Art expo celebrates local creations

Being held at the St. Elias Centre from Friday, Oct. 30 to Sunday, Nov. 1, the Ottawa Art Expo is the culmination of three separate art festivals and shows that were cancelled several years ago, explains gala chair and Gloucester resident artist Ross Rheaume. The Mayor’s Art Festival, the Ottawa Fine Arts Festival and the Elwood Christmas Art Show “all collapsed within a six-month period,” he recounts, mostly due to budgeting or financial issues.

Now, this weekend’s expo is meant to “combine the three events into one, in effect,” Rheaume describes, with the organizing committee focusing on hosting an indoor, three-day fine arts-only event, complete with a gala and juried award program. “It’s an artist-run organization. It’s put together by artists. There’s no government or corporate funding, or charity organization involved. What that means is there’s nobody who can pull the plug … which is what happened to the other three.”

The expo will feature over 50 artists from across the Ottawa-Gatineau region, in addition to Eastern Ontario, Toronto and Montreal, he continues, kicking off with a gala Friday evening – including four awards to be handed out for lifetime achievement and works displayed at the expo – and then segueing into a public, free-of-charge event throughout Saturday and Sunday. The weekend will also feature painting demonstrations, seminars and even a student award program, Rheaume adds.

The event also offers “quite a range” of different mediums and styles, he says, including sculpture, photography, portraiture and abstracts, however with a focus on strictly fine arts. “It’s what you’d typically see in a gallery,” Rheaume explains. “There’s no craft component. It’s kind of like a large group vernissage.”

And while galleries are one space to hang work, “this is the opportunity for a large number of people to come out to see a large number of artists,” he recounts. It also gives a chance for Ottawa’s creative community to foster better connections, Rheaume continues, as well as the commercial aspect of selling art – the expo won’t keep any commission, he adds – and celebrating the prize winners.

For Judith Savic, one of the expo’s founding members and a Gloucester-based mixed-media artist herself, a major motivation in helping organize the weekend is the lack of gallery space for Ottawa’s creative types.

As a self-taught artist during the past three years and relatively new to the scene, “galleries are really hard to find,” she recounts. “I personally find there’s not a lot of support in the Ottawa area.”

To that end, one component of the expo Savic is overseeing is the student section, where blossoming artists from local schools – including Gloucester’s Lester B. Pearson – will display their work and vie for their own set of prizes, helping to groom up-and-coming creative types.

As for what she hopes to see come out of the event, “we’d like for people to enjoy the art and appreciate it,” she continues, pointing to hopes artists may be able to connect with new galleries or help boost their own publicity with the public. “It’s for the artists to have a chance … to get recognized for their hard work. (Hopefully) it’s strong enough we can do it again next year.” “It’s an important part of the cultural fabric of artists to interact,” adds Rheaume. “I’m hoping obviously we have a good turnout. We want it to work well enough that people want to do it again … that the public feels this is something worth doing.” The Ottawa Art Expo runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Tickets for the gala are available at Wallack’s Art Supply Stores or online at www.wallacks.com. For more information, please visit www.ottawaartexpo.com.