Riverdale Art Show at St. Barnabas, Chester

Saturday October 17 10:30 am - 5 pm This is the 21st anniversary show and sale of the beautiful creations of our neigbourhood artists. This show features up to 24 artists. Admission is free. - open to the public. There’s always some wonderful art to see and, of course, to buy! Please use the southwest Hampton Street entrance. Held annually at St. Barnabas [ map here » ].

Special opening night, Friday, October 16 from 6 to 8 pm.
Oil painting "Dancing Baby" by Jennifer Reid [above right]. See larger view here » and Jennifer's website here »

FOR Jenny Reid, volunteering is a joy that brings its own rewards. A parishioner at St. Barnabas, Toronto, since 1979, Ms. Reid is a member of the church choir, coordinator of the church bazaar, a member of the parish advisory board – and she helps with the church flowers. Her most significant, and most demanding, volunteer job, however, has been running the Riverdale Art Show for the past 20 years. Ms. Reid recalls that it all began in 1989, when the church needed some new ideas for fundraising. At the time, she was a nurse raising four children, renovating an old Riverdale house with her husband Neville, and painting watercolours in her spare time. She suggested opening the

parish hall for an art show and sale for local artists. “The church, like all churches, was short of warm bodies and this was something simple,” she says. As an artist herself, she understood that artists typically are nervous about selling their work and, unless they have signed on with a gallery, cannot easily find a market. And their materials are expensive. “I thought this could be a good way to raise funds and provide a market for ordinary artists like myself,” she says. “I also thought it would be nice to have community people involved in a St. Barnabas activity.” In the past 20 years, the art show has raised $23,000 for the church, with people coming from across the city to attend. Located prominently on the busiest part of the Danforth, in Greektown, the church is passed by hundreds of people daily. The show takes place Oct. 17- 18. Artists pay a small table fee (originally $20 and now $30) to cover expenses; they receive 80 per cent of sales. St. Barnabas gets 20 per cent of sales, and also anything left over from the table fees. The show features up to 24 artists a year, with works selling for as little as $30 or as much as several thousand dollars. Since it began, the show has sold 813 paintings for a total of $98,470. Preparation for the show starts before the summer, when Ms. Reid sends an invitation to the artists, and intensifies in the fall, with promotion and advertising – which includes her husband climbing a tree to string up a promotional banner. Before the show, tables have to be set up for the artists’ work, and afterwards, revenue has to be counted and distributed. “I don’t know how I could count up the hours it takes, because I do it in fits and starts,” she says, adding: “There

are rewards in volunteering. To have an idea and see it grow and blossom and bring forth results like these – that’s a reward in itself.” On top of this, for the past 23 years she has attended weekly choir practice and sung at the Sunday service. She also has an unofficial job with the choir, gathering up and washing the men’s robes. “They really aren’t good at it,” she confides. Although she retired from nursing nine years ago, she still works part-time, teaching art to adults. Asked how she finds time to do all she does, she remarks on her past experience, organizing a household with four children while holding down a full-time job. “It’s a discipline,” she says. “You just do it.” St. Barnabas is located at 361 Danforth Avenue. The show begins on Friday, Oct. 17 at 6:30 p.m. and runs all day Saturday, beginning at 10:30 a.m.