Art and Culture

Sutton, June 11, 2020 – Out of concern for the health and safety of the residents and visitors who spend time in the village and on the rue Principale as well as for the survival of its small local businesses, the Town of Sutton is taking an important step in the economic relaunch of the municipality. This summer, with the agreement of the Ministère des transports du Québec (MTQ), parking spaces will be removed from the rue Principale to enable a temporary expansion of pedestrian areas. Public hand washing stations and toilets will be made available in various locations in the village. Parking in the village core will be maintained with the creation of a temporary gravel parking lot.

These actions respond to a heartfelt cry from business owners who find themselves in a precarious situation in addition to having to deal with new hygienic practice requirements. Sutton wants to help them welcome back customers while still respecting the recommendations of the Direction de la santé publique (DSP). “Our rue Principale and the adjoining streets are places to meet and gather and where we find the local businesses that meet the needs of our citizens and attract visitors”, said Michel Lafrance, Mayor of Sutton. “We want to protect, reassure and give back to our citizens and visitors the confidence to go out, shop, and buy local, right here in Sutton, while respecting the guidelines for physical distancing and the other health measures that are likely to be maintained for several more months.”    

It was with this in mind that on June 1^st, 2020 the Council gave the green light to reconfigure the rue Principale, including the development of a new temporary parking, lot by authorizing a maximum expense of $80,600 funded from the accumulated surplus used for unforeseen situations. A total of thirty-eight (38) parking spaces will be removed between Academy and Pine streets. This will enable the expansion of the pedestrian areas and make possible a more versatile use of the street. Bollards and flower planters will be installed to ensure the safety of pedestrians. Drivers will be able to park on the site of the former Filtex factory, accessible from rue Pine. Green areas are also planned in this new temporary space which could also be used for one-off events when appropriate.  

It should be noted that, thanks to the support of the Ministère de la culture et des communications (MCC), the Town of Sutton has recently started a process for the village core development project that includes the Filtex site, the John Sleeth Community Center and the Musée des communications et d’histoire de Sutton. The objective of this project is to develop along with the community an overall vision that takes into account the “flavor of Sutton”, the needs to be met and the main uses of the three (3) municipal sites. The temporary arrangement of the Filtex site as a parking area will remain only until the land finds its permanent purpose. 

Did you know? All of your magazines are now available online at the library.

You must be a subscriber to your library to download your favorite magazine issues. If you have not yet subscribed, you can do so online on your library’s website via the Network or even directly on the site: https://www.reseaubibliomonteregie.qc.ca/fr/abonnement-aux-services-de-la-bibliotheque (in French only)

Good reading!

To read the press release, please click here (in French only).

To read the article of La Voix de l’Est, please click here (in French only).

By late 2020, there’ll be new material for your daily walks: items from the Sutton museum will be placed in shops, parks and the library, and some of them will be modified to let you listen to stories by those who came before us. Works in art galleries and the cultural park will also be included. There will be a self-guided tour through the village core with 18 stops that draws a connection between the past and present, history and art. Just follow the green line painted on the ground.

The ones being considered so far are:

• Greening the Way Discovery Tour,
• The Blue Muse Fun Tour,
• Culture Crossing
• and Tracing Our Heritage.

The colour mentioned in the name is the colour that will be painted on the ground.

What will this self-guided tour be called? We need your help to find a good name!

Send your ideas to us at [email protected]

For the past several months the Sutton Culture department has been working on a new project to profile Sutton’s history and art. The project will take the form of a 4.5 km self-guided walking tour that will wind its way through the village core.

Along the way you will see the work of various artists at venues such as Arts Sutton, Art + and D’Arts et de Rêves. In addition, artefacts from the Sutton museum that bring alive the past will be placed in public areas for you to interact with and explore. Various themes will be highlighted, such as skiing in Sutton before the ski hill opened, old-fashioned remedies and potions, and Sutton’s early cinema. With some of the museum objects – telephones, radios and televisions – you’ll be able to hear the voices of our seniors telling stories about the hockey games of their youth, the advent of electricity and many other interesting events from Sutton’s history.

The walking tour route will be indicated by a line painted on the ground that links and identifies all the stops; there will also be an interactive map on a mobile app.

With financial assistance from the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications du Québec and support from the consulting firm Mille-Lieux, the Town of Sutton is setting up a process to co-create, with the community, a project for the future development of the village core. Given the vacant land formerly occupied by the Filtex plant, issues related to the infrastructure for the Museum of Communications and History of Sutton, and the John Sleeth Centre, which houses arts and community organizations, a number of possibilities have opened up. In a four-phase consultation process that will take place in the coming months, community members will be invited to express their visions and needs regarding the village core.

Late March to mid-June: Establishment of a Steering Committee composed of individuals with experience in urban planning, architecture, landscape architecture, design, heritage buildings, local history, public art and/or strong community involvement, as well as key players representing the areas of arts and culture, community, business and tourism. These persons will seek out the opinions of their members and users and invite them to attend the community workshops. The role of the Steering Committee will be to represent the community and make its needs known, to support the Town in the organization of the day-long workshops for residents, and to advise the Town on the elaboration of a diagnostic approach, a vision of the future and a development project, in cooperation with the team of consultants. Elected officials, Town of Sutton employees and consultants will sit on this committee as well. A public invitation is being issued to fill the seats on the Steering Committee!

April and May: Two day-long workshops open to all Sutton residents so they can determine together what a desirable future for Sutton and its village core might look like. The topics will cover the use and development of public spaces, the protection and enhancement of landscapes and local heritage, and the place of new architecture and public art. The group co-creation project will generate two development scenarios.

Late May-early June: Online consultation open to the entire community. Sutton residents will be asked to participate in the process by commenting on the vision and the two development scenarios generated in the workshops.

Mid-September: Public presentation of the final scenario, which will integrate the responses from the online consultation. At this stage, the goal is to produce a visual draft of the major project concepts that will be presented to the community. There will be further consultations with local residents in the later stages of project development (architectural drawings, budgets, etc.).

The Town of Sutton has been promoting village artists via exhibitions in the Town Hall reception area since 2016. Currently, until next July, some works by Anke VanGinhoven and Qita Reindler are on display.

Anke vanGinhoven‘s pieces display the artist’s close attention to and exploration of the limits and possibilities of various techniques, from papermaking and collage to mixed media. The artist, who has lived in Sutton since 1969, has had a busy career: from the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts to Japan, her work has been featured in a variety of contexts and can now be found in numerous public and private collections, including that of the Town of Sutton. She has also been a four-time participant in the Québec government policy of arts integration in public buildings (known as the “Politique 1%”).

Also on display are some works by Qita Reindler. Using porcelain and stoneware, this talented potter makes decorative and functional pottery with an artistic and sometimes whimsical touch. She describes her work as a “moving meditation.” You will notice that the shapes of her work echo the graceful curves of the female body.

Have you ever wanted to handle an object in a museum? What if you actually owned one?

Well, now’s your chance! The Museum of Communications and History is doing a big clear-out of its basement! This very unique “garage sale” will be held on Saturday, November 16 from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

This is the perfect opportunity to get your hands on a special antique: General store boxes, bottles, old records, sewing machines, 1930s The Saturday Evening Post collection, snowshoes and other small wonders will all be available at low prices.

Sutton’s Culture Department is currently working on a plan to infuse new energy into the amazing collection of 1,500 artifacts at the Museum, which belongs to the Town. This will involve deciding what to keep to ensure a record of local history, and making arrangements for proper storage.

As part of this process, the Museum will be returning some everyday items from the past to the community, to be loved and cared for once again. Which is where you come in.

Don’t miss this very special sale!