Year 7: The Old Ottawa East Community Art Tour hits its stride

On the morning of Saturday, September 19th, Old Ottawa East’s streets will once again be teeming with artwork. From 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, many of our gifted artists and photographers will display and sell their work in the front yards of their homes and in “pods” of artists dotted around the community.
“A Walk of Art 2026 is a wonderful way to spend a morning or an afternoon and a chance to meet neighbours and friends and discover their talents,” says long-time resident Patsy Royer. “I have visited several artists and learned about their inspiration and their techniques. I always look forward to opportunities to see art outside of gallery walls and just wish I had more wall space in my home for these lovely works!”

 
A Walk of Art 2026 is presented by The Mainstreeter and designed to expose local artists to residents of OOE and other nearby communities. “We want strollers to cover as much of OOE as possible,” says Lorne Abugov, Editor of The Mainstreeter. “Besides the growth in the number of participating artists, which was about 60 last year, the tour’s footprint has also grown, with exhibits planned from Echo Drive to the Rideau River (west to east) and at the Main Street Farmers Market. Cartographer and artist Steve Fick, one of the event’s founding exhibitors, creates the fantastic event map.

“In addition to The Mainstreeter, the costs of staging the event are fully covered by business sponsorships. Last year’s sponsors included AOV Surveying, Diane & Jen – Engel & Volkers, Ears on Main, Faulkner Real Estate, Laurier Optical, Merriam Print, Physiotherapy on Main, Oat Couture and Night Oat, Power Law, ScotiaMcLeod – Steven Roster, Vets on Main and Watson’s Pharmacy & Compounding Centre.

According to event organizer Whitney Bond, this year’s tour will once again include group displays, including at The Corners on Main Courtyard, and Bower Street. “We are also planning to group 10 or more of our community’s most prolific and experienced artists along the Grande Allee at the Main Street Farmers’ Market,” says Bond.
“I am thrilled to report that young artists will once again be able to exhibit their art at the Children’s Garden on Main and Clegg streets on the day of the tour!” Parents of young artists wishing to exhibit at the Kids Art Exhibit should contact Lori Gandy at awalkofart@gmail.com.

Steve Fick, who will exhibit again this year, reminisces about how the art tour began. “Artist and neighbour Rosie Cusson was over visiting outdoors at the height of the pandemic. I was bemoaning how long it had been since I’d had an art show. Rosie suggested we exhibit in our front yards. We contacted our mutual friend/artist Kathleen McCrea about joining us. We did not have a whole lot of energy to do something bigger, so we kept it small. People LOVED it! It brought some semblance of normalcy and human connection through art to an otherwise troubled time.”
Recognizing the event’s potential for community engagement and building, The Mainstreeter jumped aboard to help stage and promote the second edition of A Walk of Art, and the tour has grown every year since. “The Mainstreeter is proud of its commitment to local artists, and we have placed a very high priority on promoting the many talented artists of Old Ottawa East,” Abugov says.

 
The newspaper’s Main Street Sketches columnist Tim Hunt will be participating once again this year. “I started my column during the pandemic, so it was more than a year before I met the folks at The Mainstreeter in person. But I had already been impressed by the amount of space the newspaper dedicated to local art.

 
“For instance, The Mainstreeter’s newspaper box art project proved to be a real connector between community members and the artists who painted them. From the cold winter night when they dropped off the unpainted newsbox at my back door to then meeting up with me to return the box to its appointed spot after its storied fall from the Flora Footbridge, their behind-the-scenes support has really elevated the profile of the arts in OOE.”

“I was given the opportunity to design and paint a newspaper box for The Mainstreeter,” says artist, student, and OOE resident Sydney Shelp. “Despite these boxes being an emblem of The Mainstreeter and our neighbourhood, the volunteer staff at the paper did not hesitate to put their trust in the artists, giving us complete artistic control. There were no restrictions on our designs nor any attempts to organize a cohesive colour scheme. Instead, they were excited that each artist could take the project in a direction that was unique to them. I felt assured that whatever I made would be accepted by The Mainstreeter. I am really grateful to have been included in this project.”

 
“Artists in Old Ottawa East are lucky to have a champion like The Mainstreeter,” says portrait artist Sarah Lacy, who will be returning to the tour this September. “It’s one thing to say that you support the arts, but Lorne, Tanis and Whitney go above and beyond. They not only create wonderful opportunities for artists to have their work seen but generously takes on the dozens of administrative tasks that need to happen behind the scenes to pull these events off. It is such a gift.”

The rain date for the event will be September 20th, again between 10 am and 3 pm.

Author Tanis Browning-Shelp (http://www.browning-shelp.com) pens her Maryn O’Brien Young Adult Fiction series, published by Dog-Eared Books, from her home in Old Ottawa East. Contact tanis@browning-shelp.com if you have information about artists or art events that you believe would enrich our community members’ lives.