Last summer, I wandered into a local art show not expecting very much. I had visited a few art galleries in my time. You know, those ones you might find at a city hall or some museum featuring a host of other stuff. But it was always the big city version, not a small town.
Saying I wasn’t expecting much isn’t meant as an insult to the artists. It’s just that when you hear the phrase “local art show” in a small town, your expectations tend to be modest. You picture a few folding tables, maybe some crafts, a couple of paintings, and a pleasant half-hour of browsing before leaving.
At least that’s what I expected the first time I went to one. I walked in and the artists were set up in several rooms, each with their own little area – paintings on display racks, prints stacked neatly on tables, a few people standing nearby chatting with visitors.
Then I started looking at the artwork. And within about five minutes, I realized something. These people were good. Really good.
Almost every artist there had something that made me stop and stare for a moment. Many of them specialized in nature scenes: lakes, forests, wildlife, quiet stretches of shoreline that anyone who spends time in cottage country would recognize instantly.
But they weren’t simple paintings. Some were detailed landscapes that captured the light on the water perfectly. Others had that slightly impressionistic style, where the colors and brushstrokes almost felt like movement.
A few of them genuinely blew me away. I remember standing in front of one painting of a lake at sunset and another of a stream running through a forest and thinking, If I had more space right now, those would be hanging on my walls.
The experience stuck with me and reminded me of something that is easy to forget: Small towns are full of talented people.
You see it in music, photography, woodworking, writing, and painting. People who quietly develop their craft over years or decades without much fanfare. They’re likely not chasing gallery openings in big cities or trying to build international reputations.
They’re just doing the work and enjoying every minute of it, and sometimes they’re doing it extraordinarily well.
Cottage country, in particular, seems to attract artists inspired by the surrounding landscape. The lakes, the trees, the wildlife, and the changing seasons all show up in their work.
What struck me most was the passion behind it. These weren’t people treating art as a casual hobby. Many of them had clearly spent hundreds, maybe thousands of hours refining what they do. You could see it in the detail, the composition, the confidence in the brushwork. It was serious talent.
All tucked into a local community art show that I had almost skipped because I assumed it wouldn’t be anything special. Lesson learned. Never underestimate the talent hiding in small-town communities. Sometimes you just have to walk through the door and take a look.
johnberkovich.com 