One of the collaborators on this Saturday's Owen Sound ArtWalk hopes to create a fresh image of the downtown.
The owner of local publishing company the Ginger Press, Maryann Thomas explained the fifth annual ArtWalk is a self-guided tour of 11 independent arts-related businesses.
"My store is in downtown Owen Sound. And I don't know whether people have been in downtown Owen Sound lately, but it's looking just a tad shabby," she said. "And so what we're trying to do here is accentuate the positives. And 11 downtown venues are actually involved in various ways with art and the artists, and so they have collaborated to create a one day celebration of art and artists in downtown Owen Sound."
The ArtWalk will immerse participants in creativity at each stop, including galleries, art supplies, art schools, artist co-ops, studios and the library.
"And we include in our definition of art, culinary artists. So on this day — it's on a Saturday, at the Owen Sound Farmers Market — they now have nine culinary vendors, and each one of them is a chef, demonstrating a different cuisine, usually from a different kind of culture," she shared. "And they are demonstrating their work, and also their culinary art will be for sale. So that's kind of cool."
Thomas said participants will be able to enjoy special exhibitions, hands-on workshops, demonstrations, art talks, and product displays.
"We have a brand new Indigenous store featuring native arts. We've got art classes, we've got demonstrations of different art techniques. We've got kids crafts at various venues. We've got draws. We've got art for sale," she continued. "It looks to me like there's pretty close to 100 artists involved overall... which is pretty phenomenal."
The free event takes place on Saturday June 22, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
People can go to https://owensoundriverdistrict.ca for more information.
