MacLaren celebrates its roots
Barrie Advance
September 17, 2009
The MacLaren Art Centre is combining its past with its present for a new festival.
The Carnegie Days Festival focuses on the MacLaren building’s origins as a Carnegie Public Library, and explores the role of language in contemporary art.
“We are very excited about this,” said Carolyn Bell Farrell, executive director of the MacLaren. “This is only the first year of what we hope will become an annual arts festival and something that can become a great cultural attraction for the city.”
The festival, which runs between Sept. 17 and 20, offers exhibitions, public art projects, authors’ readings, lectures, guided tour, hands-on workshops and video presentations at more than 20 locations.
“Our hope was to create a festival that would connect with Doors Open Barrie on the Sunday, but also make visitors to downtown Barrie more aware of our heritage and our cultural attractions and the vitality of downtown Barrie,” Bell Farrell said.
The MacLaren will host two exhibits – Logotopia: The Library in Architecture, Art and the Imagination, and Ex Libris.
The festival also includes ‘meet me in the stacks’, a public art bookmark project, Read Out Loud a book-mobile shuttle, and Shop Talk where six downtown stores will feature festival-themed window displays.
Local artist Sean-William Dawson is taking part by using his creative talents to create three of the storefront window displays.
“I had wanted to do a project based on books, but I think my generation is better defined by film, so I chose three books that were turned into films,” he said. “But each of the books defines a chapter in my life, it’s the trilogy of my life.”
Dawson’s displays feature The Elephant Man, The Fisher King and The Shawshank Redemption.
Carnegie Days also features Eat Your Words where patrons can enjoy readings from a number of authors while they dine at local restaurants. The participating restaurants will be offering menus designed around literary classics.
There will also be workshops on bookmaking and book sculpture, and the launch of Bruce Meyer’s latest book Dog Days on Sept. 18.
For more information and a full schedule, call 721-9696 or visit www.maclarenart.com.
Doors Open Barrie
Doors Open Barrie will take place Sept. 20 as part of Barrie’s Heritage Weekend. The event gives the public a chance to take a peek inside some of the city’s most historic and interesting buildings, including Collier Street United Church, Money Concepts Barrie and Shutter’s Restaurant. For more information, visit www.doorsopenbarrie.ca.
Leigh Blenkhorn
