Clayton- The Thousand Islands Arts Center is looking for volunteers to assist with events, classes, mailings, facility and grounds maintenance, among others. If interested in helping out at the arts center, drop-in times have been scheduled.
The first volunteer information session is Thursday, May 16, 11am-2pm. At this time volunteers can pick up a packet and sign up for opportunities. The packet outlines the Arts Center’s history/present/future, trustee and staff contacts, highlights volunteer opportunities and more. Volunteers can sign up for specific events, including the 1000 Islands Art & Craft & Antique festival, this year Aug. 10-11. There will be light refreshments and sign-up sheets for each volunteer opportunity.
Other volunteer drop-in dates are Thursdays, May 23, May 30 and June 6, also 11am-2pm. If unable to attend one of these dates, feel free to contact Katherine Lake, events and volunteer coordinator, at Katherine@tiartscenter.org or (315) 686-4123 ext. 200 to get information.
The Thousand Islands Arts Center will have an exhibition showcasing the work of Elizabeth Grater and Becky Harblin. The exhibition will be on display Wednesday, June 5, through Saturday, July 6. There will be an opening reception Wednesday, June 26, from 5-7 pm, and is open to the public and all are welcome to attend.
Elizabeth B. Grater (1924- 2021) was a painter, depicting scenes from her life. She devoted her life to caring for others, expressing that care through love for her family and friends, and a desire to share her vision of the world’s beauty through her painting. She was born in Ogdensburg and began painting as a child in LaTuque, Quebec, before moving to Cornwall, Ont. She attended Smith College, earned a Nursing Degree from the Montreal General Hospital in 1946, and, with her husband Bill, moved to East Tennessee in 1954. There Elizabeth raised their four children and became an invaluable member of her community. Always, she made time for her art: sketching, painting, attending workshops, and studying with artists such as Charles S. Chapman, Rex Brandt, Hans Junga, Betty Lou Schlemm, and Keith Crown. She painted not for the accolades (though she received many), but for the love of art and especially her subjects: the landscapes of East Tennessee, her home for almost 70 years, and the St. Lawrence River, especially her beloved Halfway and St. Margarette’s Islands, where she spent every summer of her life. Treasured also are her portraits of her children and grandchildren. Always humble about her talent, Betty was hesitant to sell her work, but hundreds of her paintings grace the houses of friends and families across the country. In a statement about one of her more abstract paintings, Elizabeth described her work in this way: “I have enjoyed experimenting with many approaches and art media, but I keep returning to realism. This is not photographic realism, but the relationship of people and things around me which stimulate me to paint. I love the play of light and shadow and the hint of mystery which I hope will interest and involve the viewer.”
Elizabeth taught art for many years at Tennessee Wesleyan College through the Continuing Education program. She helped found the Athens Community Art League, and was a charter member of the Tennessee Watercolor Society. She also served for a number of years on the International Advisory Board of the Frederic Remington Museum in Ogdensburg, New York. Her paintings have been exhibited, often winning prizes, in galleries and shows in the south and northeast. Her work has appeared throughout the years at the Thousand Island Arts Center in the Along The River’s Edge exhibition.
Becky Harblin, pastel landscape and plein-air artist, draws her inspiration for this exhibition from the poem To Earthward by Robert Frost. One of his few love poems, Harblin pairs each of her pieces with a line from Frost’s work, depicting all seasons of rural life, from shores to dirt roads. A trained painter, Becky majored in art and did coursework at San Diego State University. Much of her painting now, after a career at The New Yorker magazine, and several newspapers, is working in pastels. Over the last twenty years, Becky has begun to incorporate her studies in Amazonian Healing (shamanism) into all her work beyond painting, including poetry, sculpture, and photography. The bulk of her painting is done plein air. She enjoys the direct contact with her subjects and the often-explicit interpretation of light in a landscape.
The Thousand Islands Arts Center is located at 314 John St., Clayton, Monday through Friday, 9 am-5 pm. More information can be found at www.tiartscenter.org.