NEW GLASGOW – Local artist Dan Munro wants your opinion on a Pictou County oddity.
Munro will be giving a presentation and short talk at the New Glasgow Library Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. on his work with a discussion focusing on why there is a chimney in the old post office building on Water Street, Pictou.
The discussion is part of the Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library's Emerging Artist series and is entitled, Every Painting Tells a Story. The illustration shown is a recent painting by Munro of the former post office that was built in 1895 from red sandstone and stone blocks.
The building was designed in "the high Victorian style" with a copper roof and attention to detail. Due to an increased volume of mail that was the direct result of the train service to the province, the building was erected by the federal government. The second and third floors were occupied by the post office inspector and janitor respectively. The location was also known as the "burnt ruins" because in early times a disastrous fire swept through this part of Water Street.
The window in the chimney is said to be the only of its kind in the world and is featured in an early edition of Ripley's Believe It or Not. People are invited to bring their research and answers to the Feb. 14 discussion.
The Emerging Artist Series will take place on Feb. 21, Feb. 28 and March 7, at 7 p.m. The library invites other artists and craftspeople of Pictou County to meet Munro and the three NSCAD artists, Jimmy Sloan, Katie Hagan and Tyler Durbano.
The three artists are taking part in the New Glasgow NSCAD Community Studio Residency Program. Munro is from Gairloch, Pictou County, and was formally trained as a graphic artist and is self-taught in the art of painting which has been his vocation for more than 35 years. Although his medium of choice is watercolour, he is also accomplished in oils, pens, ink and acrylics.
People are also invited to send their answers to the "window in the chimney" to Sueann Musick, community editor at The News, to smusick@ngnews.ca
