Seventeen artists of the region packed the Bury United Cultural Centre with more than 170 artworks in a one-day art fest on October 19. The annual art exhibition is now in its 20th year, said Margaret James, president of the non-profit group running the centre.

The event was organized by a team of eight, led by Martine Staehler. She said more than 100 people visited the exhibit during the day, viewing the art, talking with the artists, and enjoying a bountiful array of homemade refreshments in the café.

Some artists showed a dozen or more works; others exhibited a select few. Their media and styles varied widely. Figurative paintings predominated, many dream-like. Landscapes were frequent, befitting the countryside of the Haut-Saint-François.
Accomplished watercolourist Denis Palmer of Randboro, skilled dry-pastel landscape painter Christa Kotiesen of Sawyerville, and veteran oil painter Stuart Main of Dudswell are all open-air artists working from observation.

Chantal Guertin of Bury exhibited her own stained glass works as well as those of children who participated in her mosaic workshops. One, by 12-year-old Jean-Gabriel gluing cut-glass pieces, depicted a cat in fanciful form, complete with curly whiskers.
Also from Bury, Martine Brault showed her pastels and acrylics, Patrick Boël exhibited his photos, and Rosalie Longpré and Francine Jacques showed their acrylics. Joanne Delage of Cookshire showed oils, and Clément Corriveau of East Angus offered high-definition oil paintings of bygone farm scenes.

Lucille Duhaime, formerly from Bury, now in Sherbrooke, showed oils painted from imagination; among others, farm buildings with bright red roofs. She has been creating “art naif” oil paintings for 30 years.

Muriel Fitzsimmons of Lennoxville showed watercolours and ink drawings. Anne Bergeron of Sherbrooke exhibited oils painted in relief with spatulas. Other painters from Sherbrooke were Francine Gauthier, Pauline Boudreau (oils and watercolours), Jean-Claude Breton (high-definition watercolours), and Shirley Thompson (oils).

The Centre offers an unusual exhibit space. Visitors were up-close-and-personal to the art, lined up along the aisles, on wood-panelled walls and windowsills. The sun poured through the stained glass windows of the two adjoining church buildings, casting surprising reflections over many of the works.

In 1998 when the church at 560 Main Street was closed, “it was very emotional to people who came. At the first meeting, we had a full house. We started the centre as a way to save the building,” James said. “We were told it was a big white elephant, because it had structural problems.”

Over the years, it took a lot of work to maintain the two churches ― the Bury United Church wedded to the McKenzie Chapel moved there from Gould Station. “But we saved it for them,” she said, gesturing at the bilingual crowd of artists and art lovers of all ages.