Opinion Editorial

October 24th I had attended the opening of the 6th Annual Art in the Valley, the resurrected annual exhibition by fourteen artists affiliated with the Beaver Valley. I know some of the organizers of the event. I knew the volunteer time they put into converting the Kimberley Community Hall into a gallery for the event. I spent some time at the opening in conversation with Doug Galloway, a Kimberley photographer whose work I’ve admired for some time. At my request and amidst the engaged crowd, Doug shuttled me back and forth between several of his works on display, answering my questions and showing me how a sophisticated sense of volumes, and how they relate to each other, are at the heart of his work. I also spent time with sculptor and painter Ray Macdonald, who showed me a sculptural work based on a gourd given to him by an Indigenous friend. With meticulous layers of paint added to the gourd, Ray had brought out the human faces and shapes implicit in the gourd – he had unveiled its spirituality. Ray proceeded to speak with other guests and I stayed by the gourd for a while, discovering its nuances. Another visitor paused to examine the gourd. We struck up a conversation and I self-importantly told him what I had just learned about this work from its creator. I seemed to impress him with my knowledge and my insight…

I would have gained equivalent insight if I had spent time with any of the twelve other artists who were there to present their creations to their friends and neighbors, the public. 

As I left the event, I found myself reflecting on the joy of local events like this where I get to see creations, meet their creators and learn about the processes whereby the creative impulse becomes a work of art – all in a community loved equally by its artists and its local patrons of the arts. 

Some hold that the local is dead, that our art here is merely retailed chunks of global wholesale creativity found in Toronto, New York, Paris and London. But I think – I feel – that these globalists are wrong. Beloved concerts are here, insightful plays and films are here, stunning art work and the work of artisans are here, written works that reflect life hereabouts are here, and the heritage of our farms and hamlets is here, rivaling the history of kings and empires. 

And we are here too – the creators, the performers, the writers, the audiences, the buyers, the cultural entrepreneurs, the learners, the sharers – we are here to savor our local cultural generators and their offerings, and to be sure they survive and prosper. 

We are each other. 

Regards,

John Butler, South Grey News, Culture Catcher