Two new exhibits slated at museum

There continues to be plenty to see at the Fort Frances Museum and Cultural Centre, with two new art exhibits there starting this month.
“A Part: Painting Exhibition by Visual Artist Lindsay Joy Hamilton” is the exhibit on the main floor of the museum, which officially opens with a reception next Thursday (Sept. 27) at 7 p.m.

The free event will include snacks and beverages, as well as a short talk by Hamilton.
In an e-mail to the Times, Hamilton explained her exhibit, which is comprised of 15 paintings and one site-specific installation.
“A painting acts as a conduit that allows us to transcend dimension,” she noted. “It grants us the freedom to make tangible the unseen, and explore the psychological and metaphorical realms of artistic vision.
“‘A Part’ is a conceptual exploration of both the joy and pain inherent to our individual and collective experience.
“‘A Part’ offers vignettes of human togetherness and separation through painting,” Hamilton added.
“The work represents the human tendency to oscillate between alienation and unity with/from oneself, others, nature, the external world, and reality.”
The collection was created by harnessing traditional and non-traditional painting techniques, such as aerosol and oil painting, glazing, stencilling, mixed media collage, and found painting interventions, Hamilton explained.
Each painting plays with juxtaposition, exploring background/foreground, negative/positive space, abstraction/figuration, and coming together/apart, she added.
“Animals, landscapes, and the human figure serve as metaphorical imagery throughout the exhibit, with poetic and conceptual undertones which loosely narrate togetherness and separation,” Hamilton remarked.
“The ‘Silhouette’ is a key figure throughout the exhibition,” she noted. “This androgynous human silhouette acts as our window into interior landscapes and abstractions.”
This exhibition, made possible though the Exhibition Assistance Grant from the Ontario Arts Council, will be open through Nov. 5.
Meanwhile, an exhibit upstairs at the museum is “Laundry Here, There and Everywhere” by well-known local artist Jean Richards.
This exhibit documents the subject of laundry based on photographs taken at locations around the world.
It is made possible through a grant from the Ontario Arts Council, and also will be at the museum until November.