Cailuan Art Gallery Grand Opening in downtown Cornwall

Cornwall, Ontario – There is always something happening in Cornwall and this Friday night, March 24th, the Seeker was invited to a special reception for the opening of the Cailuan Art Gallery right here in Cornwall, its new home being at 225 Pitt Street (the former Cornwall Career College).

As I walked towards the Gallery, looking through the window, I could feel the lights and warmth inside. Entering through the front door, I felt  like I was in a different world surrounded by local artists, music, and art in the form of paintings, jewelry, glass work and sculptures.

Wonderful munchies were supplied by Mindful Cookery and Food Market and Rurban Brewing were there with their great locally brewed beer and the Gallery itself, privately owned by Tracey Lynn Davies and her husband Steve with artist Sandra Taylor Hedges as Curator, had the feel of a Gallery in New York.

Walls were filled with close to 50 pieces from about 30 local artists many of whom were present at the opening and of course Tracey Lynn and Sandra were there welcoming everyone.

My first question to Tracey Lynn was, why Cailuan, where did the name come from? She told me that when the lawyer called to register the name, neither her or her husband had thought of one and she had to think quickly so she combined the names of her two sons, Cailan and Euan and came up with the name Cailuan, which is also a Native American word that means “journey”.

Sandra added that ” Starting in April there will be classes taught by local artists and you can visit “The Vault” to buy your art supplies”

I also met two of Tracey Lynn and her husband’s good friends, Steven and Sue Gordon who travelled from Oshawa to help get the Gallery ready for the opening. The two of them own a bed and breakfast in Oshawa and have fallen on love with Cornwall.

I myself fell in love with a certain sculpture by Sandra Taylor Hedges, called Spring Spirit and thought, as I left the Gallery and walked in the snow  on my way to visit the next event, we will hopefully be seeing some of that “Spring Spirit” very soon!

Next stop, to see Rick Jones and his band Hard Country, bringing Honky-Tonk to the Legion on Cumberland. I caught his last few numbers which were wonderful and he even signed a poster for the Seeker Chicks! I was happy to hear from Jeff Brunet of Alkaline Entertainment who powered up this show, that despite the bad weather, almost 160 Country Music fans ventured out to see Rick Jones in concert.

Saturday evening, March 25th, Julia and I were invited to the Cornwall Motor Speedway’s Annual Banquet. I love walking into the room filled with race car drivers as I used to spend a lot of time at the Speedway when we owned Semi Pro and Modified cars years ago. After a wonderful meal, as always, many, many trophies were handed out as well as almost 40 door prizes and the evening ended with dancing to the music of Polar Sound! Racing season begins this year with the Season Opener on Sunday, May 7th – I can almost hear the roar of the engines at the start line!

The final event of the evening, a Sold Out show held at La Maison, was the double header, Paradise City, a tribute to Guns n’ Roses and Theatre of Pain, the Motley Crue Tribute, powered again by Alkaline Entertainment and La Maison, keeping the local fans of Hard Rock happy! Alkaline Entertainment powers up their next event on Saturday, April 8 at the Legion. It will be Mike McDonald and the Bayou Boys with their tribute to CCR – Creedence Clearwater Revival – a show you won’t want to miss.

Many other events were happening this weekend but these are the ones visited by the Seeker Chicks, Julia and Mai-Liis!