On a rainy Monday morning, Barbara Brown and Trisha MacLeod tinkered away hanging art pieces in the Barrie City Hall Rotunda.
Their work is in preparation for a special exhibit to run throughout the month of October that aims to shed a light on the non-professional artwork of military members, first responders and health-care providers, called The Steel Spirit.
MacLeod falls into that category.
The piece MacLeod chose to feature is a large white canvas with cutouts of pencil-drawn eyes.
“I was deployed in Afghanistan in 2008. Mine is drawings of people I worked with there. They couldn’t be identified and we couldn’t take photos, so I decided to start drawing and I didn’t know what I was going to do with them,” she says. “I also chose to destroy the names. They are all from the Canadian Special Operations Regiment.”
MacLeod has lived in Barrie since 2014.
All throughout the city hall rotunda, the stories of the art and the artists behind it are on placards on the walls adjacent to the art, and the stories are diverse.
“The Steel Spirit is a business, but also a social enterprise, intended to give back to the community in that sense,” says Brown, who is in her second year of organizing the annual exhibit.
“It’s kind of a platform of recognition and thanks for all the service they do,” says Brown.
The Steel Spirit will be featured in the Barrie City Hall Rotunda for the month of October.
There will be a reception for artists and the community on Oct. 11 from 7-9 p.m.
For more information on The Steel Spirit, click here.
