By Nadine Moedt (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: July 2, 2014
Summer finds the best of the Fraser Valley as the Abbotsford Arts Council hosts a wide variety of creative endeavours. Weekly events ranging from parades of vintage hot rods to artisan markets featuring live music make Abbotsford an exciting place to be for every admirer of the arts.
The Anonymous Art Show Fundraiser kicked off on Saturday, showcasing the work of secret Fraser Valley artists at the Kariton Gallery. Art created from a wide variety of media — ranging from string work on canvas to watercolour — is displayed on 12×12 canvases and sold. Diverse themes and subject matter highlight the patchwork quilt of backgrounds that make up Abbotsford and the Fraser Valley, as Mount Baker and familiar scenes from the valley hang beside the foreign and exotic.
The show, modeled on an anonymous show put on by the North Vancouver Arts Council, works in part as a fundraiser for the Abbotsford Art Council, an organisation that funds exhibition space for up-and-coming artists as well as other free community events. Each piece is priced at $100; the profits are evenly split between the artist and the Abbotsford Arts Council.
According to the Abbotsford Arts Council’s website, the show “enables the community to support emerging artists and provides an opportunity to purchase an artist’s work at an affordable price.”
Once sold, the art is immediately removed from the wall and given to the purchaser. The price tag is removed to reveal the name of the artist. According to the Abbotsford Arts Council website, over 100 works are displayed and a wide range of artists are showcased; works from artists aged five to 95 hang side by side. Picking out the Picasso from your niece’s work makes for an interesting perusal, even if you don’t intend to buy.
At the fundraiser’s opening reception, Kariton Gallery offered live music from the Miranda Lambert/Shania Twain-esque Kristal Barrett and food trucks. A small crowd — including a popular leashed rabbit named Coco — gathered on the lawn, watching buyers walk out of the little red gallery with new artwork under their arms.
For artists wishing to participate in the fundraiser, applications for artwork are being considered until July 13.
The show will continue until July 22. Kariton Art Gallery is nestled in front of Mill Lake on Ware Street, and is open Tuesday through Friday, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 pm.
