiet life of their community, they’re also a busy couple.

McCandless is a multi-instrumentalist with a former career in the Armed Forces that took him all over. Now, he’s a shop teacher in Ashern who sells and fixes instruments out of the music shop.

WATCH | McCandless plays an original song:

Derrick McCandless plays an original tune at music shop in Eriksdale, Man.

19 hours ago

Duration 3:01

Derrick McCandless plays one of his original songs on acoustic guitar at the Eriksdale Music & Custom Frame Shop in March 2024.

Mills helped found Stoneware Gallery in 1978 — the longest running pottery collective in Canada. She offers professional framing services and sells pottery creations that she throws in-studio.

They put on open mic nights and host a summer concert series on a stage next door they built together themselves. They’re trying to start up a musicians memorial park in Eriksdale too.

One of their bigger labours of love is in honour of McCandless’s good friends Roger Leonard Young, David Kim Russell and Tony “Leon” — or Lee — Oreniuk. All died within months of each other in 2020-2021.

“That was a heart-wrenching year,” McCandless says.

They channeled their grief into something good for the community and started the RogerKimLee Music Festival.

Friends from Winnipeg and the Interlake helped them put on a weekend of “lovely music, lovely food, lovely companionship” as a sort of heart-felt send off, said Mills.

That weekend it poured rain. Festival-goers ended up in soggy dog piles on the floor of the music shop to dry out while Mills and McCandless cooked them sausages and eggs to warm up.

“It was just a great weekend,” says McCandless. “At the end of that, that Sunday, we just said that’s it, we got to do this.”

Mills says the homey community spirit on display during that inaugural year is what the couple has been trying to “encourage in people getting together” ever since.

The festival has grown to include a makers’ market, car show, kids activities, workshops, camping, beer gardens, good food and live music.

This summer, Manitoba acts The Solutions, Sweet Alibi and The JD Edwards Band are on the lineup Aug. 16-18.

Burdett has been a part of the growth, helping with branding, social media and marketing. McCandless and Mills’s habit of bringing people together has also rubbed off on Burdett.

“There’s more of my people out here than I thought, and I am very grateful for that,” says Burdett.

Their efforts to breathe new artistic life into Eriksdale caught the attention of their local MLA. 

“The response from family and friend and community has been outstanding,” Derek Johnston (Interlake-Gimli) said during question period at the Manitoba Legislature in March.

“The RogerKimLee Music Festival believes music to be a powerful force for positive social change.”

Dolly Lindell, who has lived in Eriksdale for about three decades, said the couple is adding something valuable that wasn’t quite there before.

“There’s a lot of people that we didn’t even know had musical talent and aspirations and this has definitely helped bring it out,” Lindell says from the audience as McCandless, Dave Greene and Mark Chuchie wrap their rendition of Take it Easy.

McCandless, 61, said there was a time in his youth where he dreamed of a becoming a folk music star. Now his musical ambitions have changed. He’s focused on using that part of himself to bring people together.

“I think it’s that gift that I was given that that needs to be shared,” he says. “I don’t think I could live without sharing it.”

WATCH | Trio plays song at Eriksdale music shop:

Trio plays intimate show to small crowd at Eriksdale music shop

11 hours ago

Duration 2:40

Derrick McCandless, Dave Greene and Mark Chuchie play a cover of The Eagles hit Take it Easy at McCandless and Dawn Mills’s music shop in Eriksdale in March 2024.

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