Get out your paint brushes and your dancing shoes.
This weekend, the Collingwood Art and Music Crawl will bring together both music and art lovers in perfect harmony, featuring more than 40 artists and 40 musicians at more than 40 venues, with live music and art in the downtown.
“Collingwood has a big art scene. A lot of people want to live here because of the environment around Collingwood. Blue Mountain, winter, summer... it’s the same reasons people settle here (in general),” says Jason Alexander, a local artist who had a hand in organizing the Battle of the Brushes aspect this time around.
“A lot of people here have gotten a little older and can’t ski as much, or can’t golf as much. So it exercises another part of their brain. It’s very healthy, to paint and be creative... It’s paradise here.”
Currently, a multitude of paintings showing sunsets adorns Alexander’s studio on Third Street.
“Lately I’ve been doing a lot of landscapes and a lot of sunsets. People in my family are being born, and people in my family are dying,” he says. “Sunsets are a little bit of both... it depends on your point of view. It’s the beginning or the end of something, either day or night. The transition between dark and light.”
Alexander helped organize the Art Crawl this year after winning the Battle of the Brushes event back in 2015.
“I don’t win a lot, so that was good,” laughs Alexander. “I was told I should do it. The torch was kind of handed over to me because I have the supplies and everything. I really enjoy doing it. I stutter too much, and it’s the only time I really get to be on stage.”
This year, the Battle of the Brushes takes place at 97 Hurontario Street behind town hall in two rounds at 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. There are still spaces available for artists in the battle, with the option for the final paintings to be sold after the battle is over.
“No one really wins or loses, it’s just the act of painting in 20 minutes,” says Alexander.
Karen Cubitt, manager of culture and events with the Town of Collingwood, stresses the need for local volunteers and champions to participate in organizing events like these to keep them alive.
“This sort of event can only grow by getting local people – people like Jason – involved to take on various roles,” she says.
The art crawl itself was the brainchild of local artist Andrea Rinaldo, who is still involved. As the event has grown she needed help and approached the town. When the town decided to help, they had been looking into a way to promote live music and found the two events together could make for a creative collaboration, opting to call the musical aspect the Live and Original Music Crawl.
“You may hear a few covers throughout the evening, but the majority of the music being performed is originals,” says Cubitt.
“Together, I think we have a pretty solid event lined up,” she says.
Another aspect of the crawl will be body painting, being done by Helena Wilson of Fancy That Face Painting at Awear Eco Boutique on Hurontario Street.
This is the third year Wilson will be participating, where she will be painting a live model.
Wilson says she enjoys painting bodies, because each canvas is unique.
“The human canvas is constantly changing and it's a challenge to incorporate the contours and each unique attribute of the person within the design,” she says.
The Collingwood Art and Music Crawl takes place this Saturday from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Crow Bar and Variety and Gibson & Co. will also both be hosting after parties. There is no admission cost.
For more information on the Collingwood Art and Music Crawl, click here.
