KAC show for all art lovers

DUNROBIN – Earlier this month (Nov. 4 and 5), the Kanata Art Club (KAC) $200 and under sale returned after a three-year hiatus.

The show is back up and running because Karen Horl, KAC show organizer, was keen to revive it after a long pandemic interruption.

“I love dealing with the public and the art is so beautiful,” Horl told West Carleton Online as we spoke at the clubhouse in the former March Valley Public school on Cameron Harvey Drive. “People can get affordable art. The space is rented from the City of Ottawa with lots of free parking and building accessibility. It’s a perfect venue for an art show.”

Attractive to buyers and artists, this non-juried show is open to all KAC members who would like to participate.  It’s a great way for artists new to selling to give it a try. Each artist submits a maximum of nine paintings. There is no need to rent a booth or to generate a large inventory for display which can be a barrier for many artists wanting to sell their art or to enter a show. This year 30 artists participated.

“It takes 30 volunteers to put our show together,” Horl said. “We thank everyone who helped us to make this a successful event.”

“If you are a member of a club, you should volunteer,” KAC member Brenda Beattie said, as she spent her Saturday morning processing sales while another member, Manju Sah carefully wrapped purchases.

“I love art, it inspires me to paint, it’s my club and I want to support it,” member Carmen Renaud said who also volunteered at the show.

The show saw a steady stream of visitors especially on the Saturday. Fifty-one of the 247 paintings on display sold. The post-sale statistics indicated buyers were attracted to a price point of $100 and under.

“Seventy permcent of the artists sold at least one painting,” reported Horl. “The majority of the works were either water colour or acrylic but there was also some pastel and fused glass.”

It was a few days after WCO visited the show we caught up with some local participating artists at their studios so we could learn more about their art and where they work.

 “I never thought people would buy my paintings,” said Dunrobin’s Kathryn Savage of her first art sale. “I didn’t even take any pictures of the works I submitted.” 

In fact, all of her nine paintings sold. Luckily for her, a retrospective of the entire show can be accessed from the KAC website www.kac1.ca . Savage is fairly new to the KAC having learned about the club when she and a friend attended the 2019 version of this sale. She really liked what she saw and followed up by joining the KAC when she moved to the area shortly thereafter.  

Like many, career and family kept art on the back burner for Savage until 15 years ago when she finally found the time to take classes and to paint. She soon found acrylic to be her preferred media with its short drying time and portability of newly created paintings. Her work draws the viewer in with its bold shapes and inviting palette. While her studio boasts a diversity of works from portraiture to abstract she is particularly drawn to prairie landscapes reminiscent of her Manitoba childhood, a subject dear to her heart.

“There is something very special about how the light can make a landscape glow in a way you only see on the prairies,” she said. “The challenge is, blink and you will miss it. I also took courses to be with other painters and be inspired by their work.”

These days Savage participates in the KAC Thursday open studio for the very same reason.

Nestled into the Fitzroy Harbour landscape you will find Janice Johnston’s studio overlooking a nearby creek.

“I can still remember paintings I did when I was in primary school,” Johnston said. “Art has always been in my life, but I did have to pause when I was in school and as I started my career.”

However, art soon caught up with her when she decided to work with water colours.

“In a stressful career it really helped me decompress,” Johnston said.

However, it was when she discovered the world of collage things really shifted.

“Collage is so expansive, and I like breaking the rules,” she said.

Since then she has never looked back – her studio filled with mixed media supplies, paper and the unique elements that will eventually find their way into her compelling collages. Johnson’s other passion is to make hand bound blank journals which feature selected paper fill and beautiful artwork covers. In her mind this is the perfect mix of “art with function.”

Over near Dunrobin, Jennifer Ajersch told West Carleton Online she jumped right into art six years ago as soon as she retired from a career in electrical engineering.

“I think it’s the problem solving that draws me in,” she said. “Engineering or art, there are many questions that need to be answered. I started by painting cows one of my favorite subjects but more recently I have focused on landscape.”

Her studio on the Ottawa river is filled with portraitures, landscapes and still life works – a testament to her productivity and love of her new passion. This past spring was her first venture into sales as she opened her studio for the Red Trillium Tour. 

“It was a fantastic experience,” Ajersch said. People really enjoyed my work and also I got to know a few more of my neighbours.”

Ajersch’s bold lines and strong colours are characteristic of her style, which is certainly well consolidated after a relatively short art career.

“These days I am enjoying the KAC, trying out oil painting with Kathy McNenly in the Friday morning class,” she said.

These days the KAC offers a full program of classes, workshops, open studios, events and opportunities for showing. Currently, there are 241 club members including founding member Nola Murphy who has been a member of KAC for at least 50 years.

She told West Carleton Online it was “the love of art” that over 60 years ago brought a few friends together for a weekly painting session. 

“We met in each other’s homes or a rented room at the Beaverbrook mall,” Murphy said. “We would also rent a room next door so we could have someone babysit our kids. It was a very informal group at the time – each person had to be president for a year whether you wanted to be or not.”

Eventually the group grew in numbers and moved to its current location. She believes the club has prospered over the years because of its dedicated supporters who love to produce art as well as to support their artistic community.

For more information on the KAC see www.kac1.ca.

To view a video created by the KAC of their $200 and under show, click here.