THUNDER BAY – An art show was held this weekend at the Valhalla Inn titled Celebrating Artists Past and Present to showcase artists in Thunder Bay as well as celebrating and honouring local artists who have passed away according to Biljiana Baker, organizer and local artist.
“You know, we found out that a lot of artists are passing away and we don't have any record of their names and, you know, this is such a large [culture] in our community and I just hated to see that we don't have a reference to what was happening in the past,” she said.
“And I also believe in the work that the artists are doing now and [the] new cultures and new life that's being put into this fantastic city for arts and culture, so I just want to combine the two and make sure that we have the best balance of both the past and the present.”
Baker says that this show was important to her because without keeping archives of local art, parts of local history are likely to be lost.
“So that's why I wanted to do that, and, you know, within two weeks we ended up with 60 names of artists and poets and musicians that have passed away that would have been forgotten in the future,” she said.
“So this way we have sort of an archive of names and things that I will pass on to others like the museum and the Art gallery and the city archives and the so that we have some record of this.”
Many local artists were more than happy to attend and be a part of the show, including local artist, Micheal Jacques, owner of MJ Metalworks, who says that his time at the show this weekend has been awesome.
“It truly goes to show in Thunder Bay how much community really truly matters,” he said. “And just having conversations with these wonderful people all weekend really make my heart warm and make me feel that connection of community for sure.”
Baker says she’s thrilled with the turnout over the weekend.
“A lot of people came [and] really enjoyed the artists that are here because we try to give them a lot of space so they can display a lot of their artwork...” she said.
“And then we have music, and we had the choir yesterday and we have the carvers out front, and we have a high school here and so it's really a conglomeration of a lot, we have youth, we have older people, we have everything here, but it's not overwhelming for people to come and see.”
