On Monday afternoon, Rick Galbraith of the Meaford Rotary Club presented a cheque for $1200 to support the upcoming Fred S. Haines Commemorative Exhibition.
The exhibition will be held at three venues- Meaford Hall, the Meaford Museum, and Georgian Bay Secondary School- and will consist of approximately seventy-five works by Frederick S. Haines.
Samples of his etchings, aquatints, watercolours and many oils will be on display from Friday Sepetember 10 until Thursday September 30. Some of the works in on exhibition at Meaford Hall will be for sale.
Fred Haines was a student in the first class to enter Meaford High School. He went on to be a friend, colleague and supporter of many members of the Group of Seven. For a time he was the Curator of the Art Gallery of Toronto (later the AGO), and held the position of Principal of the Ontario College of Art from 1932 until 1951. He held many positions of responsibility in the artistic community of Canada, and he was himself a fine painter.
Although he has been largely forgotten in recent years, his work was at one time considered equally imporant as that of the Group of Seven. This exhibition of his work will give people from across the province and particularly from his home town of Meaford the opportunity to see the beauty of his work.
The contribution from the Rotary Club was presented to John Kerr from the Fred Haines Exhibit Committee and Pam Woolner, Curator of the Meaford Museum at Georgian Bay Secondary School, in front of some of the 25 paintings by Fred Haines that hang in a specially built alcove in the GBSS main hallway.
