150 YEAR CELEBRATION

Special 150^th Anniversary Art Exhibit

CAN[ada's] POL[ish] KA[shubs], CAN PAINT, Barry's Bay, August 2008

co-curated by: Anya Blake, curator South of 60 Art Gallery,  Barry's Bay, Greg Zawidzki, curator Madawaska Valley Community Gallery and Shirley Mask Connolly, curator Polish Kashub Museum, Wilno.

All exhibitors were descendants of Canada's Polish Kashub pioneer families: Al Villeneuve, descendant of Gutowski and Hildebrandt; Al Burant of Burant, Czapiewski, Olszewski, Rekowski, Laska, Burchat, Dobec & Turzynski; Jerome Coulas of Kulas, Breza, Szala, Libera, Piechowski, Kiedrowski, Gregg/Grych & August; Shirley Mask Connolly of Maszk, Piechowski,  Wisniewski, Jolkowski, Lipinski, Waldoch & Andrecheck/ Jedrzejczyk. Also included were two oil paintings by Esther Schweig nee Yantha who passed away on April 29, 2004. Esther was the daughter of John J. Yantha and Thecla Norlock of Combermere and the direct descendant of Kashub pioneer Jantas, Narlochs,  Kossabudzkis & Herrons.

Also in August 2008, fine art photographer Jim Blomfield exhibited black and white photos from his travels in both the Canadian and Polish Kashub regions. This exhibit Kashuby i Kaszuby - Reunited was presented in conjunction with the 150^th Anniversary.

Special thanks to the Wilno Tavern for sponsoring these anniversary art exhibits ; thanks also to Anya Blake for her very professional organization and presentation of the art works; thanks also to the Wilno Heritage Society for its sponsorship and thanks to all participants and visitors to the show which gave visitors a glimpse at Canada's and Poland's Kashubian region.

For more information on the Wilno Heritage Society e-mail:
heritage@wilno.org