Attachments 

to Blog on SPARK Photo Festival (see:https://powellponderings.com/spark-photo-festival/)

Showcase and Signature Exhibits:

• 2013: Balsillie Collection of Roy Studio Images. This show included 65 prints from the historic Balsillie Collection of Roy Studio images which is housed at the Peterborough Museum and Archives. The exhibit was from what has been described as the “finest collection of community photography in Canada” featuring the considerable talents of three generations of the Roy Photography family – who remained at the same location at 140 1/2 Hunter Street for nearly 100 years. It took a documentary approach to representing an era that stretched between 1896 and 1992. The presentation provoked one to think about the difference between picture taking and picture making. It cost SPARK over $20,000 to prepare this exhibit, but it was a great start. It was curated by Catherine Dibben, Tim Bellhouse and Wayne Eardley. This was shown at the old YMCA at the corner of George and Murray Streets.

• 2014: The Fairbairn-Mackenzie exhibit included 70 images which documented cottage life on Stoney Lake and Juniper Island over 100 years ago. Glass negatives were kept in private storage in the attic of a cottage on Juniper Island (famous btw for hosting the 1882 American Canoe Association regatta). They were stored in specially-designed protective wooden boxes built by Jack Fairbairn in the 1920s. He was the photographer for most of the images. While he was not a professional photographer, his profession as a surveyor and engineer inclined him to be precise in his documentation. Not only were the plates well protected, but the original paper sleeves which held each glass plate contained much useful information about the pictures within. In June 2013 Blair Mackenzie a now retired lawyer from Lakefield and Fairbairn’s grandson gave the collection to Trent Valley Archives. Elwood Jones was the archivist. All the negatives (189 of them) were scanned by SPARK volunteers. The scans contained all of the imperfections found in the original glass plates including colour variations. Prints were made of 70 for the show, which was shown at the old Y.

• 2015: Lucy Maud Montgomery: A Tale in Pictures from the L.M.Montgomery Collection of the University of Guelph. With the exception of the display of photos in some of her scrapbooks, her photos had never been exhibited in print, in public, in a comprehensive fashion as a body of work. From several thousand of her photographs, the curators compiled an exhibit that was arranged as a loose chronology of her life (1874-1942), with images that gave visitors a chance to follow her development as well as an opportunity to reflect on the more general evolution of amateur photography. This was curated by Andy Christopher, Tim Bellhouse, and Jennie Versteeg. SPARK also had the talents of Alyssa Lagana, a former PCVS graduate as its first Emerging Curator; she was completing a BFA at OCAD. This was shown at the old Y.

• 2016: Peterborough 1945-65: An Ideal Industrial City. This exhibit examinedthe broader period of 1945 to 1965 to capture some of the dynamism of the times, with change and growth being the key themes. The exhibit was built around a core of photographs relating to the wide range of companies and workers that made up the city’s industrial sector. All of the photographic materials were drawn and scanned from the Trent Valley Archives with much drawn from Peterborough Examiner negatives. The exhibit included more than 100 photographs and no single manufacturing enterprise dominated. In keeping with the industrial theme, the images were printed on laminated aluminum panels. This was curated by Tim Bellhouse, Andy Christopher and Jennie Versteeg. It was shown at the old Y.

• 2017: The Loss of Innocence, The Birth of a Nation – Remembering 1917 and the Great War 1914-1918. This Showcase Exhibit sought to pay tribute to the many ordinary Canadian soldiers, nurses, and others on the home front as well as abroad who sacrificed during the Great War and particularly in the 1917 battles of Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele. It was drawn from the collections of the Peterborough Museum and Archives (and again the Balsillie Collection of Roy Studio Images). This show was curated by Garry Barker, Greg Burke, Andy Christopher and Jennie Versteeg. It was shown at the Peterborough Public Library.

• 2018: “Celebrate at Home” Canada 150 Photo Documentation Project. This was doneat the Peterborough Public Library.

• 2020/2021: The First 20 Years: Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival. This was a collection of photos that represented the first 20 years of the Dragon Boat Festival plus current photos taken by six SPARK photographers. This was curated by Robert Boudreau and shown at Peterborough Square.

• 2021: SPARK Virtual Exhibit: Connection

• 2022: Peterborough Then & Now: Historical & Current Images of Peterborough County. An invitation to look back at Peterborough city and county landmarks (some famous, others much less so) in images from the late 1800s through to the 1950s, and to compare and contrast to the present day images of the same locations. The collection was a collaboration of archive partners: Lang Pioneer Village Museum, Peterborough Museum & Archives and Trent Valley Archives who researched and contributed the historical images for this Showcase, and local photographers who contributed their present day images with the historical images. This exhibit was curated by Heather Doughty, Janice Matthews and Jennifer MacKenzie and was displayed at the YMCA Balsillie Family Branch.

• 2023: Celebrating 10 Years of Excellence: Juried Exhibit Winners, plus Light the SPARK: Emerging Artist Exhibit. These were done at the YMCA Balsillie Family Branch

• 2024: Light the SPARK: Emerging Artist Exhibit. Done at the YMCA Balsillie Family Branch

SPARK Juried Exhibit themes:

• 2024: Texture
• 2023: Water
• 2022: Monochrome
• 2021: Nourish
• 2020: Motion
• 2019: Family Life
• 2018: Reflections
• 2017: Framed
• 2016: Shadows
• 2015: Parallels
• 2014: Space

Special programs (and fund-raising activities) – a sampling:

• 2013  and on: We had a “First Time Exhibitors Workshop” almost every year 
• 2013: Emerging Artist Exhibit: Laurent Levesque, Axis
• 2014: Emerging Artist Exhibit: Christopher Lacroix- “afallenhorse”. This was both a gallery installation plus a public installation (NE corner of George and Charlotte)
• 2014: The Giants of Canadian Photography series of talks brought legendary Canadian photographers Edward Burtynsky and Larry Towell to Peterborough. A fundraising event – a dinner at the Parkhill Cafe plus a screening of Burtynsky’s film Watermark at Market Hall – took place on March 31, 2014 and raised $4,000. A “photographic concert” took place on Oct 22 with Larry Towell at Market Hall
• 2014 and 2015: Focus on Nature children’s photography day-long workshop in partnership with the Art School of Peterborough
• 2014: Travel Photography plus Elements of Composition workshops (led by Bill Lockington); The Exposure Triangle (with Esther Vincent); Refining Your Photographic Vision (by Randall Romano); Fixing and Fudging Photos (by Nade Nixon)
• 2016: The Emerging Artist/Curator Exhibit: Mara Gajic (curated by Holly McClellan)
• 2016: Seminar on Copyright, Social Media and Internet Law (partnered with Prima IP)
• 2016: SPARK After Dark. This was a fundraiser that brought dozens of photographers, artisans, musicians, indigenous singers and drummers together through the galleries of the Canadian Canoe Museum
• 2017: TAS photography students poster contest sponsored by SPARK
• 2017 and 2018: Newcomer Children’s Photo Project working with the New Canadian Centre. This resulted in an exhibit of the children’s photography at Brant Basics
• 2017 and 2018: SPARK Spin: this was a program to develop cycling routes, guided and self-guided, between exhibit locations as a way of connecting physical activity to arts activity. Peterborough GreenUp and Wildrock Outfitters were partners
• 2017: SPARK Emerging Photographers Exhibit displayed works of three PCVS alumni , Julie Douglas, Patrick Stephen and Kate Fearnall 
• 2018: SPARK photographers documented the City of Peterborough Canada 150 activities
• 2018: SPARK Newcomer Youth Project for the New Canadian Centre. This helped welcome and integrate newcomer youth into the community
• 2023 and again in 2024: Light the SPARK: Emerging Artists Exhibit: which presented the work of 5 or 6 photographers who were carefully selected to take part in an educational program resulting ultimately in them presenting their work to the public for the first time. They learned the basics of how to create a photography exhibit from a concept to finished work hanging on the wall, all under the guidance of experienced professionals. They worked with professionals, and with fellow-first exhibitors, to mount a group exhibit for the 2023 (and 2024) SPARK Photo Festival. The exhibit was on view during April.
• 2024, March: Learning Adobe Lightroom Workshop. Learning about the Lightroom ecosystem from the very basics; learning how to better navigate and optimize your editing skills with trainer and long-time photographer Jim Babbage.
• 2024, April: Photo Walk: Wildlife & Nature. Exploration of a nature trail in the City of Peterborough to explore, experience and capture photos under the guidance of  photographer and naturalist Keith Manser.
• 2024, April: SPARK Workshop Series: Low-light Photography with Heather Doughty. A hands-on workshop working with ones own camera equipment under the guidance of professional photographer in a pro studio with various low-light set-ups and subjects.