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Celebrate Happiness at the Station Arts Centre

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The Station Arts Centre in Tillsonburg will be “celebrating happiness”’ with a new art exhibit from Nov. 6 to Dec. 4.

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Celebrate Happiness by Rita Milton and George Conklin features a wide variety of styles.

“Rita and George have been a part of the Oxford artist community for a long time. They used to be on the Oxford Studio Tour with us, then they recently moved to the Norfolk area,” said Tabitha Verbuyst, Program and Community co-ordinator, Gallery Curator, Tillsonburg Station Arts Centre. “So we’re excited to have them back in our area for the exhibit.

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“Rita does things from jewellery to fibre art to painting and kind of everything in between,” continued Verbuyst. “So I’m excited to see what she’s brought for this show. The colours and variations she uses are always so exciting.

“George is very well known around the area for his landscape work. He does very loose brush strokes and creates a lot of movement in his pieces using lots of colours to bring everything together.”

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Due to COVID-19, there will be no official opening for the exhibit at 41 Bridge St. West, but the artists will be available for a short meet-and-greet on Saturday, Nov. 7 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Appointments for the meet-and-greet must be made prior to the day of, to ensure they follow maximum capacity at the Station Arts Centre.

Call 519-842-6151 or email tverbuyst@stationarts.ca for more information.

The Station is open Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. for viewing.

“Together, this is going to be an exciting show for them,” said Verbuyst, “because it will be an interesting mix of George’s more traditional landscape style and Rita’s more contemporary, more modern abstract style. It’s going to be a fun play between the two artists to see them together.”

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ARSTISTS’ BACKGROUNDS

Rita Milton, born in Tillsonburg, has travelled locally and internationally with her art. Several of her works are in private collections, businesses and museums. In her artist bio, it states many of Milton’s works recount memories with her grandchildren, “capturing the flow of waters intermingled with delightful laughter; long walks and picking berries to be brought home and senses awakened with fresh baking their reward. Flowers are exploding everywhere, with color and fragrance.”

Happiness is experienced enjoying Algonquin Park where nature’s wonders of colour and fresh air are “a privilege,” occasionally seeing wildlife, then rendering art to share with others. Happiness is also remembering works that have been purchased to be enjoyed.

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George Conklin is an avid outdoorsman, and his subjects come from nature’s inspiration. Northern Ontario and Algonquin Park’s wild rocky country provide Conklin dramatic scenes for sketching and painting.

Conklin studied with the late George Nelson, a retired painter who had studied at the famed Art Students League in New York City where open air painting in the French Impressionist tradition was examined, as well as classical picture-making with attention to light, air and atmospheric perspective.

Conklin stays faithful to these philosophies and techniques to paint his impressions of nature and its many moods.

cabbott@postmedia.com

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