Elliot Lake artist Linda Finn is set to display an art exhibit in the coming month at the Art Gallery of Sudbury.
The exhibit, entitled The War Letters Project, will portray 35 artworks that are based on letters from soldiers stationed overseas during World War I and World War II.
“The letters had been saved by my Grandmother, Essie Sann Smith, as she corresponded with many of the young men from her rural community near Beamsville, Ont. during both World Wars, sending them encouragement through parcels and letters,” said Finn.
“The soldiers wrote back to her, and she saved many of the letters she felt were significant. Not wanting to destroy the original letters, I documented them, as well as other ephemera from the war.”
Items that will be displayed during the exhibit consist of copies of letters that have been integrated into the paintings, etchings, monoprints, altered books and screen prints.
“I wanted to acknowledge and honour the words and memories from these letters by filtering new images through old,” Finn explained. “Handwritten letters are a rarity in this digital age, especially old letters from a hundred years ago.”
Being in the art community since 1975 when her family moved to Elliot Lake, Finn said that she is a member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour, the Society of Canadian Artists, the Ontario Society of Artists, the Northern Ontario Art Association and she’s also an active member of the Gallery at the Center and the Elliot Lake Arts Club.
This exhibit will be her 21st solo exhibition and she has also been in approximately 200 juried shows since 1975.
The exhibit runs from Nov. 9 until Dec. 24, Tuesdays to Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. and Sundays from 12 until 5 p.m.
