Flowery figures from days gone by will be featured at next month’s Amherstburg Art Crawl.
The Amherstburg Fort Malden Horticultural Society (AFMHS) will be one of the organizations taking part in the Art Crawl the weekend of July 20-21. Part of their contributions will be the “ghost figures” that will be in King’s Navy Yard Park.
Members of the public who participate in the Art Crawl will be able to take a flower and place it into a wire screen that has been shaped into three female figures resembling women from a bygone era.
Volunteers with the AFMHS have named the figures “Ruby,” “Annabelle” and “Paulette.”
Carole Deschaine, a board member with the AFMHS, said during the development of the Art Crawl, she approached Richard Peddie, one of the organizers, and suggested the AFMHS could be part of it.
“I petitioned Richard that gardens are art,” she said, noting elements of art are part of the gardening process from textures to height and more.
Deschaine said Peddie liked the idea and invited them to participate.
“A garden is a natural palette,” said Deschaine.
Art Amherstburg, the group that has been formed to help plan this year’s Art Crawl, invited the AFMHS to return and the horticultural society volunteers brainstormed and came up with the “ghost figures” idea.
The figures were created from patterns and made with wire over the winter in the basement of AFMHS board member Colleen Troup.
Andrea Dyrkacz, AFMHS vice president, said the idea of “ghost figures” represents the many people that have passed through the area over the years, from the Indigenous Peoples, to enslaved people and those who fought in battles during conflicts like the War of 1812.
The figures will represent the past and the present and although the flowers will die in a day or two, the memories will continue.
Deschaine added the public will be able to decorate the “ghost figures” following the 2 p.m. Saturday walk. AFMHS president Janice Emery said they will be located near the society’s “signature garden” in the northeast corner of the park.
Emery agreed that gardens are art and was happy to see the creative process in action. New members have been joining the AFMHS in recent years, Emery added, and they are bringing forth new ideas. She added the society is building and expanding its own networks and that includes with the town’s tourism department and the Gibson Gallery.
For more information on the Amherstburg Art Crawl, visit www.artamherstburg.ca.
"Ghost figures" to be included in next month's Art Crawl
By Ron Giofu
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