Sheri-Lyn Roy of Breslau has had an interest in photography ever since she noticed that she could use her sunglasses to ‘filter’ a sunset and create an interesting image while on a high school canoe trip to Algonquin Park. Today, her passion for sharing the beauty and uniqueness of the things she has seen is in full force and local residents can check out her photographs on display at the Woolwich Township administration building in Elmira as part of the Woolwich’s Local Art Program.
Roy’s images hang alongside paintings by local visionary Jonathan Munz; the two artists were selected last fall to be featured during the first year of the township’s gallery-style project.
The new initiative has been well received, according to Laurel Davies Snyder, Woolwich’s economic development and tourism officer. More than 40 artists sent in applications for consideration by the selection committee. Over the past 12 months, four shows have been installed at the gallery.
“We were really happily surprised by the number of applicants we had in our first year,” said Snyder. “We saw all kinds of artwork and would have loved to have been able to showcase more of it but there just wasn’t room this year.”
Now, the township is putting out a call for its second round of artists, with the committee of volunteers hoping to see as much, if not more interest in the program.
“The program is really twofold with benefits,” explained Snyder. “The exhibit allows local artists to showcase their work in a free venue and get their name out there, and also we are engaging the public with different kinds of art that we have in the community that they might not know about yet.”
Eligible submissions include anything from photography, to painting, metalwork, printmaking, fibre art, graphic art, quilting and other textile art, and non-traditional art such as graffiti.
“Basically anything that you can hang on a wall,” said Snyder. “Currently we don’t have the right place to display things like sculptures but we are hoping to open it up to other art forms sometime in the future.”
The open-call is for anyone who lives or works in Woolwich Township and who would like to have their artwork displayed for a three-month period. To apply, an artist must fill out a registration for with basic information about their art form alongside high quality photos of their work.
Submissions are due by Sept. 20. All submissions will be evaluated by a jury and artists will be contacted by the end of October. The first show of the second year will be installed at the beginning of January. The application form is available on the township’s website, www.woolwich.ca. For information about the program, contact Laurel Davies Snyder at ldaviessnyder@woolwich.ca or by phone at 519-669-6020.
