Valerie Kent
Okay, so maybe your first thought when you are driving around in the countryside is not to go and visit a very top notch art gallery hidden somewhere at the four corners of Cavan, Ontario. But Galerie Q is just such a destination.
First of all, it is located in the original first post office of the area. The building itself, a chameleon of buildings, has been a grocery store, a tearoom, and any number of other businesses in between. It has been lovingly restored and reworked which took four years to make it right before the opening of the gallery.
Introducing Valerie Kent, BFA, BEd, MFA, OCT, a professional artist, journalist, educator and art adjudicator who has recently relocated to a private studio in Cavan. Kent’s work is known internationally and her articles have appeared in art publications including Watercolour Gazette and she is a Canadian Regional Editor of Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine. She is also a frequent guest speaker and conducts workshops at schools, art societies and art colleges throughout Ontario. Her plans for her new location include a gallery where she will offer her own artwork and that of local artists, and a studio where she will conduct workshops and art classes for local audiences. She is also Director of Education for Galerie Q and looks forward to becoming part of our active local art community. Photo: Karen Graham.
It is a social enterprise, a non-profit organization providing public viewing of artist works for the joy of seeing exceptional art. Galerie Q has also been very much involved in the greater Peterborough community since its inception.
I challenge anyone to walk in and not be surprised. I will say no more.
The Q stands for Quebec, and most of the artists that are part of the Q stable are French Canadian. This gallery exclusively represents many accomplished and well-respected artists from Quebec in the rest of Canada, as well as some local artists.
From time to time there is an exhibition that is different. Right now the current signature exhibition is the Canadian Cree artist, Allen Sapp, whose extraordinary life and dedication to his art has made him widely known in Canada and internationally.
He was born in Saskatchewan on the Red Pheasant Reserve. His mother was ill and eventually passed away when he was an adolescent, and he was raised by his Nokum, his grandmother, Maggie Soonias, who doted on him and he remembered and painted her for the rest of his life.
Although he was bullied and harassed in school for his love of drawing and painting, he never stopped doing it. He sold his paintings door to door. In 1966 he met Dr. Allan Gonor who became his mentor and then the doors really opened for Allen Sapp. He painted life on the reserve, commemorating Cree ways of living for all time on his canvases. The paintings are beautiful and evoke memories of not only his childhood but the childlike execution of the work also touches our inner child. Galerie Q has one of the largest private collections of Allen Sapp work. The Exhibition is almost over, so now is the time…
The artists at Galerie Q are particularly noteworthy. Ginet Leblond paints the spirit of the Coureurs de Bois, the voyagers who explored and settled Quebec, and her memories of small French Canadian townships. She uses a gentle and beautiful palette of colours, and it is so easy to imagine yourself walking right into the scene which she makes so familiar.
Also featured in the gallery are the Bedard brothers also from Quebec. Gilles paints the scenery of the urban landscape, and Pierre’s work concentrates on the patterned, highly colourful florals, owls and quaint scenes. Both are extremely collectable and easy to live with.
Yvan Lemeiux is a well-known in Quebec as a painter of crisp and clean landscapes, as is Cristobal who paints intimate views of people and places. Natalie Voisine paints evocative, mysterious figures in landscape.
These artists and more are part of the genuine original works of art and offerings at Galerie Q. Find Cavan and you find Galerie Q. Winter hours are Thursdays through Sundays 10 to 6 p.m. www.galerie-q.com 705 944 8888.