The 100 Mile Arts Network opened a new gallery and boutique in Wakefield on Thursday to a packed room full of artists, enthusiasts, supporters and locals.
The arts network began as a project of Theatre Wakefield back in 2017. When past president and board member Paul Brown joined in 2020 as the general manager, he had always envisioned something permanent affording space for the art community.
“I am so excited – this is just fantastic,” he beamed on Thursday evening, as he looked out over the room of more than 90 attendees to the grand opening of the gallery.
“This new space will act as a creative hub for the network to host workshops, professional development opportunities, and events designed to build stronger connections between artists and the community – all toward our ultimate mission of promoting and supporting English-speaking artists across the MRC des Collines-de-l’Outaouais, MRC Pontiac, and MRC Vallée-de-la-Gatineau,” Brown said. “And it is made wholly possible for the next three years by a grant from Le Secrétariat aux relations avec les Québécois d’expression anglaise.”
The event was spearheaded by the hard work of Jennifer Bisson, the social media and events coordinator for 100 Mile Arts Network. Artists responded to her call with fervour and, “it just came together so beautifully” she enthused.
The result is an opening exhibition which showcases a broad representation of creativity, medium and talent from 10 local artists: Helene Anne Fortin, Andie Haltrich, Able Mabel, Tara Mazurk, Jamie Munro, Noël Smith-Sparrow, Daniel Wakeman and Shaper Within as well as Pontiac artists Katharine Fletcher and Mitch Gagnon.
From photography to paint, from wall art to functional and from canvas to sheep wool, the exhibition included 30 diverse and original pieces, as well as a collection of smaller reproductions available for sale.
For their part, Gagnon is delighted to have space in the collective. Their 16 x 24 mixed-media on canvas piece is called “Emergence” and has profound meaning to them on many levels, acting almost as an artistic and abbreviated wikipedia-style biography.
“I’m a digital and mixed-media artist located in Fort Coulonge, where I’ve lived most of my life. The Ottawa river in the front yard and a forest is in the back,” Gagnon shared. “I find solace and connection through nature and believe that we need to sync with our wildness and protect it at all costs.”
Calling the piece “a process,” Gagnon explained its genesis.
“Emergence is a painting on top of a print I made using a photograph of a painting I had started and abandoned because I felt it was a failed piece of art,” Gagnon said. “I was just coming back to more traditional art and once I had a digital photograph of the long abandoned painting, I was able to use editing software to, well, fix it, reprint it and finish it with paint.”
Making reference to their own journey of coming out, Gagnon said that Emergence encapsulates “finding your inner voice and all of the layers of identity that we move through to get to our own self-expression.”
The exhibit runs Thursdays to Sundays through until Nov. 17 and more information is available via social media or on the 100 Mile Arts Network website at https://100milearts.net. The gallery is located at 721 Chemin Riverside, number 205, in Wakefield.
