Downtown Barrie restaurants get artistic touch (8 photos)

The city’s public art committee has given residents and visitors yet another reason to visit downtown to enjoy its patios and businesses.

First, Open Air Dunlop provided an opportunity to enjoy Barrie's main street without the worry of traffic on Saturdays.

Now, through the Brightening Barriers project, artists have used patio fencing at seven businesses to display art and boost the appeal of downtown.

Large, hand-carved panels in birch designate the patio area at Dunlop Street restaurant One Forty Seven, located on the corner of Mulcaster Street.

“It (the restaurant) has sort of an eclectic Mediterranean menu and so we went with an eclectic Mediterranean visual, because it tied with the food,” said printmaker Tamara Benoit, who created the artwork with PRNT collective members Katie Argyle, Tamara Benoit, Kim Brett, Jennie Clark, Tim Laurin, and Clinton Todd.

The artists carved into three-quarter-inch Baltic birch to create printing plates. Typically, ink would then be applied to the plates to create a print, but the artists decided to display the original woodwork.

The project is called Plates, a double-entendre on both the art and the often-used implement upon which food is served in restaurants.

Art is also on display at The North, Homestead Bakery, Bayside Variety, Groovy Tuesdays, North Country, and Kenzington Burger Bar.

“Brightening Barriers is a COVID recovery project proposed and planned by the Barrie public art committee,” said Carol-Ann Ryan, the city’s public art co-ordinator.

The temporary art project, which is aimed at lifting spirits in the city, will remain in place until the end of the patio season, which is expected to be extended to Nov. 30.

After prolonged separation imposed by the pandemic, the project set out to celebrate the ability for people to gather once again. With support from the Barrie Community Foundation, the committee had a budget of $40,000 to put together the project using Barrie and regional artists who work in a variety of mediums.

At The North restaurant on Mary Street, fiber artist Amy Bagshaw wanted to draw from the building’s unique architecture and connect with the city’s nearby waterfront in a creation that could be seen from Dunlop Street. The result is Line Up, a bright fiber installation mounted on the property’s periphery fencing.

“There’s this big collective energy that the project really speaks to,” said the Alliston artist. “We want to support the businesses; they, in turn, are supporting the artists; the artists are supporting the community.”

The other displays are Arcadia Redux by Sadko Hadzihasanovic at Homestead Bakery, Long and Winding Road by Derek Martin at Bayside Variety, How it Rolls at the Pond by Rod Prouse at Groovy Tuesdays, The Land Between Rama and Barrie I & II by The Birdbath Collaboration at North Country, and It’s A Dog’s Life by Christina Luck at Kenzington Burger Bar.