Little Free Libraries-in Brantford!

Hear ye, hear ye - the following is a super cool opportunity for anyone who loves art or reading...or both. Check it:

The Corporation of the City of Brantford is seeking community members to submit proposals to decorate a Little Free Library™. The Little Free Libraries will be installed on municipally owned, publicly accessible property.

A Little Free Library is a take-a-book, return-a-book, exchange. There are over 50,000 registered Libraries across 70 countries. Through the program, millions of books are exchanged worldwide each year, significantly increasing access to books for readers of all ages. There are currently six registered Little Free Libraries in Brantford. The project proposes that two will be installed per ward for a total of ten new Libraries.

“We are excited to work with local artists – whether you are an established artist or you create in your spare time – to beautify all five wards in Brantford. Our hope is that these Little Free Libraries will inspire the love of reading, provide opportunities to learn and meet someone new, and encourage appreciation for public art in Brantford. These humble book exchanges will help to enhance our neighbourhoods, and will provide our community with a space to express what is important to them,” said Sara Munroe, Arts and Culture Coordinator for the City of Brantford.

In 2016, the Brant Skills Centre received a grant from the Brant Community Foundation to build and install 10 Little Free Libraries throughout the City of Brantford, painted by local artists. The Brant Skills Centre requested that the City of Brantford fund the artist fees for the project, through the Public Art Reserve Fund. Brantford City Council approved the request on April 24, 2017.

The Little Free Library in Brantford is a public art project aimed at inspiring a love of reading, building community, and sparking creativity in Brantford. This is a collaborative project between the City of Brantford, Brant Skills Centre, and Jono & Laynie Photo + Film. There are many benefits of installing Little Free Libraries, including: an enhanced sense of neighbourhood and community pride, free-wheeling exchange of books that is community-curated, giving staff insight into the values and interest of their community, and children, youth and adults of all ages, cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds can participate equally, among countless other reasons. Lori Bruner, Executive Director of the Brant Skills Centre adds, “The Little Free Libraries will generate opportunities for people to access literature, which they may not otherwise have encountered. Opening a window into a wonderful world of information, viewpoints, cultures and ideas, the Libraries will allow readers to engage in life-long learning, and at the same time offer them an occasion to appreciate and reflect on the work of local artists.”

A partner-led jury will select ten artists through a process involving a visual proposal and written statement. The award will be $475.00 per Little Free Library. For more information about the Call for Artists, including a copy of the submission form, please click HERE.

For more information and photos, please contact:

Sara Munroe

Arts and Culture Coordinator

City of Brantford

smunroe@brantford.ca

519-751-9900 x5048

Artist Spotlight: Thomas Stewart Robertson//Mixed Media Fine Artist

We love featuring various artists on our blog. The world is full of so many talented people and celebrating everyone's gifts is one of our favourite things. If you think of anyone who you think would like to be featured, shoot us a message!

Jazz Trane: Tom Robertson

Each work I undertake is an invitation to experiment with colour, texture, form, and light in order to ignite passion, challenge perspectives and stimulate the imagination of the viewers.

I believe art needn’t conform to specific rules. new types of work require new and innovative methods. Over the years, this journey of discovery has broadened my creativity and sustained my love for artistic expression.

Through art I hope to encourage my viewers to explore the breadth, length, depth and height of their own being, and the mysteries of life.

- Thomas Stewart Robertson

Light On The Ice: Tom Robertson

Moonlight Serenade: Tom Robertson

Introduce yourself. Where are you from?
Thomas Stewart Robertson was born in Toronto and raised in Brantford, Ontario, where his interest in art began as a young boy. When he was four, a stranger gave him his first drawing pencil – a gift for politely waiting while the elder person descended a flight of stairs. Thomas soon discovered his enthusiasm for drawing was limitless – so much so, that when his older brother received a set of oil paints the following year, he claimed it as his own. 

Tell us about your work. How/When did you get started with your work?
As a kid he was always painting and drawing. His High School mentor Gary Woodward encouraged him by connecting him to do a co-op work experience at Gould Outdoor Advertising which specialized in hand painted billboards. There he met Louis Crowe who was thrilled with the talent Tom brought to the table. After school, Louis offered Tom a job working full time as an apprentice. He worked with that company for over 26 years. They trained him in all aspects of art and media and he excelled in figurative and portraiture paintings. After a significant event in his life, he left the company to pursue his own work and passions.


Why did you choose this career path? What made you interested in painting and drawing?  
Art and painting has always been a passion since he was a child.

Who is your inspiration?
The realism of Leonardo DaVinci and Michelangelo and renaissance artists all provided immense inspiration in Tom’s early years. As he aged, the surrealism of artists like Salvador Dali, Lawren Harris and the group of seven expanded the expression that Tom used in his work. Today, Tom tries to capture the nuances of human longing with the seen and unseen worlds of spirit and imagination.


Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
In 10 years, he wants to have the space and creative freedom to travel, to paint and to explore the vast contrasts in nature and spontaneously create as he is inspired. Exploring different medias like photography and sculpture to capture his ideas.

Northern Light with Full Moon: Tom Robertson

“Robertson has created a series of paintings in which rose petals gently fall from a rose bud, the paramount symbol of sensual love. Their arousing red shapes float through a blackened abyss of temptation, despair and sorrow creating dramatic expression of loss and absence.”

-Garry Burns - Art Critic Brantford Expositor

“I have watched Tom develop from a young budding artist into a dedicated and beautiful painter, with the ability to express his wonderful soul within his paintings, in such a way as to touch us emotionally.”

-Sandra White – Graphic Arts Instructor, Master Illustrator & Fine Artist, Mohawk & Clark Colleges

"Tom Robertson is on a lifelong search for beauty. His subjects are chosen because he sees in them, a beauty that he longs to disclose to his viewer. His disclosure process is meticulous, careful and soulful and Robertson sets a standard that helps share his own vision of beauty with others."

-Marguerite Larmand, B.A. Art, M.Sc.Ed., Installation Artist, Simcoe Ontario

Misty Morn: Tom Robertson

Mixed Messages: Tom Robertson

Mystery Writer: Tom Robertson

Tom is soo soo talented so please check out more of his work and follow him on social media:
Facebook: Thomas Stewart Robertson
Instagram: robertsonfinearts
Web: www.robertsonfinearts.ca
Ph: 519-754- 8926
Email: tsrobertson@gmail.com