The Creemore Festival of the Arts, a proud part of the Clearview Small Halls Festival, is a weekend-long celebration of art — one of the annual events that have made the village of Creemore a destination for creative inspiration and discovery.
This year, we present our most ambitious arts programming to date. We sponsored three marquee exhibits which examine the concepts of place, time and community from diverse viewpoints. These exhibits take place in the centre of the village while, up and down the main street, artists and artisans show their work in more than 20 locations.
Start at the Station on the Green (10 Caroline St E), in the heart of the village, to see the marquee exhibits, pick up a map, chat with an artist, and meet a few of our knowledgeable volunteers. Next, hit the restored Log Cabin beside the library for an art show in a heritage setting. Then it will be time for the main street. Take your time in our exhibits, galleries, restaurants and cafés.
Look for the purple and white signs!
The Creemore Festival of the Arts is free to the public and volunteer guides are available both days at the main venues.
Marquee art exhibits are at the Station on the Green (10 Caroline St E) and the Creemore Log Cabin, steps away on Library St.
“Over the years, some of the most compelling exhibits we’ve supported feature artist concepts around community themes. This year, we’re taking it up a notch with three distinct presentations on the theme of place.”
Creemore-based Peter Adams presents a playful urbanite’s 20 years of rural living in 20 boxed paintings. Adams, an award-winning painter and installation artist, represents the local landscape alongside curated assemblages of objects that fuel his creativity and symbolize the attachments we all have to the past as we make changes in our lives.
Animator and stop-motion artist Amber Harloff recreates Mill Street, the hub of Creemore, in miniature form. Harloff tells the story of Creemore’s downtown core in architectural models, including a historical glimpse of their past. Using set-design techniques, Harloff brings Creemore’s recent history to life—allowing generations to connect and see Creemore through a different lens.
Adrian Kahgee and Debbie Ebanks Schlums transform the interior of the Creemore Log Cabin through installation, audio and participatory performance. Enter a space where Anishinaabek time meets Island time — where a past, present and future treaty partnership is symbolically woven within the sacred space of a medicine wheel and the domestic space of a log cabin is adorned with a travelling scroll and quilts made by Saugeen community members.
The Mill Street community is an essential part of the festival. Stores, studios and outdoor spaces get involved, with artists and artisans showing their work in more than 20 locations. These amazing artists are hard at work right now, getting ready to blow the lid off the upcoming arts festival in Creemore.
About the Creemore Festival of the Arts
The weekend is presented by Purple Hills Arts & Heritage Society and is a proud part of the Small Halls Festival in Clearview Township. The event is made possible by nearly 100 on-site volunteer hours, not including the many hours put in by the organizing committee.
The Creemore Festival of the Arts is proud of its relationships with sponsors and grantmakers: Clearview Township, Creemore BIA, Simcoe County, RT07, Creemore Springs Brewery Ltd., Elston Watt Barristors & Solicitors, Chestnut Park Real Estate Ltd., TD Wealth Management.
Creemore Festival of the Arts – Sept 29 & 30, 2018
We’re looking for creative people who are interested in registering for Artists on Location, which places artists and artisans with local businesses, or seeking to show artwork within downtown Creemore throughout the weekend of Sept 29 & 30. The Artists in the Village, formerly called Artists on Location, is a weekend-long collaboration in the village of Creemore among venue owners, artists/artisans, and the Purple Hills Arts & Heritage Society.
Deadline for registrations: July 22, 2018 (EXTENDED)
The autumn arts weekend in Creemore is a community staple. This is the weekend we try to outdo the splendour of our natural surroundings in beautiful Simcoe County. We do our best to amaze our guests with arts exhibitions, installations, performances and displays centred around Creemore’s community halls and beautiful main street. Many visitors return each year for an afternoon, a day or a weekend.
Our guests may come for the marquee exhibits but they stay for the main street. A stroll along Mill Street is rewarded with delightful shops and restaurants anytime but on arts festival weekend there’s an added creative element with artists and artisans of all kinds, showing and demonstrating their work — indoors and outdoors.
The event is free to the public and exhibits are open on the Saturday and Sunday between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Volunteer guides are available both days at the main venues. We ask artists to engage with the public at the display venue throughout the weekend as this is an aspect of the festival that is especially meaningful to visitors.
The event is a proud part of the Small Halls Festival in Clearview Township. We look forward to announcing our exciting and diverse marquee shows — two exhibits in Creemore’s Station on the Green and one at the historic Log Cabin.
Registration
If you are registered, you will be part of the marketing machine for the festival which includes our brochure, poster, rack cards, website, social media, and print and online ads. We are not charging a registration fee this year. Instead, we ask that both the venue and the artist become members of Purple Hills Arts & Heritage Society, if they are not already members.
Membership for businesses is $100 per year. With that membership, your name is included on our website (phahs.ca), social media (@purplehillsarts), brochure and poster, and media outreach. Artists may join as businesses or as individuals at your level of choice.
If you would like to be part of this program, please fill out the forms linked below. If you have any questions, please contact the festival chair, Sara Hershoff: sara@creemore.com or 705-466-9906.
Public Art Opportunity for Collectives, Partnerships and Individuals
Description and Application Form
Deadline for Entries: April 15, 2018
The Purple Hills Arts & Heritage Society is seeking Artistic Submissions for public arts and heritage experiences at the Creemore Festival of the Arts on September 29 and 30, 2018.
We invite arts exhibitions, installations, performances, displays and more, which will be centred around Creemore’s attractive community halls and handsomely preserved main street.
The purpose of this Public Art Opportunity is to inspire and support two to three marquee presentations to elevate the Festival experience. Collectives, partnerships and individuals are encouraged to apply and may be made up of artists, curators, performers or others. Applicants may be from anywhere and work in any discipline.
“This year, we really want to open up the opportunity to headline the Creemore Festival of the Arts,” said Festival Chair, Sara Hershoff. “We hope this Call for Entries process will help us gather new possibilities and inspire exciting voices who want to explore and present their creative ideas.”
The deadline for Artistic Submissions is April 15, 2018. There is no entry fee. It is the goal of the Festival to distribute up to $10,000 to support two or three presentations. The funds are to be used for creation, production and display of works. Successful applicants will be provided with a community venue and volunteer support to bring their ideas to life during the highly-promoted autumn weekend festival.
The Creemore Festival of the Arts, which operates in partnership with Clearview Township’s Small Halls Festival, is an annual, weekend-long community celebration that seeks to engage and attract artists, locals and visitors to enjoy and support Creemore as a destination for creative inspiration and success.
Marquee shows are the cornerstone of the Festival, which is organized by volunteers and also features artists and artisans showing their work in more than 20 central locations. The event is free to the public and volunteer guides are available both days at the main venues. The event attracts between 1,500 and 2,000 visitors each year.
Purple Hills Arts and Heritage Society is a volunteer-run charity dedicated to fostering community by cultivating and celebrating a broad range of arts and heritage activities in Creemore and area.
The Purple Hills Arts & Heritage Society Board has approved the following DRAFT Constitutional By-Law for consideration by the Membership and ultimate adoption at the 2018 Annual General Meeting. This effort has been undertaken by the Purple Hills Board of Directors to streamline and modernize the By-Law for the overall benefit of the Society.
CONSTITUTIONAL BY-LAW
being a By-Law to regulate the affairs of PURPLE HILLS ARTS AND HERITAGE SOCIETY
The above is provided in PDF format for review. Note that proposed amendments are highlighted in yellow. Other formats can be made available on request.
Comments are invited for the consultation period ending March 31, 2018. Comments, requests and questions may be sent via our email (info@phahs.ca) to the attention of Keith Boulter. Hand-written annotations or other comments may be delivered to Sara Hershoff at The Creemore Echo.
Thanks are due to past Board members Yvonne Hamlin and Maureen Quigley for their work and advice in this endeavour.
You can become a member or renew your annual membership here.
When you support us, your gift stays in the community. Our programs include Creemore’s annual autumn arts weekend, the Tea & History talk series, Creemore’s self-directed heritage walk, fine art classes in the local elementary school, bursaries for talented students, arts and heritage talks and installations, and community grants.
Membership Levels 2019
Family $40 Single $25
Patron $200 Benefactor $100
Please pay here:
When you choose pay, you will be asked for contact information (i.e., mailing address, telephone #) If you want to add more, please send us an email (info@phahs.ca).
We will add you to our mailing list to receive a tax receipt, occasional newsletter, and notices of special gatherings or fundraisers.
Thank you for your support.
If you prefer:
Mail your payment to 10 Caroline St E, Creemore, ON L0M 1G0
If you have any questions contact our membership coordinator:
Cheryl MacLaurin, at 705-446-8005 or cherylmclaurin@chesnutpark.com.
OUR 2017 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING & A PLAY IN ONE PART
A special Sunday in Dunedin
December 10, 2017 @ Dunedin Hall
THE AGM
1pm – Purple Hills Annual General Meeting and Election of Directors
THE PLAY
One Good Marriage
Steph and Stewart arrived home from their blissful honeymoon to find something terrible happened in their absence. This show moves from pathos to humour and back again as their story is revealed.
A play in one part performed by Heidi Lynch and Alex Crowther
Written by Sean Reycraft
Directed by Dunedin’s own Steve Lucas
2pm – A FREE matinee for members, prospective members and AGM attendees
7pm – An evening presentation of the play. Doors open at 6:30pm.
Immerse yourself in a creative exploration of one of Canada’s most fascinating hunters.
Original owl illustrations, photographs and sculptures. Discover Ann Brokelman’s wildlife photography. Examine unusual owl collections. Make your own owl. Or join in a talk with an owl specialist. At the Station on the Green (10 Caroline St E).
The Re-Vision Exhibit
Artist Jim Stacey seeks to inspire artisans and woodworkers to work in material diverted from landfills. Starting with wooden pallets, he re-imagines reclaimed material as art and home furnishings. Outside the Station on the Green.
Canada 150 Bowl Show
Large bowls created by local potters and ceramic artists to commemorate our nation’s 150th birthday. Also discover unique, large art bowls loaned from local collectors. At the Creemore Log Cabin, steps away from the Station on the Green.
Forty Years of Purple Hills (1977-2017)
Historical artifacts from the Purple Hills Arts & Heritage Society celebrating forty years of cultural invention in Creemore. At the Station on the Green.
And there’s more!
35+ artists, artisans, sculptors, jewellers and more in local businesses, studios and galleries around town all weekend.
Festival program and map – download and print to plan your weekend!
Listen to the radio ad from Classical 102.9
Creemore Festival of the Arts Committee 2017
Gail Caswell, Basil Guinane, Jim Harkness, Sara Hershoff, Victoria Denoga Huntley, David Bruce Johnson, Cheryl MacLaurin, Julie Pollock, Laurie Severn, Jim Stacey, Carole Watson
To honour our 40th year, we are putting together an exhibit for this year’s Creemore Festival of the Arts. (Mark your calendar! It’s the weekend of Sept 30 & Oct 1, 2017.)
We are seeking Purple Hills memorabilia to share such as:
pictures of people and events
posters, tickets, newsletters, costumes, decorations, etc.
old records, notes, other documents
We are also actively archiving Society records and other materials. You may have some of them in your attic!
If you have any items to share, please email Basil Guinane.
