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2nd Arts & Artisans show coming to Hockley Village

September 29, 2017   ·   0 Comments

By Constance Scrafield

Over the Thanksgiving Weekend, the Arts and Artisans Show and Sale will take place in the Hockley Village for the second year. The venue is the Seniors and Community Hall in the village just south of the Hockley General Store at 994174 Mono-Adjala Townline. The Community Centre stands beside the historic Hockley United Church.

Catherine Howard, the organizer and founder of the show, has enthusiastically steeped herself into the arts scene here in Orangeville since she has been living in town. An artist always at school as a girl and young woman, she found little time for it during the mothering years of raising her children, giving in to all life’s distractions as many wives and mothers do.

In addition, she was running her own shop, a retail business for nearly 40 years in Kingston where she and her family lived. After so many years, she and her husband decided to shut the business down and move closer to their daughter, who lives in Bolton. They moved to  Orangeville, which they love, with its beautiful heritage buildings and interesting history.

“Such a hub of the arts,” she declared. “It’s wonderful.”

So, in these last few years, she has returned to her love of being an artist and has been busy painting and becoming involved with arts organizations. Last year, she wanted to put together an art show and, when she saw the Community Centre in Hockley, decided it was just right for the purpose.

Her praise for the hall was fulsome: “When I happened upon the Hockley Community Centre, I could instantly see what a wonderful venue it was. It exudes history, the lighting is great with the windows all around with a reasonably high ceiling. The stage in the building is a perfect place to stand some of the art, so when people come they see them and the mood is set.”

She was impressed with the importance of the hall’s history and that of Hockley Village. “These historical buildings deserve to be cared for,” she asserted. “Janice Mason is doing a super job of keeping the hall in use to support it.”

Ms. Howard’s determination to hold an art show came from feeling strongly “that Orangeville is one of the richest areas for artists of all kinds, yet there are very limited venues for them to display and sell their work.”

This year’s show features Ms. Howard herself, Emilia Perri (Maggiolly’s), B.J. Thompson, Marion Morgan, Robert Chisholm, Yvonne De Viller and Peter Dusek.

The charm in this gathering of artists is the diversity of their work. Paintings, oil and watercolour, jewellery, pebble art, stained glass, photography by multi-award winning Peter Dusek, prints and cards are all among the attractions.

There will be, as last year, hot apple cider and lots of laughs with the company.

It is all very well for there to be an annual show in Hockley village and shows elsewhere around the Headwaters region but what about a permanent Art Gallery belonging to the town?

“I feel that there needs to be more venues,” Ms Howard submitted. “I would like to see a permanent venue in downtown Orangeville.”

Summing up aspirations for this year’s show, “The best part last year was that people came and stayed in the hall and had fun. Last year, the artists were very happy with how well they did in Hockley. We hope it will be like that again this year.”   

The 2nd Annual Art and Artisans’ Show and Sale at the Hockley Seniors and Community will take place on October 7, 8 and 9. Doors open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

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