Wednesday, February 12th, 2025

By Martha Bull

The 7th annual Creemore Centric community art free-for-all is upon us. The official submission date was last Monday and the show started being hung during the week so all entries can be on the wall ready for bidding on Saturday, January 4 at 2 pm. So, if you haven’t already, run as fast as you can to drop off your canvas to the ever-affable and accommodating Lyne Burek, co-owner of the Mad and Noisy Gallery. The strength of Creemore Centric is that it is a broad-based community event that contributes in many ways to the community at a slow time of year. It helps all established and budding artists, retailers in town, collectors and all community-minded Creemorians.

Traditionally a fundraiser for the Mad and Noisy Gallery, which, until last year, was a not-for-profit artist-run collective, Creemore Centric now benefits the Mad and Noisy Gallery and participating artists. On Sunday, February 2 at 2 pm sharp, the final live auction begins. Please circle these dates on your calendar because you don’t want to miss a ton of fun. You might also lose the opportunity to start collecting art at a fraction of the price of a retail gallery.

This is a chance for collectors to find and encourage new talent. Part of Lyne’s job is to help budding artists get over their fear of showing for the first time. It can be scary to put your heart and soul before the public, and then watch it be auctioned off to the highest bidder. However, it is also a good proving ground and a great opportunity to talk to others about what they see in your piece. And because Creemore has a large community of “friends of the arts,” this is a fine place for a beginner painter to share their vision.

Painter Peter Adams’s son, Arran, bought a painting last year from a new artist. He “just had to have it” and thus began collecting art at the age of 10. This is exactly the kind mind-broadening experience that Creemore Centric brings us. There are some in town who have built sizeable collections of exquisite art from local artists by attending this event. The auction prices run from $25 to about $300 and there are no reserve bids allowed over $100.

Creemore Centric was started to fill the post-Christmas void when people traditionally hunker down and stop looking for buying opportunities. It encourages artists to get working again, even through the dark days. It helps all artists and would-be artists who are usually natural optimists to start thinking about the coming year… and spring is really close.

Like all fabulous traditions, the Creemore Centric art event hit a friendly nerve in the community right away, to the gratified surprise of participating artists; from 60 submissions in 2007 to about 115 in 2012. The event has had a strong steady growth. The auction always has an excited crowd – usually over 60 strong. There are submissions from kids as well, which usually are fought over by parents and grandparents. I am hoping to see some more wild and woolly submissions from the very talented kid-pool in town. As we saw at the Creemore Arts Festival in October, there are a great number of accomplished artists in this area whose work I am excited to see again.

I will let you know what happens at the auction. If you have any lovely or harrowing stories about your submissions, please let me know. I myself am staring at my submission, which is just short of done. Is it ready? Did I mess up the finishing coat? Should I have put an extra glaze on it? Will I have to buy it back because no one will bid on it?

But really… I am just excited to see how you all like it.

Please come.

[Featured image: “Hoot” by Laurie Foote, a 2014 Creemore Centric submission]

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