Local artists have created interesting fine art, currently on display at the Virden CPR Historical Centre Gallery and throughout the month of May.
Artists with Virden Art Club are displaying their year’s work.
A recent reception in the gallery drew art lovers, friends and family to have a look.
There is fabric art in 3D, as well as more traditional pastels, pencil, oil, acrylic, water colours, and even coffee on canvas. Encaustic art in vivid colours is worked with molten coloured waxes.
Moe Gray creates smooth, large wooden bowls out of a variety of wood that he finds to work with, such as basswood. He had a bowl on display.
Ardith Duffield organizes the club.
About a dozen local artists enjoy painting together throughout the year. The Club meets Tuesday afternoons, upstairs in the Train Station.
Not every week, but occasionally through the year, there are artists invited to inspire and instruct, such as Ron Kalinchuk and Iris Munchinsky who were guest artists this year.
The Club is celebrating 56 years. Recently, numbers have dwindled slightly, but “a few new people are talking about joining,” says
Duffield, who stresses that anyone is welcome to join in the fall. Eleanor Williams has a water colour piece and very showy scratch art on display.
She is also the club’s historian, keeping careful pictorial records of the artwork and their yearly display.
Are the pieces for sale? Some are, but these are painted for the joy of it. Some of the artists look perplexed when they consider selling their pieces, uncertain about what price to put on
their hours of hobby work.
“If you’ll notice this mountain scene, that was one that was done together as a group. None of them turn out the same,” says Betty Bender pointing to a vivid piece.
The eye is drawn to some paintings which turn out to be renditions of Masters, or at least inspired by the famous, such as Vincent Van Gogh.
Leslie Moffatt explains her unusual mixed medium pieces; she uses fabric, thread sketch (on the sewing machine), beads are glued in, a jewelry charm is used, and in one piece, a photo
is incorporated into the art.
