Despite not being an official part of the Amherstburg Art Crawl, a local church will be highlighting artistic talents that weekend.
“Crawling Too” will be the name of the show planned for St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church July 21 from 12-4 p.m. Rev. Shirley Carleton said. As she works towards her one-year anniversary at the church, she is finding out about a lot of talent in the community.
“I’ve started discovering a lot of gifts and talents that people have that you don’t see right away,” said Carleton.
Carleton said as she performs home visits, she sees paintings and other artwork only to discover the work was created by the person she is visiting or someone local they know.
“We have so much hidden talent here,” said Carleton. “We have to showcase this.”
After meeting professional artists Benjamin Lesperance, the church now holds one of his paintings. From there, the idea of the art show was created.
“That was the catalyst,” said Carleton. “We were going to show his artwork and it grew from there.”
There are at least six artists confirmed for the show with more possible as the show gets closer. Confirmed thus far are Joe Perz, Sharon Slingsby, Donna Zacharczuk, Leora Sharman, Jim Turner and Marjan Drop.
“One of the calls of the ministry is to discover, develop and encourage people,” said Carleton.
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church wants to allow people to “show off their gifts” and they want to empower people and get them to recognize their own talents.
Artists at the July 21 show are a combination of members of the congregation and those who are not.
“People tend to think because they can do something, it’s no big deal,” she said. “This is kind of pushing people a little bit forward.”
Helping people recognize their gifts and providing encouragement going forward is part of what they want to do at St. Andrew’s, she added. Carleton said they hope to be part of the Amherstburg Art Crawl in 2025.
“We’d like to have this as an ongoing part of what we do here,” said Carleton.
An opportunity for children to create their own art is planned for the “Crawling Too” show, Carleton added, with Slingsby helping to co-ordinate that as well.
There is no admission charge to attend the art show, but donations are accepted. Sales of the artwork benefit the artists.
Art show coming to St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church
By Ron Giofu
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