Artists coming together as neighbours
“Welcoming you to our homes since 2001.”
That’s how the hosts of the Frederick Art Walk introduce themselves to visitors.
The 17th annual edition of this “walking art and artisan tour through one of Kitchener’s oldest neighbourhoods” happens today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
It’s a tradition that goes back even farther: It all began with an annual pottery sale Lori Cole organized at her home on Chestnut Street starting in 1994. Six years later, Filbert Street neighbour Wendy Newberry suggested expanding the event, at first by simply posting directions to the homes of other artists nearby at Cole’s house so visitors to her sale could go there afterwards.
A year later — on Nov. 10, 2001 — the “Central Frederick Artisan’s Craft Tour and Sale” was launched.
A lot has changed over the 17 years “Kitchener’s Original Art Walk” has been operating.
In that first year, the participants connected to one another in person, neighbour to neighbour. Some makeshift lawn signs covered in clear plastic were put up, and they ran off a small batch of back-and-white flyers that were hand delivered to about 300 houses.
The founding cohort consisted of 10 creators in eight homes; this year, there almost 100 artists in 35 different houses. There’s a large, glossy brochure for the 2017 walk that includes a map, an index of the artists with a description of what they do, and full-colour image representing of the work of each participant. An online version is available at http:// www.frederickartwalk.org.
Things have changed on in the broader artistic landscape as well: 2001 was the year I started working for the Waterloo Regional Arts Council. I remember the challenges of organizing what was called the “Tri-City Studio Tour” back then: setting criteria, connecting with artists, getting word out.
Today, there are events like this in all parts of the region, from the Kissing Bridge Trail tour up in Woolwich to the New Hamburg studio tour in Wilmot to the venerable Mary Allen Studio Tour, which has been part of the Waterloo visual art scene since 1989.
Today’s Frederick Art Walk falls toward the end of what has become a kind of season of open house events. Indoor show and sale offerings come next, including the two-day “Out of the Box … Meet Art$Pay” show and sale event that winds up at The Walper Hotel this afternoon (for details, go to artspay.org).
Other landmark happenings in this category include the Waterloo Potters’ Workshop and the K-W Weavers and Spinners Guild fall sales next weekend, Nov. 17 to 19 (waterloopotters.ca; kwws.org); the Globe Studios invitational arts show and open house Nov. 24 and 25 (globestudios.org); the Button Factory Arts Market from Nov. 18 to Dec. 22 (buttonfactoryarts.ca), and the Stitch ’n’ Kitsch handmade holiday market on Dec. 3 (stitchnkitsch.com).
In almost all these cases, it’s artists doing it for themselves. The availability of the internet and other digital tools for marketing, communication, planning and design is a key factor, but so is the extraordinary capacity for co-operation and organization among artists that is so evident here.
What stands out in the Frederick Art Walk event is that it’s artists coming together as neighbours.
When I spoke with co-founder Wendy Newberry this week, she emphasized the openness of the event: There’s no jury process; everyone who wants to participate is welcome. It’s more about community building than it is about promoting and selling.
This, in turn, leads to the extraordinary range of what is on offer in those 35 houses today: textiles, fibre art, metal work, bird feeders, fairy houses, confections, preserves, wet-shaving materials …
Each year they choose a worthy cause to support. Because the second Saturday in November happens to be Remembrance Day this year, they’ve chosen the Royal Canadian Legion’s Poppy Fund. Visitors can make a donation at any Art Walk location.