Newmarket senior artist David Woodburn said he picked up painting after retiring several years ago, but had never been in an art show before now.
Woodburn said he decided to join other local artists for his first show as a way to get some more feedback.
“I just wanted to put myself out there and see what people thought of my work,” he said. “Positive reinforcement gets you encouragement to keep on doing some of your stuff.”
The town helped launch a new seniors art show and sale May 27 at the Old Town Hall. The free event features work from 20 different local artists for sale, running from Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., until June 9.
Elizabeth Nicholas, one of the organizers and a member of the East Gwillimbury Group of Artists, said art events like this halted due to the pandemic, but it was nice to be able to return to them.
“It’s nice for them to see their work being admired and appreciated by other people,” she said, adding the work of seniors can sometimes get considered lesser. “They don’t realize how much ability some seniors have.”
Jackie Edwards, another organizer, said she was grateful the town was providing the space.
“It’s important. We’ve been missing each other,” she said, adding that many seniors “have not experienced an art show.”
Mayor John Taylor attended alongside council members and made remarks to open the show. He said having a strong arts scene is important to community building.
“That is really the heartbeat of the community,” he said. “It’s beautiful art and it just speaks to people’s passion for so many different things in life.”
Marilyn Abbey participated, and she said it was also her first art show. She said she was nervous about taking part, but doing art is worthwhile.
“It’s a release of expression,” she said. “You get really involved in it, and I think it’s relaxing.”
Though much of the art involved drawing or painting, some other types were present. Denise Magloughlen is a metalsmith who brought sterling silver jewellery and a dress made entirely out of pop cans.
She said it is great to be out participating in shows again after pandemic-related hiatuses.
“People are anxious to be getting out,” she said. “So I look forward to things opening up even more.”
“It looks great. I hope we get some more people out,” Woodburn said. “I’m just glad the people who put this together did so.”
