Canadian Hand Made Gifts & Souvenirs From Coast to Coast
Greetings! :

Before I share the latest news at Cornerstone, I find myself having to stop for a moment to say what's really on my mind. It seems that everywhere you turn there is a new natural and environmental disaster happening. From the fires in Brazil, Bolivia, & the Arctic, to the Taji Dolphin hunts to the poaching of wild animals all over the world, to the unbelievable amounts of trash and plastic and netting thrown into our water, choking out sealife of all kinds, it seems that the world has gone more than a little off kilter. For the life of me I do not understand how so many humans have so little regard for our Mother Earth. We are killing ourselves off and we have no one to really blame but us. My heart is broken each day when I hear that about all these happenings. I sometimes feel very hopeless and powerless. While my intuition tells me that if we don't smarten up like YESTERDAY, humanity will be gone like the dinosaurs & the DODO Bird, I realize that that kind of energy isn't helping. It only feeds into the negativity & the problems. Amongst all the bad news are people, normal everyday people, who are willing to put themselves out there for a cause like climate change, or freeing cetaceans or fighting for the rights of everyone to have clean drinking water, and who ARE making a difference. Then I feel my power start to come back. Sometimes people don't know the how when it's right beneath their very nose! For me, my vehicle of change is Cornerstone. Five years ago today, September 1st, I rolled into Kingston from my cottage on Lake Scugog and officially became the Owner of Cornerstone Canadian Art & Craft (Formerly Cornerstone Fine Art/Fine Crafts). I had an idea in my head of what I wanted it to be but as a newbie business person, I had no idea what I was in for! It was here that I met 2 people who have helped me over and over again to make Cornerstone into what it is today - a beautiful shop with beautiful art & craft from all over this country, who care more about people and the planet than the bottom line. Lisa Scales is the store manager here and she is way more than just a manager. Her high standards of consciousness have held me to a much higher standard than ever before. We have carefully made decisions that sometimes meant not making money but they were the right choices to make as human beings. Together we have taken the original store and continued to make it more available to people from all over the world and from all walks of life and economic status. The other lady whom most of you don't know is our bookkeeper JL. She is the behinds the scene woman who keeps all the numbers straight and is the voice of reason when I get too outlandish. These 2 ladies have been with me for the past 5 years, everyday and I cannot image 2 finer human beings to work with. There have been lots of part time staffers here - some whom have stayed and others who have come for a bit and moved on to bigger and better lives and careers. Each person has left their special touch on Cornerstone and I thank them all. This store is what keeps me going when I hear all the bad news. I see that each of us are shining our light into the darkness and bringing beauty, Love and Joy into the world. We are helping artists & crafts people to make a living through their work which in turns supports their own communities across Canada. We are exposing people to our Indigenous people's work - to the beauty of it and the stories behind those works. We work with different charities all throughout the year to make lives better for the underprivileged. We have become involved with the Kingston Humane Society and their CUPCAKE event every February to help support animals in shelters until they can be adopted out. And lastly, I am hoping that the store provides people with inspiration. Inspiration to learn a new skill or technique, Inspiration to come downtown in the cold, snowy weather to support a local independent business and artists from all over Canada because these people need to be survive in the winter too. I hope this little shop inspires you to find your voice and to shine your light into the darkness. We can do this. One person and one light at a time we can come together and shine on behalf of humanity.


From our heart to yours,
Penny & the wonderful staff at Cornerstone
ZIA piece
Featured Artist - Lise Gillis
Lise has been working at Cornerstone part time now for the past 2 years and we are delighted to finally have her work grace our feature wall! She is as talented as she is lovely!
Art After Dark
Prepare To Have Fun!
Friday September 27, 2019 is the fall Art After Dark Event! Think of it as an art crawl through DT Kingston! We always have a great time here at Cornerstone with everyone. We have delicious snacks and this year we will have a celebratory cake to mark the 5 year anniversary of our team! Looking forward to seeing everyone again!
(Below are scenes from our spring Art After Dark event!)
Zentangle Classes
Fun times at the Zentangle Class. New Class is on Sunday September 29, 2019 From 9:00 am - 12:00PM We'll be learning how to make a Tangled Tree! Each tree will be unique to you. Classes are $55.00 and include light refreshments.
Call us at 613-546-7967 to sign up or if you have some friends that want to do a class call us to make a date! We will keep you posted of the details of our new Zentangle Club and keep an eye out on FB for Tangle Tuesdays!We invite you to join our FB group,


We have just started the group so that we can get together, people who like Zentangle here in Kingston. Join, Post & Share. We are working with coming up with a schedule where we can meet monthly at a the store to tangle and share ideas. Starting in June I'll post a "Tangle of the Week" and we can use that as a jumping off point for our pieces. We are open to ideas and just looking for a fun, relaxing way to hang out and do some Zentangle!
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Attractions Ontario
We are very proud to again be up for an Attractions Ontario Choice Award in this category. You can vote for us daily but only 1 time in a 24-hour period. (So it's best to do around the same time each day!)
Just click on the picture below and off you go!


Marissa Sweet Class
Landscape: Adventures in Expressive Acrylic Workshop
Explore the landscape by using abstract qualities, bold colour and techniques! Students will learn to use loose strokes and bold lines and create a captivating landscape in this step-by-step workshop. Students will be encouraged to bring their expressive and more personal style into their work! Skies the limit with intuition, body language, feeling and emotions.  

The class will begin at 10:00 AM and run until 5:00 PM. Lunch from a local eatery here in Kingston, will be included. The fee for this amazing class is only $155.00!!!
Marissa will be coming especially for this class, all the way from Oshawa, so lets make sure we give her a warm, Kingston welcome and fill up the class!

A complete list of supplies will be on the "Classes" page of our website at https://www.cornerstonecanadianart.com/classes/ or alternatively, you can pick one up at the store. You can register either in person or call the store at 613-546-7967 and reserve your spot with your credit card. The deadline for registration will be October 19 but because Marissa's classes are so popular, I wouldn't put registering off ' to til then as you will surely be disappointed to learn the class is FULL!
Can you imagine painting this and taking it home with you???!!!!
Welcome Back To School!
We would like to take this opportunity to welcome all the students, (big & small, young & old) back to classrooms and lecture halls. We love having you come into the shop for inspiration, to find a perfect gift for a friend or a parent and to share with us your dreams for the future. On September 3rd, we will have, between 10:00AM - 2:00 PM, 2700 new Queens University students come through our doors. The Tour of The Town is organized to introduce new students to Kingston and get them acquainted with businesses in the area. We have participated in this event for the last 2 years and have always found it to be fun and interesting! If you are an art teacher or a shop teacher and want organize a trip to the store to show your students what is possible, please contact us at 613-546-7967 and ask for Lisa. We will be happy to make arrangements to show off our shop to the stars of the future!
Look Whose New!
We would like to give a warm Cornerstone welcome to potter Paula Walsh from Sudbury, Ontario
This is her story!
 
About Paula.....
I have been in love with the arts my entire life. I loved rainy school days growing up because that meant I would be doing art projects instead of going outside . Like many other kids, I took piano lessons growing up, continuing till I entered University. That was a crucial time for me, as I was directed away from following my passion, my love for art and music , and toward a more practical career choice ...nursing . I worked as a nurse for many years, in many different areas within the nursing field, until I could no longer deny my true self. I was conflicted about the desire to help others and what I saw as an ineffective, restrictive role I was playing. There was no room here to be creative. I started asking questions about why people had such difficulties making changes in their lives to get healthier. I also started questioning what my life purpose was...surely it was more than what I was doing at the moment? I didn’t want to have this dissatisfaction with” the job” infect my personal life as I’d seen it happen with so many others. I became disillusioned and did not want to participate in this sickness oriented system.
  
I started learning more about natural healing therapies and metaphysics . Reading many of the self help books ( some more “ helpful” than others) I found a wealth of possibilities to healing not just the body, but mind and spirit as well , something that was totally ignored in nursing . 

 This holistic approach appealed to me, touched me deeply and I started down a path: healing my own life .
 
    Of course throughout my nursing career I had continued my pursuit of the arts as a hobby, a side line. I took a pottery course that changed everything for me. I found a medium that I absolutely loved .I soon set up my own home studio , learning as much as I could by attending workshops , and any other means to acquire the skills and inspiration to work in clay.
  
 I started to see value in art, how much it means to me and to those who buy my work .I took an art history course online in which one lecture was on Neolithic cave art. It was beautiful! To think that cave dwellers faced with day to day survival , found it so compelling to do art in all its forms music, dance,
 painting, sculpture.

 Creating beauty, expressing those emotions that can only be expressed in art,made me realize that creative expression was surely as important to survival as food , water and shelter. There was no separateness in their lives. Body, mind and spirit were one. Making art is healing for our body, mind and spirit and it’s sadly lacking today in our “advanced world”. Recently I’ve begun painting , and a new love affair has begun: color, texture , shape, playing with nature inspired imagery, fantasy , human figures.... and wonderful friendships with others sharing the creative life journey.
 
 My love of art and the desire and commitment to helping and connecting with others who want to live a more inspired life, led to the development of my creativity workshops. People are given the opportunity to re-connect with their fun playful nature, igniting that spark we all need to fire up our lives!
  
Like I said before , your life is an ongoing process, always changing, always moving forward. It is your own personal art project to do with as you wish, and as any masterpiece, all you need to start is creativity and a leap of faith!
 
Mark Your Calendars For
The Great Pumpkin Search!!!
The Great Pumpkin Search will be held this year on Saturday October 26 from 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM.... Get all the details in the
October Newsletter!
Black Drop Design
New jewellery pieces by Black Drop Design have just arrived hot off the press as well as L Carr Designs. Manifest, Gam and a few new surprises for October are on their way!Make sure you come in and check out all the beautiful jewellery here at Cornerstone!
To stay up to date check out our website for more details about Cornerstone Canadian Art & Craft and follow us on FB, Twitter Instagram and Pinterest!

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