2021 – Land Acknowledgement Plaque
The pandemic has prevented us from gathering as a group to create art projects for our town. However, we wished to continue our tradition of giving back at each AITA so we purchased a Land Acknowledgment Statement Plaque that was created by Colleen Gray, an Indigenous artist in our art group. This plaque is to be installed in the Ron Caron Auditorium in Almonte Old Town Hall where AITA takes place.
2019/2020 – The Ottawa Valley Rail Trail Project
We have been working on this project for over a year. Once it is completed, it will be mounted on the Ottawa Valley Rail Trail in Almonte. Each month we gather on a Sunday afternoon to paint and socialise; what a great way to give back something to our community! Funding for materials for our community projects is provided through a portion of sales at AITA.
Unfortunately, COVID-19 has temporarily halted our get-togethers so we are sharing our progress to date.
This project consists of 18 panels, each panel measuring 32 x 24 inches. When finally mounted, the art project will be approx 40 ft long.
The upper portion consists of 12 painted patterns and shows a basketball traveling across the sky from early dusk to midnight, passing eras of air transport and though various types of weather.
The bottom portion consists of 6 panels of various medium (pyrography, photography and painting) and depicts eras of train transport traveling through the seasons.
2018 – Clayton Hall Mural – The Bellamy Grist Mill
For their 2018 community project, AAAA is creating an 8′ x 8′ mural of the Bellamy Grist Mill that was at the heart of Clayton when it was founded by Edward Bellamy in 1824. The mill is no longer standing and AAAA is creating the mural to showcase this important piece of local history. When finished, the mural will be mounted on the Clayton Community Centre which is run entirely by volunteers. The Centre was built in the 1970s with funds raised by the community and is truly a testament to the strength of this small rural village and surrounding area. READ MORE
2017 The “Buckyball” – Textile Mills of the Mississippi River Valley
The textile industry played a significant role in the founding and development of our area. Almonte became the capital of the woolen industry in Canada and was known as “Little Manchester”. As a commemorative Canada’s 150th project, AAAA made a buckyball that portrays the textile mills in the Mississippi River Valley in Lanark County. A “buckyball” is like a soccer ball; 32 pieces that form a sphere. Each artist chose a mill and is represented that mill in their own medium and style on a piece of the buckyball. Our buckyball measures 5 ft in diameter when assembled.
It was unveiled during the show opening festivities on Friday evening 12 May, 2017. A book of all the information and pictures that was collected about the mills as well as a large map indicating the location of all of the mills was included in the project. The panels will be mounted on a wall in the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum. READ MORE
2016 Almonte Farmers’ Market Mural
The mural depicts the Almonte Farmers Market circa 1910 and is mounted in Market Square, (the parking lot behind upper Mill St.) the location of the old Almonte Farmers Market. The original mural was completed in 1991 but had degraded over time. So for the 2016 AITA collaborative project, the AAAA members recreated the mural. The project was generously sponsored by Mr Reg Gamble and family and the mural was unveiled at AITA. READ MORE
2015 Mill Streetscape
For the 25th anniversary of Art In The Attic, the members of AAAA produced a streetscape of Mill St in Almonte as it would have appeared in 1991, the year of the first Art In The Attic. There were eighteen panels that each artist painted in their own style and when assembled, the streetscape measured 26 feet long. It was unveiled at Art In The Attic. The streetscape was on display in Oct in Fairview Manor Gallery and has now been donated to Almonte General Hospital for display along “The Link” corridor that joins Fariview Manor and AGH. READ MORE
2014 Mississippi Mills Street Banners
In 2013, several members of AAAA noticed that the street banners in Mississippi Mills could be improved. They felt that the commercially produced banners in use did not adequately reflect the rich textile heritage of the town. As a result, members of AAAA designed three banners that were later sewn by local textile artists/quilters/sewers with materials provided by the municipality. With three different wards, a single banner pattern was not suitable for capturing the uniqueness of each ward. However, there needed to be common element in each pattern to unify the look of Mississippi Mills. The results are shown below and during the summer months you can see these banners on display throughout Mississippi Mills. If you can get a room full of artists to agree , you know that the designs are good !
almonteareaartists.ca 