Local artist featured at the John M. Parrott art gallery

By Laural Samson

BELLEVILLE – COVID-19 might have put a pause on a number of activities, but it can never fully stop art, or the showing of it.

A featured exhibit, As I See It, by Terry Veevers, will be shown at the John M. Parrott art gallery in the Belleville Public Library until Jan. 7.

This will be a first time showing at the Parrott gallery for the Prince Edward County native and he says he is very excited about the opportunity.

“I was very pleased to be contacted by Wendy Rayson-Kerr from the gallery, just this past summer, and offered this time period to show my work,” he said in an email interview with QNet News.

With the current pandemic making it difficult for some people to view his exhibit in person, the gallery will also be showing Veever’s artwork online.

“Wendy and the contacts at the Belleville Library and Parrott Gallery have been enormously helpful in making this exhibit possible.” Veevers said about how both the library and the gallery have been working overtime to make the showing happen.

Veevers says the ideas behind his artwork come from a simpler time before the pandemic.

“My inspiration comes from the world around me. I see paintings happen- they are stories to me. In Launched, a four-year-old has her first experience on a bike. In Spanish Flower Girls, an over-excited girl who is part of a wedding gets a talking-to from her mom and is consoled by her friends. Bill, Ben, Brico, and Fred, are four of my horses heading out to work in the fields on a summer afternoon.”

Veevers’ current practice is expressive portraiture and rural landscapes.

Most recently, Veevers has started to dabble in normative still lives, which refers to everyday things or objects in sharp focus to bring attention to the subject.

Veevers’ exhibit can be seen in person at the John M.Parrott art gallery, online at the Belleville Public Library, and through his Instagram @terryveevers.