After being diagnosed with an aggressive prostate cancer in the fall of 2009, Peterborough artist Bronson Smith sunk into a deep depression that lasted through a long, dark winter.
The surgery had gone well but the threat of death, combined with some struggles in his professional life, had shaken him so deeply that he found no energy for everyday activities, packed on 25 pounds and found himself napping three hours throughout the day while still having a full night's sleep.
During a typical winter, the artist, who works with brightly coloured imagery carved into wood,ceramic Coated Abrasives for the medical, would create 30 pieces. That winter he made 12.
"There were just no thoughts in my head," said the 56-year-old.
"So I did very little artwork."
With spring came some hope, brighter days and renewed vigour for his artwork.
Instead of his usual routine of creating scenes of an entire barn or village, however, he found himself focusing on fragmented elements of things such as a broken window of a barn. He says it was symbolic of his mental health.
"In my head, I was trying to rebuild things," Smith says.
The public will have a chance to see Smith's artwork this weekend in his Donegal-St. studio during the Kawartha Autumn Studio Tour. Smith, who is in remission and feeling well, will be donating 10% of sales to the Closer Campaign, which is funding a radiation bunker at the Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) so that people with cancer don't have to travel outside of Peterborough for radiation treatment.
Smith is one of 37 artists represented in the self-guided tour, which normally attracts more than 7,000 people.
All artists on the tour have been selected through a jury process, offering a range of arts and crafts such as oil, acrylic, watercolour and encaustic painting, wood and stone sculpture, textiles, jewelry, glass and ceramics.
Photographers aren't usually part of the tour but this year photographer Roz Hermant was chosen as part of the tour, says AGP education and program co-ordinator Jane Wild.
Every year, the call goes out to all artists working in any visual medium and photographers rarely respond, Wild says.
"Roz applied and we were very intrigued by her work so we're delighted to add a photographer to the tour," Wild says.
Shannon Taylor, who manipulates photo images and paints over them, is also new this year, Wild says.
Taylor is well-known in the community for the large floral image on the mural on Hunter St., Wild says.
New artwork on the tour also includes metal sculpture from David Hickey, paintings from Olga Szaranski, Antal Serences, Emil Varga, Patrick Moore and Gene Canning and ceramics from Suzanne Woods.
Returning artists in the city are glass artist Paul
Oldham, jeweller Sandy MacFarlane, mixed media artist Victoria Wallace as well as painters Mary McLoughlin, Peer Christensen, Leanne Baird, Nan Sidler, Rob Niezen, Patrick Fitzgerald, Jenni Johnston and Fran DeActis.
In Lakefield, textile artist Stephanie Ford Forrester, wood-workers John Boorman and Ken Logan and potter Gail West are returning.
From the Apsley area, painter Molly Moldovan and mixed-media artist Mary Kainer are back for another year.
The surgery had gone well but the threat of death, combined with some struggles in his professional life, had shaken him so deeply that he found no energy for everyday activities, packed on 25 pounds and found himself napping three hours throughout the day while still having a full night's sleep.
During a typical winter, the artist, who works with brightly coloured imagery carved into wood,ceramic Coated Abrasives for the medical, would create 30 pieces. That winter he made 12.
"There were just no thoughts in my head," said the 56-year-old.
"So I did very little artwork."
With spring came some hope, brighter days and renewed vigour for his artwork.
Instead of his usual routine of creating scenes of an entire barn or village, however, he found himself focusing on fragmented elements of things such as a broken window of a barn. He says it was symbolic of his mental health.
"In my head, I was trying to rebuild things," Smith says.
The public will have a chance to see Smith's artwork this weekend in his Donegal-St. studio during the Kawartha Autumn Studio Tour. Smith, who is in remission and feeling well, will be donating 10% of sales to the Closer Campaign, which is funding a radiation bunker at the Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) so that people with cancer don't have to travel outside of Peterborough for radiation treatment.
Smith is one of 37 artists represented in the self-guided tour, which normally attracts more than 7,000 people.
All artists on the tour have been selected through a jury process, offering a range of arts and crafts such as oil, acrylic, watercolour and encaustic painting, wood and stone sculpture, textiles, jewelry, glass and ceramics.
Photographers aren't usually part of the tour but this year photographer Roz Hermant was chosen as part of the tour, says AGP education and program co-ordinator Jane Wild.
Every year, the call goes out to all artists working in any visual medium and photographers rarely respond, Wild says.
"Roz applied and we were very intrigued by her work so we're delighted to add a photographer to the tour," Wild says.
Shannon Taylor, who manipulates photo images and paints over them, is also new this year, Wild says.
Taylor is well-known in the community for the large floral image on the mural on Hunter St., Wild says.
New artwork on the tour also includes metal sculpture from David Hickey, paintings from Olga Szaranski, Antal Serences, Emil Varga, Patrick Moore and Gene Canning and ceramics from Suzanne Woods.
Returning artists in the city are glass artist Paul
Oldham, jeweller Sandy MacFarlane, mixed media artist Victoria Wallace as well as painters Mary McLoughlin, Peer Christensen, Leanne Baird, Nan Sidler, Rob Niezen, Patrick Fitzgerald, Jenni Johnston and Fran DeActis.
In Lakefield, textile artist Stephanie Ford Forrester, wood-workers John Boorman and Ken Logan and potter Gail West are returning.
From the Apsley area, painter Molly Moldovan and mixed-media artist Mary Kainer are back for another year.
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