Happy Wednesday… half way through the week! 9 days till Christmas day! The count down is on at Gateway to the Arts! On Friday our Christmas Tree Auction will go live at 9AM Friday December 18th and it will close at 5PM Saturday December 19th. The funds raised will go towards helping a few local families struggling with serious illness this holiday season. So far the tree includes:A fresh Blue Spruce Tree from Walker’s Tree FarmA 10-week session at North Bay Gymtrix (195.00 value)Four gift certificates from Lou Dawgs valued at 100.00A gift certificate and baking platter from Oak East Eatery A package of kids outer wear, stuffed toy and back pack from Jr. WorldA photographic print on metal from DLR Photography (200.00 value)Print by artist Melinda Shank (300.00 value) Mandala Painting by artist Karrie Emms (100.00 value)Crochet gifts by Shelby Watson (50.00 value) Gift from Acclaim Sound and Lighting (TBA)Dragonfly Welded Piece From Artist Mike Gardiner (25.00 value)Christmas Tree Art by Moe McGuinty (40.00 value)Chainmaille Jewellery set by Dreamweaver Jewellery (50.00 value)We are constantly adding to the tree and will continue to do so until the auction goes live if you would like to donate or your business would we would love to include you!I am so pleased to donate to this AWESOME cause! My print is from Lake Superior. It is 16 x 20 on metal.

Morning all… how lucky I am to live in a city and have these visitors regularly. So far this summer/fall.. we have had blue jays, chick a dees, a couple of wood peckers, sparrows, 2 northern flickers, crackels, mocking jays … and of course sea gulls, crows, ravens… and the ever dreaded pigeons!!!!

Gateway To the Arts Co-operative
151A Main Street West.
North Bay On P1B 2T6

Gatewaytotheartscoop@gmail.com

Allow us to introduce ourselves, we are a new co-operative venture in the heart of downtown North Bay. Currently we have 8 member artists and four rental studios and a large open concept gallery which is approximately 1300 sq ft in size. We are striving to create a wonderful and inclusive member based operation which focuses on positivity and inclusion within the arts community. Our four founding members are all Northern Ontario artists and as such we have opened membership to all Northern Ontario fine artists. (Dani lynn Redgrift-Berthelot, Karrie Emms, Shanan Thibault King & Anne Brule)

Please feel free to contact us by email for more information

We look forward to hearing from you !

Yours,
Gateway To the Arts Co-operative
Www.gatewaytotheartscoop.ca

Happy Friday… Happy Thanksgiving Long weekend eve…. What are you thankful/grateful for? My list is long. I am truly blessed with an amazing support group.. my family… my friends…my partners in crime for all my photography adventures. This year has been to say the least trying … but with their help… support I will come out the other side as good as new. How fortunate I am to have my morning visitors… I love my jays… chick a dees they are so comical.

Stay safe all…. practice social distancing and wash those hands!

Happy Fall…Every year I plan and anticipate with great excitement several “fall adventures”… unfortunately this year my adventures (due to circumstances beyond my control have been curtailed…)so I have been searching in my archives for some blasts from the past. These were taken back in October 2008 out at Deer Path Camp on Commando Lake ( Located just south of Lake Nipissing, Commanda Lake lies just south of the popular Restoule Provincial Park.

Good Saturday Morning…. love my backyard buddies.

Fast facts:The chickadee is the provincial bird of New Brunswick. Black-capped Chickadees are small birds that measure 12 to 15 centimetres long. They have grey backs, a black cap that covers their eyes, white cheeks and a black triangular bib on the throat. Their stomachs are white with buff along the sides and their wings and tail are dark grey with white edging.Chickadees make their chickadee-dee-dee call using increasing numbers of dee notes when they are alarmed.

Rainy Sunday afternoon… the chick a dees don’t mind at all… just leave the sunflower seeds and they are happy!

Excited to be embarking on this new endeavor. Please contact us for any information.

Hello All!This is a very happy post. We have been working diligently behind the scenes to bring Gateway To the Arts from dream to reality. We hit a few bumps along the way, mainly the one everyone is sick of hearing about, COVID, but a few others as well. However Dani-Lynn Redgrift-Berthelot, Shanan Thibault King and myself are exceptionally excited to let the cat out of the bag this afternoon. After looking at an endless stream of retail spaces we have confirmed (20 minutes ago) that the new location of Gateway To the Arts will be 151 MAin Street West in North Bay. This space is 1300 sq. Feet of beautiful upstairs space and 1300 sq. Feet of basement space that will be turned into studio space for rent and host several permanent artists. We could not be more pleased to have worked out a great agreement with the owner. This has been a long time coming but Gateway To the Arts finally has a CONFIRMED bricks and mortar home within the Gateway City. Our target open date will be October 1, 2020 just in time for the upcoming holiday season and we will be accepting artist applications as of TODAY. Gateway To the Arts will become THE place to go for gallery quality artwork from across the north with many membership levels. Our focus will be on promoting artists/artisans, mixed media artists and on promoting the sale of original art pieces. We will offer a directory of artists from across the north who will be available to facilitate workshops, seminars and classes of a professional quality while supporting the passion of a mature artists and children in positive learning environments. We will also be facilitating bookings for organizations, realtors looking to stage homes and film set design as well as offering quality events within the gallery and northern Ontario communities and organizations. Gateway To the Arts will follow a true co-operative model and our mandate will be to work together to help each other, teach each other and promote each other throughout the creative process.

For further information please contact us : gatewaytotheartscoop@gmail.com

Happy World Photography Day, August 19…. The soft click of the camera, a flash of light and a moment in time captured forever. Maybe digitally, maybe on film, the medium is never as important as the memory or moment caught. A group of people, a sunset, or even a fish jumping out of the water, a photograph is a way to feel the emotion and context of that exact moment. Celebrate that!Photography Day is a day whereby we pay tribute to the incredible art form that is photography. Just think about how important photography is, and it is not easy to see why this date is well-deserved.There are those personal photos that we all love and cherish, but there are also photos that tell a story. They tell us about significant periods in time or enable us to learn more about the planet. After all, they do say that a picture is worth one-thousand words, right?