free JANUARY 2013 p.18 & 19 January’s E vents The Art of Elizabeth Veninga p.3 p.6 Flavour of the Month p.20 The Drought of 2012 p.22 Sushi in the Valley Does Your Organization PO Box 1391 Almonte ON K0A 1A0 Need Volunteers? Phone: (613) 256–5081 In the February 2013 issue of theHumm we plan to run our seventh annual “Get Involved, Get Connected” resource Editor: for organizations seeking volunteers (and volunteers seek- Kris Riendeau ing local organizations). If you are running a community [email protected] organization or service club, festival, cultural event, mu- seum, conservation area, arts or activities group within Layout and Design: Rob Riendeau theHumm’s catchment area, we’d like to hear from you! [email protected] Send us 80 words (maximum) describing what your group does, what type of volunteer opportunities you offer, and Advertising and how people can contact you, and we’ll run them — free of Promotions: charge! — in our February issue. Kris Riendeau: (613) 256–5081 Due to space limitations, we can only offer 80 words [email protected] Correction per organization, and can only include groups that OOPS — we accidentally ran this photo of Peter Dawson in our De- serve our catchment area (Lanark County and parts of Assistant Editor: cember issue without crediting the photographer. The photo is by Renfrew County). We are not able to edit down longer Rona Fraser Lois Siegel <siegelproductions.ca/photos.htm>: entries or brochures, so please send the text as you wish [email protected] it to appear. Please email all information or queries to <[email protected]>. All information must be re- Calendar Submissions: ceived by January 22 for inclusion in the February issue. [email protected] theHumm is a monthly arts, en- tertainment and ideas newspaper delivered free to businesses and visitor attractions in Almonte, Perth, Carleton Place, Westport, Pakenham, Carp, Arnprior, Ren- frew, Lanark, Smiths Falls, Burn- stown, White Lake, Balderson, and Ottawa. Our mandate is to connect and promote people and events in the small towns and rural communities of the Ottawa Valley — where the arts flourish and en- tertaining characters run amok! Many a visitor and inhabitant have heard about Almonte’s theHumm Who’s Reading history as a mill town and of events such as the Train Wreck Submissions of 1942, but these tend to be presented as individual stories. By email or on disk. On December 8, a full auditorium at Almonte’s Old Town Hall was silent with wonder as people took in the tales and Deadline for ads & nd personalities of Almonte’s history, watching the premiere of content: the 22 of the month prior to publication Readers Write Readers the documentary Almonte’s Interwoven Past. If you missed it, filmmakers Robert and Sharon Newton may still have some Happy New Year from the Riendeau Family! DVDs or Blu-rays for sale at 256–2483. Subscriptions Even people new to Almonte can find parts of personal Rob and Kris Riendeau wish all our friends, family, readers, con- cost $35 (includes HST) for one interest, as shown in this letter to the editor: tributors, advertisers and supporters a very happy and healthy year (12 issues). Send a cheque 2013. This will be our first year as official “empty nesters”, as our with your name and address to: Dear Editor, daughter Cori leaves for her “Watch Out World” tour on theHumm PO Box 1391 What an interesting movie at the Old Town Hall about the history and January 20, and son D’Arcy continues his studies at Carleton. Almonte ON K0A 1A0 origins of Almonte. As newcomers to Almonte, we were particularly Cori will be blogging at <coris-trip.ca>, so Kris would like to take interested to learn about George Stephen, who was born in Dufftown, this opportunity to encourage theHumm community to check Opinions and information pub- Scotland, where some of my husband’s relatives still live. I, on the other it out and post if you know any friendly people, non-bed-bug- lished in theHumm in letters, hand, was interested in the woolen mills part. I was brought up in East infested hostels or otherwise safe havens in whatever part of the press releases, or individual col- Yorkshire in Northern England — the woolen mills being located in world Cori happens to be traipsing through… umns do not necessarily reflect West Yorkshire! I thought it was interesting that we each seemed to the opinion of this newspaper. have some connection, however slight, to the subject. Regards, E. Fraser All writing, artwork, and photo- We teach music graphs published in theHumm not because we expect our students to major in music, are copyright to the author, or to not because we expect them to play or sing all their life, theHumm in the case where no not so they can relax, author is specified. Reprinting not so they can have fun. any content without permission But so they will become human, violates copyright and is prohib- so they will recognize beauty, ited (and despicable!). so they will be sensitive, so they will be closer to an infinite beyond this world, so Thanks this month to: they will have something to cling to, all of the amazing individuals and Hummble Thought so they will have more love, more compassion, more gentleness, more good, in short, more life. organizations who contributed Of what value will it be to theHumm throughout 2012. to make a prosperous living Their humour, intelligence and unless you know how to live? dedication to their communities send us into our fifteenth year — The Texas Bandmasters Association full of hope and happiness! 2 www.thehumm.com January 2013 Exploring the Enigma THE HUMM of Elizabeth Veninga Art… and Soul Peeling back the layers of Elizabeth Ven- “Skating on the Rideau”. In 2008 she had a solo inga’s life is like reading an intricately con- show at the Mill of Kintail, featuring her painting, structed, beautifully textured and very metal sculpture and photography. rewarding biography. I thought I was in- Red canoes became her muse after she and her terviewing an artist who paints wonderful late husband, Albert Veninga, restored an old canoe Canadian landscapes with red canoes, and in all its red glory. After Albert’s untimely death, who gives art instruction in an encourag- Elizabeth painted a scene featuring their red canoe ing, relaxed way. She does. In a way, that’s as a gift in repayment for a kindness by a canoe- like saying Leonardo da Vinci painted a builder friend. Since then this Canadian icon has lovely portrait and illustrated a book on found its way into many of her landscapes, always ARTIST TRADING CARD mathematical proportion in art. He did. rendered exquisitely and effectively. by Sally Hansen A Meandering Path to Art and Soul selling it, and in order to support herself she studied horticulture The constants that have grounded Veninga in a life at Humber College, trained as a gardener, and worked at Cullen Veninga will be embarrassed by this article, be- that has followed many twists and turns are her Gardens in Whitby. After a third gardening job in Guelph, she wea- cause she does not toot her own horn. That may Christian spirituality and her love of art. Both her ried of the fact that “gardeners did not share my interest in art,” and be in part because her father, William Robinson, parents encouraged and supported her early love of went to Teachers College at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay. was the Anglican Bishop of Ottawa, and Elizabeth art. During high school she designed and sewed her That summer she spent nine weeks in a canoe working at Quetico embodies many Christian values like humility and father’s red Pentecostal priest’s stole, created cards, Provincial Park. the “importance of sharing your life and reaching brochures and invitations, and made a carved and When she came to Pakenham twenty years ago, she lived for six out to others.” More of that later; first, more about painted wooden Victorian fireplace screen for her months in her parents’ cabin in the woods without running water her art. godmother. or electricity. She remembers it as “having a 20th century job (supply Like da Vinci, Veninga is profoundly observant After completing a degree in Biology and Eng- teaching) while living in 19th century conditions. She moved into The of nature. It inspires much of her art — paintings, lish at Trent University, Veninga worked as an as- Five Arches Apartments in Pakenham, where she met Albert Ven- steel sculptures and most recently, photography. Her sistant curator for National Historical Sites, saving inga who was playing the guitar and singing at one of the communal mixed media landscapes illustrate her love birthday parties. They eventually moved onto the property of the drawn mark — direct, free gestures known as the Stonebridge Inn, above the former antique that capture the mood, texture, and feel store at 4839 Kinburn Side Road. Elizabeth is a performing of place. She experiments and innovates; flutist and chorister, and the two made beautiful music to- combining acrylic paints with acrylic inks, gether until his tragic death four years later. charcoal, Conté, soft pastel, watercolour Recalling her intense grief, she states flatly: “Meditation is sticks and gesso. one of the most profound influences in my life.” Years before, At the modern home of Gaye Bennett during a difficult period in her 40s, her father had gently en- and Bryn Matthews on the edge of the couraged her to consider meditation. As she recalls it, “He Mississippi River, I was privileged to enjoy sat down and wrote for about an hour — then he handed Veninga’s felicitous river-edge painting.