Open House - take two.

Is that a gingerbread replica of the fire-hall you ask? Why yes it is! Just a fun festive way to kick off our second open house, with Christmas just around the corner we thought a welcoming event with hot apple cider and hot chocolate would be perfect on November 28th, the day of the Lunenburg Santa Claus parade.


We were up til all hours of the morning preparing the tasty treats.


We had plenty of people coming though the space, enjoying the unseasonable warm weather and the freshly baked treats. We really enjoyed the support that we got from the whole community and it was wonderful to see so many new people out to see what we are up to.


A big thank you to all that came out and shared in this fun event with us. We will be sure to keep everyone posted on all of our up coming events.

- UNDER CONSTRUCTION -

We're busy as bees at the Fire-hall getting ready for a slew of events coming up in the next few days.

Tomorrow evening at 7 pm we will be hosting the second lecture in the Lunenburg Lecture Series featuring artist Mathew Reichertz, at the Lunenburg Academy Auditorium.

Saturday we are hosting an Open House from 11 - 4 pm. Stop by and check out some of our in-studio demonstrations on spinning, weaving, wheel throwing and screen-printing. Just for this fun day we're making a gingerbread replica of the Fire-hall. Fingers crossed that the cookie doesn't crumble before Saturday!

Local Artist Joan Bruneau Receives Prestigious Award.

A wonderful local potter and NSCAD faculty member Joan Bruneau was recently named the 2009 recipient of the Established Artist Recognition Award from the Nova Scotia Arts and Culture Alliance. The award, valued at $5000.oo, was announced at the annual Creative Nova Scotia Gala, held in Yarmouth on October 24.

Joan has spent the past fifteen years developing an international and national career. She is an inspiring teacher an innovative studio potter and an influential mentor. Her studio and gallery in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia have flourished for the past fifteen years.

We here at the fire-hall wish Joan all the best over the coming years and offer her a much hearty congratulations for this well deserved honor.

Jennie Spinning Flax

At the beginning of October, I met a wonderful group of hand-spinners who volunteer at the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic in downtown Lunenburg. I joined them every Wednesday and shared their company as we spun for an audience of museum goers. On one occasion, a man named Earl was visiting the museum to see our flax spinning demonstration. As he watched me spin, he recounted his experience growing flax in 1937 for a school project. He had such sincere appreciation for these traditional skills and was pleased they were still being practiced in his hometown that it left quite an impression on me.

Flax spinning demonstrations will continue at the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic in May 2010.

Photos by Kat Frick Miller

November 28th Open House

Art and the Community with Susan Hudson

On Tuesday October 27, Susan Hudson led a public discussion on "Art and the Community" at the Lunenburg library. The three of us were invited to participate and share our experiences as recent graduates of a Fine Art university who are currently involved in community outreach programming.

It was certainly inspiring to hear the general support for community arts initiatives. While there was also discussion about the need for increased financial support from all the levels of government we feel privileged that the NSCAD Lunenburg Residency Program has received such generous funding at the Municipal level and that this doesn't go unnoticed by the community. As our time here continues, we are becoming more aware of the strength of the arts community which has taken root here and hope that Lunenburg can continue to gain recognition as a thriving arts centre.

To read more about NSCAD's focus on art and the community, check out the recently released 2009 President's Report which includes a feature on the NSCAD Lunenburg Residency Program.

Ghosts of the Old Town Fire-Hall

On All-Hallows-Eve, the most frightening of nights, the ghosts of the old Fire-Hall came back to life. With bone chilling white walls decked with cobwebs and candlelight, the pumpkins were carved to cause quite a fright. The littlest of kiddies we could not entice, as the hollow eyes of the firefighters were too scary a sight. But the older kids did not take heed of our blood-curdling screams and they ran off with our plunder leaving us with nothing but to go back under.

Photos by Kat Frick Miller

An Introduction - our first open house

Already a month has passed since our September open house so we thought it was about time to post some pictures of our overwhelmingly successful evening.

The evening was entitled An Introduction and was the debut of our new studio set up as well as some art work to the Lunenburg community.

We had a great turnout of both Lunenburgers and NSCAD supporters and had a chance to meet many warm and welcoming individuals. Specifically we'd like to thank Senator Moore for his support for the program and to Sharon Blanchard and Joann Reynolds- Farmer of the NSCAD Extended Studies Department who helped facilitate the event.

Jennifer Green's studio space

Kat Frick Miller's studio space

Katherine Thomas's studio space

While we don't know exactly how many attendees there were we do know that we didn't have a single pickle or smoked mackerel h'orderve left at the end of the evening so we're calling it a success.

photos by Joann Reynolds-Farmer and Kat Frick Miller