Catherine Paleczny, Sculptor and Gem of the Arts Community, contributes to KWAG and WCAC

Waterloo (Ontario), June 8, 2009 – Catherine Paleczny only recently returned to Waterloo this winter to share her talents with the community where her first interests in sculpture were nurtured. She is a living gem in the arts community that is contributing much in the way of visual arts.

At the moment Catherine has an exhibit on at the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery (KWAG), “Sumus Quod Sumus” (May 15 – July 5), featuring 700 works in ceramics.

“Though her practice is rooted firmly in ceramics, Paleczny's work often suggests the archeological remnants of past civilizations… She creates a volume of forms using traditional hand-building techniques. Each object, though crafted as an ambiguous, individual form, is integrated into a collective and perceived as part of a larger shape. Paleczny's "swarms" speak of movement, repetition, spatial tension, and our constant search for order and belonging in the world around us.” (http://www.kwag.ca/en/exhibitions/OnView.asp)

Catherine Paleczny lives and works in Waterloo. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Waterloo and a Master of Fine Art degree from the University of Calgary. She has studied at the University of Michigan and the University of Western Sydney Australia and most recently earned a Master of Science in Education degree from Niagara University. She has been a resident artist at The Banff Centre, the International Ceramic Centre in Denmark and the Ceramic Sculpture Symposium in Poland and the Experimental Ceramic Work Centre in Jingdezghen China... To learn more about Catherine Paleczny, visit www.paleczny.net.

The Waterloo Community Arts Centre (WCAC) is pleased to begin working with Catherine, and her colleague Becky Webster, to develop a large piece of public art to be installed at the front of the Old Button Factory, home of the arts centre at 25 Regina Street South. Catherine’s sketches show her intention to honor the history and heritage of the building, formerly a factory that produced buttons made from shells and nuts until 1944. Her work is a testament to Waterloo’s arts community and demonstrates a standard of excellence that is expected of the public art produced in our creative city.

The community’s ownership in the development of this piece is important to WCAC. The organization invited community members to participate in a fully funded press-molding workshop as part of the recent SpOtlight Festival (June 5-7), where they created the ceramic buttons that will be fixed to the final piece. WCAC hopes the finished piece will become a landmark for Waterloo’s arts and culture, and that all community members will relate to it.

WCAC is waiting for approval from the City of Waterloo for the installation before Catherine and Becky can begin assembling the sculpture on the Button Factory property. The land and building are owned by the City of Waterloo, and therefore all public art must be approved by the City before installation can occur.

These are the paintings for auction at the Button Factory. You may view the paintings at the Button Factory (25 Regina Street South, Waterloo) or email your bid to generalmanager@buttonfactoryarts.ca. Don't forget to include your name, phone number, which painting you want to bid on, and the bid $ amount.


#7 Elora Creek
Current Bid: $150







#3 Trilliums
Current Bid: $175







#4 Snowscape
Current Bid: $200







#5 Birch Study
Current Bid: $150







#9 Forest Sunlight
Current Bid: $250







#8 Autumn Shadows
Current Bid: $250







#6 Birches, Laurel Creek
Current Bid: $200







#10 Grand River, Elora
Current Bid: $200







The paintings at the WPL branches are :
#2 Ontario Heritage
Current Bid: $220








#1 Conestoga Heritage
Current Bid: $150

The winners of this year's People Choice Award for the Colours of Art Show are Baria Fleifel for her "Mediterranean" painting, and Kathleen Poste for her "Tree Stumps" painting. Yes, it was a tie!

WCAC is pleased to announce a recent donation of 10 paintings from local artist David Allan Crow. These paintings were donated to WCAC for a silent auction fundraiser happening at the Button Factory and the Waterloo Public Library from May 1st to June 30th.

David Allan Crow grew up and studied art in England, then migrated to Canada in 1955. He studied under a number of artists, and exhibited in a number of galleries and companies. David is past president of the KW Society of Artists. Until 1991, he was a pilot with Air Canada. Now he is retired and lives in Waterloo.

David's watercolour paintings are a testament to the talen and genius in the KW arts community. He is a master with colour, and his style is unique to any watercolourist. David frequently paints scenes in and around the Grand River landscape. Two of the paintings being donated, "Conestoga Heritage" and "Ontario Heritage", were recently exhibited in WCAC's annual Colours of Art Show.

The Waterloo Public Library has generously allowed WCAC to exhibit some of these paintings at their Main and McCormick branches, to allow more community members to enjoy David's beautiful landscapes and place their bids.

WCAC's Silent Auction runs to the end of June. Each of the 10 paintings is assigned a reserve bid. To see these paintings, visit the Button Factory or WPL branches. You can monitor the bids on this blog over the next 8 weeks. All the proceeds will go towards WCAC programs and initiatives to boost our exposure within the community.

I spent my Saturday at Cambridge City Hall, as a participant in the Arts, Business and Creativity conference. This is an annual event coordinated by the Region's Small Business Centres and municipal culture developers. It is geared towards artists and community members employed by arts organizations.

The day was jam-packed, but very pleasant. Opening ceremonies and breakfast in City Hall, and the workshops were held in the Cambridge Centre for the Arts. I am ashamed to admit, this was my first time in the Centre for the Arts. It's a great facility, with so much instructional space and natural light.

The workshops were informative. In the last session we had a keynote speaker, Councillor Gord Hume from London, Ontario. He delivered a passionate speech on the Creative City report, released a couple years ago, and how municipalities can become creative communities. He inspired some dialogue on how we can affect change in our municipality by exerting some pressure on Council members at election time, and place emphasis on the aesthetics of the city and "place-making".

I kept my ears wide open during all the question and answer periods throughout the day. This is what I'm hearing:

• Artists want affordable, safe work space
• Artists are finding it difficult to bring awareness to the arts and culture, especially at the muicipal level.
  
• It is difficult to get past the city staff, or through to Council; There needs to be a way to bring arts and culture to the forefront and at the top of the Councils' agendas

All in all, there is an obvious need for this conference, and more knowledge-sharing in our community. The people attending the workshops were thirsty for it. And it was so nice not to see the usual faces from the arts community (no offence!). It made me realize just how diverse our arts community is and who is working in the realm outside of our local arts organizations.

What the day taught me: Artists will continue to create despite the state of the economy, and our creativity will outlive even the worst of times.

At 4:30pm sharp people started filing into the Button Factory to view the works of 31 artists. Thursday, from 4:30 to 7pm, the Centre opened its doors for the annual Colours of Art. On the second floor, 30 members exhibited paintings and drawings of various styles, subjects and sizes.

I was so impressed with the variety of pieces this year. We had 30 registrations and 62 submissions, which made for a packed catalogue for viewers to take away. We are accepting People's Choice ballots until May 2nd. I am so proud of this year's show, and I hope we've raised the bar for the Juried Show coming up in October.

On the first floor, Terry Torra presented his show, called "H2O Plus". His paintings range from an impressio-realist style to abstract. Terry celebrates the beauty of waterfalls, and brings life to the abstract explorations by making the colours jump from the canvas.

Many thanks to the Gallery Committee for their efforts in coordinating the receptions on both floors, the take-in and hanging of the artwork. It was much appreciated and you did a wonderful job!

A week ago the Button Factory was a hive of activity. I had to wade through accoustic guitars and mingling amateur guitarists to get to the reception desk. The phone was off the hook and the cash register thought it was part of the live entertainment. The 5th annual Waterloo/Wellington Guitar Summit was in full swing.

Richard Burnett brought four gorgeous instruments for display, all the way from Folkway Music in Guelph. The music store sponsored this event.

Bob MacLean, Rick Zolkower and Dunstan Morey was the workshop instructors and performers for the day. The workshops attracted a record 40 registrations! And this we had more women attend than any other year!

This was my first Guitar Summit, and my first concert since I took the position of General Manager at the Button Factory (gulp). But with the help of these gentlemen and Jim Galway, the evening's concert went beautifully.


To honour Earth Hour we dimmed the lights, and the performers unplugged. Each of the performers celebrated their mentors with beautiful performances, showing off skill and talent with the guitar that I had never seen or heard before. We kept the presentation simply, but the performances were diverse - blues, celtic and classical pieces.

I'm already looking forward to next year's summit.