On Vacation in Florida

While snow drifts and icicles dangle from our noses there are some lucky folks who head south to get away from the frigid Quebec winters.

Florida is a popular spot to vacation for many residnts and DestinationKnowlton is in Florida to check out first-hand what all the fuss is about!

For the next two weeks DestinationKnowlton will be travelling in Florida taking pictures and visiting the popular and not-so-well-known areas of the tropical paradise known as Florida!

We will be presenting a full photo album of the trip when we get back in February.

We hope that those of you who will be snuggled in your igloos won't mind reading about the white sands and sunny beaches of the Sunshine State!

Anna Nixon At Sutton Gallery

The arts scene in Sutton is alive and well as always and Knowlton residents and visitors to the EasternTownships have another fresh new exhibit to visit. What better way to escape from the snowy reality of winter than to enjoy some bright paintings by our talented Quebec artists.

Starting January 18 Anna Nixon will have a solo exhibition at Arts Sutton titled Multiples and Multiplication. The Montreal artist will present us with an ironic commentary on contemporary reality.

The young artist, who is holding a degree in Visual Arts from Concordia University in Montreal, uses repetition of persons or objects in her paintings to create an echo effect in her works. A spider spinning its web across a panoply of oranges, a multitude of red barns of different sizes that seem to be drawing a diagram, disciplined looking people being pulled by strings, just to name a few the artist will be presenting in her show. Though working mainly with paint, Anna Nixon is attracted to any medium that allows her to give form to her ideas.

Anna Nixon works as a Visual Arts teacher at the English School Board of Montreal. She has participated in a number of group shows across Canada. Her works are owned or are a part of public as well as private collections.

The show will be held until February 14. The vernissage will take place on Saturday, January 20 between 14:00pm and 17:00pm.

Happy New Year 2007

With the midnight countdown and the clinking of our glasses we welcomed the New Year 2007! After a green Christmas we had snow and cold and this made the wine and songs all the more flavorful and memorable.

With the start of another year we can reflect on our hopes and aspirations for the upcoming 12 months! It's a chance for all of us to start fresh wehter with new years resolutions or prayer or just private and persona;l affirmations to be better people and do more to make the world a better place.

However you chose to celebrate the occasion we at DestinationKnowlton.com wish you all the very best of health and happiness for 2007!

Sutton Gallery Exhibits Two Artists

The arts scene in the Eastern Townships is rich and varied. Painters, writers, photographers and multi-media artists in a multitude of disciplines call the Eastern Townships their home. The peacfullness and beauty of our region are welcomed by many artists who choose to live and practice their art here. We are lucky to have many art galleries in the area that regularly exhibit works by some of our amazing talents.

Now on at the Sutton Art Gallery in Sutton, Quebec (only 20 minutes from Lac Brome) is another example of local artists who are exposing their works and another opportunity for residents and visitors to discover some of the gems of the Townships arts world.

Catherine Côte's art works invite us to penetrate the ordinary to discover hidden within the "intraordinary" and two indisputable signatures of the human spirit: humor and meaning.

A young graduate in scenography from l'École Nationale de Théâtre du Canada and in visual arts from l'Université du Québec à Montréal and l'École des Beaux-Arts de Quimper, France. Catherine Côte questions the daily and answers to it using the bias of mixed media. Her talents as stage designer, illustrator and painter combine to help her scrutinize and transform what others regard as “routine” into paths and games of discovery. Words, phrases and thoughts are mixed with acrylic colors, oil and water paints to express messages with interpretations that are not limited by the banality of the routine in our daily lives. Catherine Côte has worked in painting, video, writing and her works are exhibited in numerous galleries and public places.

Different from the cognitive approach of Catherine Côte, the alliance of words and images takes on a more abstract dimension in the digital photography of Bernard Paquet where the unsaid provokes without completely articulating it all.

The collaboration between the "photographic" and the "graphic" of this professor of l'cole des Arts visuels de l'Universite Laval, docteur en Arts et Sciences de l'Art de l'Université de Paris, blurs the already illusive border between photographic and graphic arts.

Bernard Paquet tries to get away from the ordinary format of writing and image to let his pen freely scribble or color in the margins and empty spaces. His approach changes the level of visual attention to explore dimensions that answers to other references. What appears at first glance to be unstructured text combines boldly with a photographic composition freed of its original motivation.

Bernard Paquet has participated in various solo and group exhibitions in Canada and in France and his works are widely published in both academic and journalistic circles.

The exhibition can be seen until Sunday, January 14th. 2007.

Sutton Quebec is one of the villages near Knowlton that is a must-visit town. Located at the junction of 239 and the 215 highways it can easily be reached on your way to Cowansville or Knowlton. The gallery and local shops and restaurants in Sutton are the ideal afternoon visit and the skiing at Sutton is enjoyed by many local residents as a great alternative to the busier and more trendy ski centers like Bromont.