Christine Orr holds a painted barn board, bearing the image of a honey bee and the words, Just Bee.
It sums up her approach to art, and life: “The spirit of the bee – just to let it be,” she says. “It can be so simple.”
Orr has always had a creative streak. When she was growing up, it found expression in adding her own designer touches to her clothes, since the family couldn’t afford designer brands.
Later, she used her creativity in her work in the floral sector, and in her own store.
But it wasn’t until retirement – after the kids were grown, after the dairy farm, after the wholesale business with husband Ron – that she was persuaded to pick up a paintbrush.
“A lot of my friends said, why aren’t you painting? Why aren’t you painting?”
About 10 years ago, after the Orrs built their retirement home on a 50-acre property overlooking the rural countryside and fully retired from business, the time was finally right.
“It was a good time in my life,” said Orr. “I needed something that was not demanding, that was just for me.”
She had been welcomed by “the girls” – artists that included Stella Wadsworth, Maureen Joyce, and Kathy Bury – to painting sessions at the Bradford West Gwillimbury Leisure Centre.
Orr came mostly for the camaraderie and the laughs. “I never considered myself an artist. I just put paint on canvas, and what turns out is what turns out,” she said.
Sometimes the result is satisfying; at other times, she just shakes her head. It doesn’t matter. “I’m not painting for someone else. I’m painting for me,” she said, although she admitted that when someone likes her work, “that’s a bigger payment than dollars and cents.”
Orr paints in acrylic, based on her own photos - sometimes mixing images, to create the scene she has imagined. After years of painting in her private studio at the back of the property, next to a forested area and her zen garden, the BWG Passion Made artisans’ tour this weekend is her first formal art show.
“It does come with a little bit of nervousness and trepidation,” she admitted.
But she wanted to be involved, and helped organize this year’s 11th annual re-imagined and re-named show, with which she feels a personal connection.
“The name says it,” Orr said. “The reason is the passion.”
Not only for art and the creative process, but for “the people who were just like me, afraid to put it out there.”
Orr sees the show as a way to bring people together, and as an expression of an older model of community – “That old-fashioned getting together and enjoying each other,” where creativity was a part of every-day living, as in the era of quilting bees.
She hopes that more aspiring artists will get involved in Bradford’s growing arts community, and the studio tour.
“This is the community I want to see, peeking out of the bricks and mortar that have changed in Bradford – the little crack where the flower can grow,” Orr said. “We’re here for such a short time… It’s up to you, to take it to the next level. It’s only up to you!”
The Passion Made artisans’ tour takes place today and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, at three venues – Art in the Barn at 291 Morris Rd., Echoes in the Attic’s ‘Girl Cave’ at 22 Gres Court, and the Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library & Cultural Centre, 425 Holland St. W., where Orr’s work will be on display.
The tour kicks off at 9 a.m. today at the library, when the winner of the annual Preserve BWG art contest will be announced. Refreshments will be available, and the artists – including Orr – will be on hand to talk with visitors.
“We worked hard when we were young. When you have a dairy farm, you work 24/7. When we had the retail business, we worked 25/8,” Orr said. Future plans include art classes, but for now, “This is me. This is what I do. This is where I’m at.”
For details of the Passion Made artisans' tour, click here. Don't miss the demonstrations of the Confectionery Arts by Sweet B’s and Samatha’s Sweet House, and an appearance by children’s author, Jackie Jones. And remember to fill out a ballot, for a chance to win gifts, donated by Peter Dykie’s Bradford Jewellery and the artists. Winners will be notified after the tour.
