By Hollie Pratt-Campbell When Janet Ross isn’t sitting in her dentist’s chair, filling cavities and reconstructing patients’ teeth, she can be found in the loft of her country home north of Kingston, creating beautiful pieces of jewellery, or teaching classes on silversmithing, wax casting and more with the Kingston Lapidary and Mineral Club. In fact, she notes that the skill sets for dentistry and jewellery making are really quite similar.
By Hollie Pratt-Campbell
When Marc Lemieux walked into his first pottery class with the Kingston Potters’ Guild in 1990, he had no idea he was starting down what would eventually turn into a very successful career path.
"I was in university and I was looking for something to do in the winter,”he recalls. “I just signed up for one of the six week classes and then took another one in the spring. I really liked it, so I became a member [of the guild].”
Kingston Arts Council’s Cultural Animator, Irina Skvortsova, is one of the many participants in a collaborative, multidisciplinary art project, The Kingston Shebang, set to take place at the opening of the Tett Centre. The Kingston Shebang will celebrate the inauguration of the arts cluster by building bridges between the diverse artists and artistic organizations set to take up residency in the revitalized facility.
By Hollie Pratt-CampbellChantal Thompson had just moved from Kingston to Toronto to study at the Ontario College of Art and Design when she got the news that her friend and former bandmate Joe Chithalen had died unexpectedly.
By Hollie Pratt-CampbellMichèle LaRose is living proof that it’s never too late to follow your heart.In 2002, she left behind a successful, decades-long career in national museums and archives and management consulting to pursue her dream of becoming a full-time painter.“I had started to paint again on a part-time basis when I had the time, and I realized that I was having a hard time staying focused on my paying job,” says LaRose, noting that she had a childhood interest for making art that never really died. “It just became a more consuming passion, I suppose.”
By Hollie Pratt-CampbellIt’s no real surprise that Greg Tilson’s son, George, is demonstrating some serious musical skill (particularly for percussion) at the early age of eight months. Greg and his wife, Annie Clifford, are both talented musicians themselves as members of the sprawling music collective The Gertrudes, and Greg has spent many years organizing music events and festivals in Kingston.
Are you curious about the latest construction at the Tett Centre? The City of Kingston has recently released a video detailing the work to date and you can check it out here.
By Hollie Pratt-CampbellFor Gillian Baker, dance is life.“It’s kind of like breathing for me,” says the 15-year-old Kingston School of Dance (KSD) student. “I love it, but it’s beyond that, to the point where I need it. I almost don’t even have to think about it because it’s just always there.”
