On Friday May 24th the Penticton Art Gallery and Poplar Grove Winery invite you to join us at Poplar Grove Winery’s spectacular new location, located at 425 Middle Bench Road North, between 5 and 7 p.m. to help us acknowledge and celebrate our exciting new partnership “A Brush With Greatness”, in support of the Penticton Art Gallery’s Creative Kids Art Programs.

May 15, 2013 – Penticton, BC: On Friday May 24^th, the Penticton Art Gallery in partnership with Poplar Grove Winery invite you to join us at Poplar Grove’s spectacular new location, located at 425 Middle Bench Road North, between 5 and 7 pm to help us acknowledge and celebrate our exciting new partnership “A Brush With Greatness”, in support of the Penticton Art Gallery’s Creative Kids Art Programs

In 2011 the Penticton Art Gallery launched, A Brush with Greatness, as a unique fundraiser to benefit for our Creative Kids Art Program. The premise behind this fundraiser was to develop a fun and creative way of engaging a wide range of artists and celebrities from across Canada and internationally to assist us in our fundraising efforts through a small donation of something that every artist has lots of, an old paintbrush.

Over the subsequent two years, the Penticton Art Gallery wrote to over 150 of the best known contemporary painters working across Canada and internationally asking them to donate one of their old paintbrushes. The gallery also sought out and contacted a diverse range of celebrities who have also gained recognition for their work in the visual arts. From the beginning the response to our simple request has been tremendous and it wasn’t long before the brushes began to arrive and a Brush with Greatness was born.

Since we started we have received over 60 paintbrushes, most were accompanied by a personal letter from the artist stating that the brush was in fact used by them as part of their artistic practice. In order to properly display the entire collection the donated brushes have been framed along with a photo of the artist, their letter and a sample of their work. The collection has been exhibited twice at the Penticton Art Gallery, and each time the public’s response has been amazing. It’s incredible to watch the public engage with the exhibition, as the average person will take more time to read the letters and study the paintbrushes than they would have done had there been an exhibition of paintings by the same artists. Over the past seven year this exhibition has captured the public’s imagination like none other and ranks near the top as one of the gallery’s most popular and successful programs and has also caught the interest of other public galleries and educational institutions who have asked if the collection would be available for loan.

Originally the collection was to be sold off at public auction this past November in Vancouver at Maynards Auctioneers. This would have happened as planned if not for the overwhelming response we received from the public who felt that we should not only keep the collection intact, but we should also continue to develop it, not only as a touring exhibition, but also as an educational resource. With the auction deadline looming the gallery set out to try and find a local buyer who would be willing to purchase the entire collection as a whole.

That’s when Ian Sutherland, Tony Holler and the board of Poplar Grove Winery came into the picture and to the rescue by agreeing to purchase the entire collection as it stands today. Their vision will not only allow the Penticton Art Gallery to further develop the collection, it will also provide the gallery with the opportunity to finally tour the collection to other galleries and educational institutions, which will generate additional revenue for the gallery and the Creative Kids Art Program.

This is the perfect marriage between our two organizations and we are excited to formally kick off this partnership on Friday May 24^th between 5 and 7 pm, and you and invited to come and view the entire collection which will be on display in wineries tasting room. A formal presentation will take place at 6 pm featuring light refreshments from the Vanilla Pod restaurant along with tastings of Polar Grove’s award winning wines.

The Penticton Art Gallery would like to thank all the artists who have contributed to this fundraiser along with Ian Sutherland, Tony Holler, Jacqueline Carlson and the staff and board of Poplar Grove Winery for their belief in this unique project and for having the vision to see the importance of this collection and the history it documents.

Artist included in collection: Irvine Clinton Adams, David T. Alexander, Aelita Andre, Nick Bantock, Marcel Barbeau, Robert Bateman, Mike Bayne, Tony Bennett,bill bissett, Bruno Bobak, Molly Lamb Bobak, Ron Bolt, Jeff Bridges, Kate Bright, Eric Cameron, Michael Cartellone, Chuck Close, Alex Colville, Ken Danby,Duncan de Kergommeaux, Louis de Niverville, Robert Genn, April Gornik, Libby Hague, John Hall, Joice M. Hall, Ted Harrison, Patrick Hughes, Everett Kinstler, Ruth Kligman, Harold Klunder, John Koerner, George Littlechild, Landon Mackenzie, Ron Martin, Tom Miller, Kristine Moran, Daphne Odjig, Charles Pachter, Ross Penhall, Joseph Plaskett, Christopher Pratt, Mary Pratt, Mel Ramos, Philippe Raphanel, Charles Rea, Milly Ristvedt, James Rosenquist, Edward Ruscha, Tony Scherman, Sean Scully, Jame Seymour, Gordon Appelbe Smith, Jeffrey Spalding, Joanne Tod, Renée Van Halm, Peter Von Tiesenhausen, Chris Woods, Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, Robert Young, Tomas Zahor

The Penticton Art Gallery is located at 199 Marina Way on the shores of Lake Okanagan. For hours of operation, or for more information about the Penticton Art Gallery’s programming, current exhibitions, or special events, please visit: www.pentictonartgallery.com