Eleven artists participate in local church's “Crawling Too” exhibit

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church held its first-ever "Crawling Too" exhibit last Sunday.

 St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church showed its artistic flare on the weekend, holding an art exhibit all its own.

The Simcoe St. church staged its first “Crawling Too” exhibit, with eleven local artists participating. The increase in artists surged in the last couple of weeks, with six having been confirmed two weeks ago. Artists ranged from seniors to youth.

Featured artists included Marjan Drop, Carolyn Davies, Julie Morrison, Char Pare, Joe Perz, Leora Sharman, Sharon Slingsby, Jim Turner, the late Paige Smart, Donna Zacharczuk and Benjamin Lesperance, the latter returning to Amherstburg from his now-home of Prince Edward Island.

Rev. Shirley Carleton said there was a wide range of art including mixed media, modern art, portraits, abstracts, representational, acrylics and Indigenous art.

“We can feel an expression of a celebration of life,” said Carleton. “We greatly appreciate all the people who came today.”

The St. Andrew's show was not an official part of the Amherstburg Art Crawl this year but look to join next year.

“We are looking forward to next year and being an even bigger part of the Amherstburg Art Crawl,” said Carleton.

Carleton added the parishioners get a chance to get to know each other better and to meet new people as well.

“We get a chance to get to know each other in a new way,” said Carleton.

Artists were interviewed and the show was documented on video and that will be posted soon to the church's website and YouTube channel for the public to view.

“They'll get a taste of what we've done here,” said Carleton.

Deborah Smart showed and distributed the works of her late daughter Paige.

Organizers are hoping for higher attendance next year with Lesperance stating those who did stop by were greatly interested.

“Everyone who came in was wide-eyed and curious,” he said.

Deborah Smart was representing her daughter Paige, who died in 2011. She was giving away much of her daughter's work, though one was being raffled off with proceeds going to suicide prevention.

Smart added she wanted her daughter's work to go to people that would appreciate them. She said she kept the paintings for many years and gave some to family and friends, but she wanted to share it with a wider community.

“As I'm getting older, I thought it would be a good idea to give them to people who would appreciate them,” she said, noting she gave away most of the 30 paintings she brought. “It's all about her today.”

By Ron Giofu