Two local artists have teamed up to curate a posthumous exhibit of works by Peterborough artist and educator Ann Cossar, with proceeds of sales going to the Art School of Peterborough’s Sharon Taylor Youth Bursary.
Featuring never-before-exhibited works, “Life Studies and Other Works” by Ann Cossar will be on display at artist Julie Francey’s Studio 12 in the Commerce Building (129 1/2 Hunter St. W., Peterborough) from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on March 1 during the free monthly First Friday Peterborough art crawl.
After First Friday, the exhibit will be available by appointment only until Sunday, March 31st.
Before her death in in March 2023 at the age of 89, Cossar was an art teacher at Peterborough’s Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School and a watercolour and drawing instructor at Fleming College.
For many years in the late 1970s and early 1980s, she and her husband Donald owned a fine art supply store and framing centre called Cossar’s Art Centre, where she held classes for young people and exhibited work by local artists.
“Ann was very much a fine artist, very organic with her mark making, and really encouraged us to find our own self-expression,” says Cydnee Hosker, a fellow retired visual arts teacher and former student of Cossar’s in the early 1970s. “Many of us thrived under her tutelage.”
Hosker is now one of the organizers of the exhibit, alongside one of her own former students, artist Julie Francey. Francey discovered the artworks in her studio, which had previously belonged to Cossar until 2020, after Cossar’s death.
Now, Francey is opening up her studio space for the exhibit which will include the discovered pencil, conté, and charcoal life drawings and some watercolour paintings.
“Every one is a little treasure,” says Hosker, who received permission from Cossar’s daughters to exhibit and sell the works for a good cause. “It’s been really lovely seeing how people have been guardians of these fragile works.”
All proceeds from the exhibit will be donated to the Sharon Taylor Youth Bursary at the Art School of Peterborough. Founded in memory of the artist who was a member since the school’s founding, the bursary supports youth facing financial barriers to access extracurricular art classes by covering tuition, supply costs, and transportation fare.
“Sharon, also being a teacher and a very enthusiastic dynamo kind of person, was committed to arts education in their own right,” says Hosker. “Both Ann and Sharon definitely in their own way have made vast contributions to people in the community who are interested in art and opening doors for those people who want to try it out and gain from self-expression.”
With Francey having been a student of her own just as she was to Cossar, Hosker says the journey has “come full circle in a very lovely way.”
Like Cossar, Hosker continues to host workshops at the Art School of Peterborough, while Francey supports local artwork by opening her studio for exhibits, just as Cossar did.
“Like Cossar, Julie is instrumental in providing opportunities for people in her space,” says Hosker. “She’s very generous and this gesture on her part to host the artwork is very, very lovely.”
To view the exhibit, visit Studio 12 during the First Friday Peterborough art crawl, or email juliefrancey@yahoo.ca or clhosker@gmail.com for more information on the exhibit or to book a viewing appointment.
