Summer brings Art in the Gardens
They came for the garden and left with artwork.
For one weekend every summer, members of the Parkway Artists’ Guild pack up their gear and meet in the Botanical Gardens on the Niagara Parkway for a juried art show. Curious visitors, tourists and the occasional horse-drawn carriage took it all in.
“You cannot get a better spot for an outdoor show,” said Parkway Artists Guild president Yimlei Yep.
The annual Art in the Gardens outdoor show gathered about 13 members of the Guild, including newcomer Karen Kozarevich. The retired IT specialist has been painting since 1977, living in Montreal, Toronto and Mississauga. She retired in Niagara, but her artwork hasn’t slowed down. Her new home gave her plenty more to paint.
Postcards of her two local paintings, one of the Niagara Falls and the other Niagara-on-theLake, were her top sellers for the weekend.
“It’s a beautiful relaxing environment, people are enjoying all the surroundings,” she said. “I’m definitely coming back next year.
“I love it here. I’m not going back to the big city.”
The Parkway Artists’ Guild is open to both amateur and professional artists, and meets on the third Saturday of every month in the lecture hall of the Niagara Parks Commission School of Horticulture.
In addition to the outdoor show, it holds an indoor juried show every June.
Next up for members is the Rooted in the Garden art show Sept. 9, part of the Niagara Parks Commission’s Canada 150 programming.
Yep says the group welcomes all type of artists, but they must pass quality control to be part of the juried shows.
“We may be a small group, but we have to keep our standards.”