ASK Wellness’ Juniper House will soon be a little more colourful thanks to a donation from the Nicola Valley Community Arts Council (NVCAC).
In early January, the NVCAC board met with representatives from ASK Wellness Merritt to learn about their programs and present one of the paintings from last year’s Art in the Park event in Merritt.
Local artist Vanessa Trenholm curated the piece and encouraged participants to add to the painting on Canada Day. Over 60 community members picked up a brush and added their strokes.
The painting is set to be displayed in the Juniper House lobby for residents and visitors to enjoy, said Chelsea Werrun, NVCAC’s past president.
“I think having a community-created art piece helps foster connections within the community and builds awareness of the arts council and may encourage new participants and volunteers,” she said.
Once funding has been confirmed, Art in the Park will return in 2019 and new collaborative pieces will be created at each event, Werryn said. She added that if the summer nights markets return this year they will host more collaborative art projects, like the two facilitated by Trenholm at the markets last summer, which are on display at the Courthouse Arts Gallery.
