New Sixty Days of Fame Exhibit

Love’s Hidden SymMeTrees is the new spring art exhibit being featured by the Culture Summerside Sixty Days of Fame series. It will feature the work of Patricia Clarkin and will hang in the Lefurgey Room of the Lefurgey Cultural Centre in Summerside.

Patricia Clarkin grew up in Ontario and from a young age was enamoured with fabric, design, and nature. In her heart she knew she was an artist. She studied fashion merchandising and while working in the industry continued her studies at the Ontario College of Art in textile design and at Ryerson in colour theory. In Portland, Oregon she studied apparel design. She also studied art history. But, an unexpected circumstance of life took Clarkin in a new direction.

At the age of thirty, she was diagnosed with a form of muscular dystrophy, and left unable to pursue her fashion career. Clarkin moved to PEI and in 1999 began her journey as a visual artist through the medium of digital art, video and documentary production, and Mandalas. Finally she took up painting. Her husband, Michael, suggested she try painting with watercolours, a medium she had previously avoided fearing her physical disability would not allow her to accomplish the straight lines. But, when her husband gifted her the paper and paints, she embraced the challenge and embarked on the creation of abstracts. She had the foundation in her fabric studies and travels of the galleries of Europe and New York. From there she moved unto working in acrylic. Nature was her focus with the painting of one flower each week. Clarkin spent time connecting with the plant and attempting to capture its essence. Trees made their way into her work as she is surrounded by them in her rural PEI setting. Clarkin now donates the proceeds of her art sales to Treesisters, a UK registered social change and reforestation charity that funds tropical forest restoration.

It is fitting that the exhibit, which will feature some of her many works, is titled Love’s Hidden SymMeTrees. The exhibit will be open to the public, Monday through Friday, 9 am to 4 pm, free of charge. Please note the change of location. The Sixty Days of Fame series has been featured in the past at the MacNaught History Centre and Archives gallery. However, for now it is the temporary home of the International Fox Museum. The Lefurgey Cultural Centre is located at 205 Prince Street, Summerside.

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 Culture Summerside Celebrates National Poetry Month

 

April is National Poetry Month in Canada. The League of Canadian Poets has invited communities across Canada to celebrate the 23rd National Poetry Month this April 2021 with the theme of resilience. Established in 1966, the League of Canadian Poets is a national non-profit organization dedicated to supporting poets, building poetic communities, supporting inclusive and equitable free expression, and promoting Canadian poets and Poetry. Culture Summerside invited veteran Island poet Wayne Wright to create a poem centred around the theme of resilience.

Please enjoy the poem “Oh Summerside”, written and recited by Wayne Wright: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka8p1023HAQ  

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 Congratulations to Recipients of the City of Summerside’s
Heritage and Culture Awards

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Celebrating the Birthday of Canada’s National Flag 

 

February marked the 56th birthday of the National Flag of Canada, informally known as The Maple Leaf. Culture Summerside celebrated the flag’s birthday with an energetic virtual show! Culture Summerside Programmer, Marlene Campbell, wrote a presentation which tells the story of the difficult birth of our national flag, which has now become a much loved Canadian symbol.

Island actor Mark Haines, with words and music, brought the story to life. The short video was professionally recorded in the historic Wyatt House Museum.

To view the video please visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Imgpgr9hX8E  
  

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City of Summerside Cultural Plan | Cultural Plan Recommendations Progress Sheet