It’s been on the books for two years, but it’s finally time for another art show.
The Fine Line Art Gallery located in downtown Fort Frances is accepting entries for its spring art show. Titled ‘Anything that Flies,’ the show is set run from April 25 until May 21, giving local artists a great opportunity to have some of their favourite pieces displayed, as long as they fit the bill.
Fine Line’s Jean Richards said this gallery show has been on the books since the beginning of the pandemic.
“We’ve been trying to do this for two years,” she explained.
“Both years were cancelled, so we’re finally going to get it off the ground this year. It will open April 25 and it will run through May 21.”
The entrance fee for artists is $25 dollars, part of which goes to the gallery, and all artists are welcome to submit their pieces, even if they aren’t members. Richards said the theme of this year’s gallery was chosen to make sure artists from different mediums were kept on the same footing, in a manner of speaking.
“When we started these spring shows, the theme was ‘colours’ and the first one we did was yellow,” Richards said.
“We started running out of colours, because not every colour is feasible. For the painters, yes, but for glass people, pink is a no-no. It’s not always easy to come up with a theme.”
Gallery member Emily Hyatt went into a bit more detail on why, exactly, pink glass could have caused problems.
“True pink is the most expensive glass because there’s gold in the production,” she explained.
“In this day and age, you can’t even go to a catalogue and order it, you have to phone and they will tell you what the price is that day.”
Moving from colours to a theme like “Anything that Flies” means that no one has to worry about exorbitantly expensive materials due to colours, and can submit any pieces that they feel are an accurate representation of the theme. Richards said there are plenty of members who create art of birds, insects or even planes, so there should be plenty of room for many artists to take part in this year’s show.
As for finally being able to hold an art show after years of pandemic related uncertainty, Richards said she and the other members are very excited to return to something like normal.
“It’s great,” Richards said. “It feels like the Gallery is coming alive again. When we were closed and you’d walk in here, it was desolate. It just didn’t look the same. It felt awful.”
“We were closed three different times in the two years, for a month or two at a time,” Hyatt added.
“But this is great,” Richards continued.
“It’s been very quiet, but then I hear it’s been like that everywhere. We’re not the only ones. A whole day will go by and you’ll get nobody. But now that the weather is changing, too, it’s great to be able to do this and get back to normal.”
Richards said artists are welcome to bring their pieces into the Fine Line Art Gallery until noon on April 25. To connect with the Fine Line Art Gallery, and for more information about the art show, call 274-2242.
