Chalmers art group show to be held April 28

East Kildonan

Elmwood

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This article was published 03/04/2024 (786 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Spring, also known as art show season, is here.

A community art group based at Chalmers Community Centre will host its annual art show on Sunday, April 28 at 480 Chalmers Ave. The show, which is free to attend, will run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“We’ve got around 20 members,” said organizer Gale Calladine. “We paint acrylic, some are doing sketching, watercolour, pencil art, pen and ink, pastels. Quite a few things.”

Calladine has been running art clubs in community centres across northeast Winnipeg for 25 years. She started at Valley Gardens Community Centre (218 Antrim Rd.), where she ran a club in the evenings for 14 years.

“A lot of our people were getting older and didn’t want to meet at night,” she said. “But we couldn’t get in there in the day, because there was a daycare.”

The group moved to Morse Place Community Centre (700 Munroe Ave.), where it met on Tuesday afternoons from September through April for about a decade. But then the space was needed to run a new daycare in the area.

“We tried to do half a room for us and half for the daycare, but it just didn’t work,” Calladine said.

The group moved to Chalmers in November 2022, where it meets between 1 and 3 p.m. each Tuesday.

“We help each other,” Calladine said. “In September, when we open up, I’ll do a bit of teaching to get people started who might not know how to paint. I’ll help them.”

“We come to visit,” said Helene Foth, who has been with the group for years. “We do a lot of painting at home, too. We love to come and see what everyone is doing. We love the camaraderie here. We can also teach each other a few things.”

“It’s inspiring and everyone is very friendly and encouraging,” added Agatha Reimer, who is relatively new to the group.

Annual membership in the club is $30, which goes towards supplies for the club. Anything left over, along with money raised from the silent auction at the annual show, the group donates to the community centre.

“Sometimes it could be $800, it could be $500,” Calladine said. “They have to keep going, and they don’t expect anything.”

Along with raising some money for the community centre, the annual shows allow artists to share their work with the community, while maybe making a sale or two.

“I like to go to art shows,” Foth said. “I think other people like to go, too. It’s fun to see each other’s work. If it sells or not, that’s a bonus. It’s just fun to see it all out.”