NEWMARKET - Artist Carmel Brennan said it was a moment of natural destruction that inspired her newest gallery project.
During the pandemic, she recounted taking out a growing hornet’s nest in her Sutton backyard. After spraying it, the next day she decided to start photographing it — and came to appreciate the nest's beauty.
“I started to feel badly because ... I destroyed a beautiful piece,” she said. “I started thinking … I have been organizing art exhibitions for almost 20 years, and so I just sent out a call and I said, 'Let’s do something about this. Let’s think about this. Write a letter to the Earth. That's your requirement to be part of this project”
Brennan’s curated gallery, Letters to the Earth, has arrived in Newmarket this month and will continue to April 11. The gallery has gone on for several years and features art pieces meant to keep the conversation about climate change going. Every artist who submits has to include a letter to the Earth highlighting their commitment.
Brennan said climate change is impacting everybody. She said art is a universal language and can move people.
“The whole point of everything is to keep the conversations going about climate change and how it affects you,” she said. “It’s non-partisan. It doesn’t matter what you are, what political stripe, everybody is affected.”
The gallery in Newmarket features dozens of artists highlighting their work. The gallery has earned compliments from many in Newmarket.
“The artwork is outstanding, and the letters are very moving,” Newmarket Mayor John Taylor said on social media. “The show has been in Europe and other places in the GTA, and is worth your time, and should be seen by many people.”
Deputy Mayor Tom Vegh said the gallery “is a moving display of the artist's depiction of the state of our environment and what it could be if we act now … or don’t act at all.”
“We are getting a good response,” Brennan said of the Newmarket showing. “It is moving people.”
The exhibition travels regularly, next appearing in Toronto followed by Minden, Brennan said. She added that she feels the gallery has steadily improved since its inception.
“We just want to keep the conversation going about climate and keep them right up front. That's the big thing,” she said.
The exhibition is at Newmarket’s Old Town Hall until April 11 Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with extended hours Thursday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.