Hospital fundraiser promises to be ‘new and different’

Posted By John Campbell

Posted 5 months ago

Campbellford – It’s a fundraiser unlike any other Campbellford Memorial Hospital Foundation has been involved in, an auction featuring the work of professional painters from across Canada – as well as those by prominent people not known for their painterly skills, including retired ballerina Victoria Tennant, fashion designer Simon Chang, and standup comic Brent Butt.

“We always do a golf tournament, we always send out direct mail, we always do newsletters,” CMH Foundation executive director Neil Hannam said, so “it’s kind of fun” to try something that’s “new and different.”

All proceeds from the The Other Canvas will go toward the foundation’s campaign to raise $2.5 million to install a CT scanner at the hospital later this year.

Sixty-one pieces of art have been created exclusively for the event which will take place Sept. 19 at Westben Barn Theatre. Among those making a contribution who are better known for their talent in other fields are Westben co-founders soprano Donna Bennett and pianist/composer Brian Finley, tenor Michael Burgess, dancer Rex Harrington and actors Chick Reid and Tom McCamus.

“We’ve got every kind of style, every kind of medium” – acrylics, oil, water colour and photographs, Hannam said in an interview last Thursday at a storefont on Bridge Street East where a preview of all but a few of the creations was given.

“We’ve got such a diversity of styles and materials that there’s something for everybody.”

Each artist was provided a canvas custom-made by Wayne Blakely of Coldwater to fit on a Northumberland easel chair. Neil Graham of Stone House Gardens in Warkworth designed the original prototype and William O’Kane, of O’Kane Fine Woodworking, also of Warkworth, produced the final version which can be used as a chair or as an easel to showcase the artist’s canvas.

The unique chair will be available for purchase after next month’s fundraiser.

Merle Garside, a retired architect who approached Hannam in July 2008 with a proposal to stage a art show as a fundraiser, said the invited artists “were given no restrictions whatsoever” as to subject matter, “it was totally up to them.”

She credited Kelly Townsend for getting so many artists to participate.

“She just sent out e-mails to all kinds of people,” Garside said. “She’s done a wonderful job.”

Townsend’s husband Brent, a wildlife artist, painted a snow leopard on his canvas.

Garside, who wanted to contribute in some way to the foundation’s fundraising campaign, came up with the idea for an art show featuring local artists as well as those known nationally to “give the public a little different kind of event to go to.”

The idea was to have “each of the provinces represented,” she said.

“The public will have an opportunity to bid on well-known artists’ signature pieces as well as aspiring new artists ... (and) acquire one of these pieces at a price range that is very affordable,” Garside said..

Invitations were sent out to the three area art organizations – Brighton Art Council, Northumberland Art Council and Spirit of the Hills – to have their members participate. Brighton’s will be well represented, with eight of its members taking part, including twin sisters Marilyn Cundal and Carolyn Hughes

Hughes, a retired RN, used a “romantic memory” – her wedding – as the inspiration for her choice of subject, a vineyard. She spent more than 200 hours researching the many details depicted on her canvas.

She said the art show is “a wonderful idea” to showcase an array of talent. “You’ll never find two artists alike ... They don’t just see the world, they feel the world, they have a sensitivity and a honesty about them that’s just a beautiful thing to know.”

Hannam said that, “if all goes well,” the hospital’s first CT scan should take place in mid-January 2009. So far $1.8 million has been raised – “75 per cent and closing.”