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If you’re looking for a perfect day trip with the family, why not make it a day of art? To celebrate Canada’s 150th, the City of Ottawa’s community art galleries will host the Canada Naturally exhibit.
“Most people don’t know that we have numerous community art galleries scattered around the city,” says Penelope Kokkinos, arts programmer with the City of Ottawa.
“The exhibition spaces are available for any artist within 150 kilometres of the city to apply to show their art and for the public, it’s all free.”
The theme for the country’s celebration is loosely landscape-themed, but Kokkinos says the artists have a free hand in their interpretation. “There are so many unique types of art and with 16 community exhibition spaces available, it stays fresh and exciting.”
Artists and groups can apply once a year to have their art displayed. “The public really has so much exceptional art to choose from,” says Kokkinos, “but there are four installations I would say don’t miss.”
The Atrium Art Gallery features the art of Mafalda Silva. Entitled Moments in Life, her hand-stitched creations are an intriguing blend of photographs and textile art. Silva uses nature and birds to illustrate her immigration experience.
At the Trinity Art Gallery – Salon A, artist Danielle Dumas promotes Canada Naturally with A Celebration of Canadian Landscape, offering a series of stunning landscapes. Kokkinos says her beautiful work also promotes the protection of our land for future generations.
In Salon B, Pauline Lecours Clancy presents Stone Stories and pursues the unique landscapes of old graveyards. “This is a very unusual exhibit and a very different and intriguing look at our past. The artist knows that every headstone has a story.”
Finally, at Archives Gallery 112, Lesia Maruschak presents images of the Saskatchewan prairies in My Canada – belonging: somewhere/nowhere, with a narrative of her mother’s experiences growing up in Canada during the 1940s and 1950s.
Taking your family on an artistic day out creates the opportunity to engage with your children on a variety of subjects. Talk to them about your experiences growing up and how they would describe their Canada. Maybe ask them to draw pictures of their own interpretation of a Canadian landscape. And remember: it’s all free!
Find out more at www.ottawa.ca/en/residents/arts-heritage-and-culture/galleries-and-exhibition-spaces.