Art Westmount 2006 nurtures the creative spirit

Until this weekend.

This Saturday and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The City of Westmount will bring to its residents the first Art Westmount 2006, a weekend dedicated to the city’s artists.

Some of the 44 artists will exhibit their work in public shows and local businesses. Others will open the doors to their studios and workshops, and even their homes to the community to celebrate their work and give insight into the artistic process and profession.

The tour begins at Victoria Hall where visitors will collect their map-brochures before heading out on the walking tour. They can begin at the Gallery at Victoria Hall where Claude Hazanvickus is hosting his present exhibition. Upstairs a group exhibition of familiar artists will be hosted in the Salle Prud’homme.

Then to the streets of the City itself, where participants will find exhibitions in local businesses along the main routes of Sherbrooke Street and Victoria Avenue and in the studios tucked into homes.

Susie Fairbrother will exhibit three new works at the Second Cup café at Claremont and Sherbrooke, while Bruce Roberts—with the consent of his wife—will open up his home on Irvine Avenue, where guests will be able to see him at work on his latest project that focuses on his latest subject—pigeons.

A few blocks over on Melville Avenue first time exhibitor and interior decorative painter by profession Irene Marconi will exhibit her easel work canvases that feature Italian landscapes and still lifes in her home studio. Barbara Asgary will exhibit her abstracts at the Complex de Canal Lachine on St. Ambroise. And everywhere in between the artists will be welcoming visitors for the first time ever. Even the office of the Westmount Examiner itself will be open to the public as editor and artist Wayne Larsen will be exhibiting some of his landscapes.

The unjuried event was opened to all interested artists who work in all media in Westmount. Seven senior artists who live in Place Kensington and participate in the senior residence’s watercolour class got together to open the senior residence to the public to view their work.

The idea for the autumn city walk was conceived during an informal conversation between visitors at a vernissage at the Victoria Hall Gallery last spring. Artist Daniela Zekina, city councilor Nicole Forbes, commissioner of recreation and community events, Melville Avenue resident Richard Troll, Virginia Elliot, assistant coordinator for community events in Westmount, artist Jennifer Goddard and a few others were discussing just how many talented artists there are in Westmount and how it would be interesting for the public to see where and how they work and have the opportunity to discuss their work with them.

Last June they formed a committee and just a few months later have put together an exciting weekend. Billed as a nice way for the community to get out and enjoy a fall weekend while getting to know their artists, the walking tour is open to the public for no charge. Just show up at Victoria Hall either Saturday or Sunday and enjoy the tour.

To identify the artists, each one was assigned a number that corresponds on the map. That number was printed on a poster that will be posted outside the studio, home or business where the artist is exhibiting.

For more information on the tour, call 514-925-1403.