SPARK Photo Festival celebrates 12 years
Returning are the free mobile catalogue and navigational app, in partnership with Toureka!
The SPARK Photo Festival runs from April 1 to 30, showcasing the works of over 100 photographers in 24 venues across Peterborough city and county, Northumberland County and the City of Kawartha Lakes.
The festival presents photographers from high school age to those in their 90s, some of whom have participated every year, with works on subjects that include nature, portraits, abstract, digitally enhanced, urban and drone photography, according to festival director Jennifer MacKenzie.
“The SPARK Photo Festival ushers in the spring when photographic art brightens the walls of public spaces throughout the region,” says MacKenzie.
“What makes this festival special is that every exhibit is free to visit and all are displayed in public spaces, making it accessible to not just art lovers, but the community and visitors to our region,” MacKenzie added.
“The exhibits are also often a surprise when visitors enter shops, restaurants, resorts, libraries and other public spaces not expecting to see a fabulous art display.”
Returning this year are the free mobile catalogue and navigational app, in partnership with Toureka!, plus an interactive map.
There are also print brochures and maps available at exhibit venues.
QR codes are posted at each exhibit for visitors to scan and get links to the interactive festival map and the app stores, or you can search Toureka! on the Apple app store or Google Play.
The Light the SPARK: Emerging Artists Exhibit presents five photographers who have been chosen to take part in an educational program and mount their work for the first time.
The SPARK Themed Juried Exhibit: Texture presents the top 25 photographs that were chosen by a jury as the best representation of texture.
Both exhibits are on display at the YMCA Balsillie Family Branch, 123 Aylmer St. S.
The opening reception and juried awards ceremony is Sunday, April 7, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the YMCA.
It’s a free event but registration is required.
The exhibit entitled “In Memoriam: The Wonderful Photography of Ann Hilborn (1953-2020)” will be exhibited at Canterbury Gardens, 1414 Sherbrooke St.
Hilborn has been described as a much-loved elementary school teacher of French and visual arts, for whom “photography provided an outlet for her creativity.”
Eight photographers are exhibiting their work at the “Expressions of Hope” show at Living Hope Church, 1 Consumers Place. They say they “find themselves deeply inspired by the breathtaking beauty found in nature … everything from birds and plants to more abstract images of light and shadows.”
In the exhibit entitled “Creative Drive” at Elmhirst’s Resort, 1045 Settler Line, Keene, Jim Babbage and Stephanie Lake ask what compels a photographer to visit the same location, at different times of the year, planning to capture that scene when it is ready to tell its best story? Babbage was a commercial studio photographer and photography professor who now focuses on landscape and nature photography. Lake is a freelance photographer who has worked for more than 30 years for The Canadian Press and other clients.
Tracy Hanes’s exhibit “Walks on the Wild Side” is on display at Lalies & The Dutch, 7 King St. W., Cobourg.
Hanes is a journalist and photographer whose photo journey took an unexpected direction in 2020 when she says, “a little duck on a local pond piqued my curiosity. I took a photo to be able to identify it, and that inspired a passion for nature photography.”
For information, please sparkphotofestival.org.
Spaghetti dinner
visit
There will be a fundraising spaghetti dinner on Friday, April 5, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., at a cost of $10 at the door, at Grace United Church, 581 Howden St.
Along with spaghetti, there will be garlic bread, caesar salad, Jell-O, coffee, tea and juice.