Art show at library

By John Watson Local Journalism initiative Reporter

A new artist is now showcasing her work at the Strathmore Municipal Library, which will be hung and for sale throughout the month of March. 

Sibil Simmons is still relatively new to her medium, but now that she has found joy in painting, it’s something he has no intention of stopping anytime soon. 

“A year ago, I picked up a paintbrush and it’s a story of me getting back on my feet,” said Simmons.

“I like to paint anything and everything. If there’s something I want to paint, I’ll teach myself. I’ll just paint and paint, I’ll use one canvas over and over until I get it right … I paint because it helps me heal.”

Simmons said she has always had a love for art but has only been seriously painting for about a year. 

She described her paintings as telling stories of her experiences, particularly within the last two years, following a serious injury, being laid off from stable employment and being homeless living out of her vehicle. 

“I lost my livelihood, I lost my home, I lost everything. I ended up in a truck with my dog and myself. (I went) from making $4,000 to $5,000 every two weeks, to nothing,” said Simmons.  “My painting is the sorrow, the tears of joy … that’s painting when I got out of the truck, that’s painting throughout my journey and all my pictures have a story to tell and they’re getting better.”

Carment Erison, assistant director of library services for the Strathmore Library, is always excited for more people to be displaying their works within the library’s galleries, at no charge to the artist. 

“It’s really a great, eclectic collection of paintings … it’s really quite stunning. She doesn’t use a paintbrush, it’s all done with her hands and with a knife and just her imagination really comes out on the canvas,” said Erison. 

The roughly 25 featured pieces on display at the library are for sale, ranging from $75 to $1,000 depending on the piece. 

For Sibil, she is also the first artist that the library will be hosting a Meet the Artist Day with on Mar. 12 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“It’s something that we always wanted to do. It’s something that we’ve been talking about with our artists for quite some time. COVID-19 made it very difficult for gatherings and now that restrictions have lifted, it’s opening up those opportunities for us to be able to have these types of events again,” said Erison. “This is something that’s really been on the books for quite some time and I’m so happy that we’re going to be able to do it. We’re hoping to be able to do this on a monthly basis with all of our artists if they’re interested.”

Simmons added now that she has begun to paint, she aims to one day teach painting and host classes for other budding artists.