About the artist:

David Mceachern’s career spans over a period of 25 years. He obtained his degree in Visual Arts with Honours from the Ontario College of Art. David has displayed his image making skills and vision at many galleries and venues such as The Art Gallery of Brant, Queen’s Park, the Scarborough Civic Centre and the John B. Aird Gallery, to name a few. More recently, he took part in Nuit Blanche 2009.

David is also the recipient of several awards and prizes such as the Josephine M. Harper and the Dora de Pedery-Hunt awards, the Canadian Children’s Association and the Hamilton Port Authority Prizes. He has also received Exhibition grants from the Ontario Art Council and has been commissioned by many, notably the Ontario College of Art Alumni Association (A.J. Casson Award), the City of Toronto, and a major political party.

Over the last ten years, his focus has been on photography and he specializes in Event Coverage.

The Shake Rattle and Roll photo exhibit will be on at The Freeway Coffee House for all or July and August. Come and meet the artist on Friday July 9th, 7pm-9pm.

The art exhibit at the coffee house for May & June is featuring the work of Nancy Benoy.

Art Opening: Friday, May 7 at 7pm.

Nancy was born and lived in Port Credit, until attending University of Guelph where she received an honours degree for Sociology & Anthropology. A study abroad program through the university allowed Nancy to live and work in London, England where her passion for art and design was rekindled. No longer content as an onlooker, she pursued her passion at some of Toronto’s art institutions including Ryerson, OCAD and George Brown College upon returning home, although she is primarily a self-taught artist. Nancy now divides her time between painting and raising a family in Hamilton. Nancy completed the Community Artist Educator Training Program at the Art Gallery of Hamilton in the summer of 2009 and holds monthly art workshops for kids at her studio. Contact her for more information.

Our art exhibition for March & April has been produced by The Salvation Army Lawson Ministries (SALM). It features 29 selected works, created by ten artistically gifted individuals with an intellectual disability. The exhibition was designed to showcase the artistic skills of the participants, and is intended to be a fundraiser with generated proceeds being used to help enrich the existing SALM programs. The displayed pieces within the exhibition were created through the participation in the art program, which is partly run in the basement of our coffee house. This program was developed in 2008 as a pilot project and has since grown to be a regular curriculum of Lawson Ministries. The program exposes the clients to a wide range of media and a multitude of techniques which assist in enhancing the artistic expression of the participants. Each piece portrayed in the exhibition is uniquely representative of its maker, and may stand to tell as story, express an emotion, capture a thought, or represents a series of actions carried out in time.

About The Art Instructor:

Kamila Miszelska has been a forerunner in the development and implementation of the art program at Lawson Ministries. Kamila has always been passionate about art and has been producing various forms of art works ever since she could remember. Kamila’s artistic drive lead her to pursue undergraduate studies in Fine Arts and Psychology at McMaster University. After graduating with honours in 2007, Kamila has upheld successful employment at various eminent organizations including BIS, Good Shepherd and The Salvation Army Lawson Ministries, where she facilities the art program twice a week. Besides her busy schedule, Kamila actively produces abstract/non-representational works which employ a wide range of media and draw upon the sub-consciousness, subjectivity and the intuitive impulses. Kamila’s artistic production has facilitated her personal growth and has lead her to experience the healing qualities of art firsthand.

The Freeway literally has the best volunteers in the world. We have so many dedicated and amazing people who make things happen for the coffee house and the church community throughout the year. Well, on Monday, April 19th at 5:30pm we are hosting a volunteer appreciation event at the coffee house in order to celebrate all the fine folks that make up our volunteer community. This event is for all the people who have volunteered regularly with The Freeway in 2009.

We will have a potluck dinner, some presentations, and a really good time. Please drop Natasha Tilley (our volunteer coordinator) a line if you are interested in coming: natasha@frwy.ca

The Freeway is part of a great city-wide network of churches called TrueCity… “churches together for the good of the city.” Every year right around this time we gather together for a conference to celebrate what God is up to in our midst in Hamilton. This year the conference is happening on February 19 and 20 and there are basically three components to our gathering together:

1. “Stories & Song” – Celebrating God’s active presence in our city. (This takes place at Philpott Memorial Church on Friday evening.)
2. “Prayer” – A time to connect with God’s heart for our city through prayer. (This takes place at Philpott Memorial Church on Saturday morning.)
3. “In Concert Coffee House” – Great music and art and conversation. (This takes place at The Freeway on Saturday evening.)

In addition, there will be a 24/7 prayer room established at Philpott for one week: February 19 to 26. If you are interested in registering (or volunteering) for any of the events of the conference, please drop me a line: pernell@frwy.ca

Saturday night’s Art of Sound music festival was amazing. And although we didn’t raise what we had hoped, we did manage to raise just over a thousand dollars for The Freeway (and some more for Haiti as well), which is totally amazing. The musicians were all top-notch this year… really good line-up. And the people who came really seemed to enjoy themselves.

A few BIG THANK-YOU’S:

• To all the musicians and our amazing DJ who shared their talent with us. Your music was inspiring and beautiful. Thank you for giving your time and energy to help support the coffee house. Can’t wait to see you perform again soon.
• To all the folks who helped clean the coffee house, prepare for the festival, and then clean again, thank you so much. I am always amazed at what amazing volunteers we have at The Freeway.
• To all our fine baristas and other coffee house leaders who worked so hard before, during, and after the event, thank you so much for all your work. We definitely have the best baristas anywhere in the world… and people notice.
• To the sound technicians who made the job of the musicians so much easier, thank you. And to the DWL Group, thank you for providing the sound gear for our lower level stage.
• To everyone who came to support The Freeway and local music, thank you, thank you, thank you.

I really can’t wait until next year… and I hope to see you all at the coffee house supporting local artists and our community commons soon.

If you are part of a church that is thinking of starting a third place, and you have ended up on this site as part of your research (this happens for us now and again, it seems), allow me to suggest that you consider not starting a third place if any of the following things apply to you:

1. If there is already a third place in your neighbourhood.
2. If you are thinking of designating a room(s) in your church building for the third place.
3. If you are planning to create a third place as a way to evangelize, or grow your church.
4. If you are planning for this to be a place that is seldom/rarely open (ie. one evening per week).
5. If you think this will make you a bunch of money to fund your church.
6. If you think this is the new model for missional church… the next thing to do in church… everyone’s doing it.
7. If you have a hard (impossible?) time with living in tension.
8. If you feel the need to see results (quickly?) in terms of the number of people who join your church, find Jesus, etc. through the third place.
9. If you are not completely aware of the neighbourhood you are wanting to start the third place in. Do your homework. Live there for a few years.
10. If you have not gone through a process of discerning what the Spirit of God is up to / creating /doing in your neighbourhood.

It may sound silly, but I can’t tell you the number of church leaders who have approached us to “learn the ropes” and more than one of the above applied to them.

If you would like to arrange a time to chat with us further about third places, mission, or neighbourhood engagement, drop us a line any time: info@frwy.ca, or consider coming to our Cultivate Learning Party on Saturday, March 20 in order to spend the day learning alongside us.

Hey Readers! You may or may not know that The Freeway has live music every Friday evening. Some things you should know about Fridays:

• It is usually $5 at the door which goes to support our musicians.
• We have 3 performers per night and music generally starts at 8 pm.
• It is an all ages venue with a wide variety of music.

If you are a musician (or know someone who is) and you have a website or myspace or a way we can hear your tunes, email me at miranda@frwy.ca … Let’s see if your sound melds with our venue and if we can book you in the near future!

And for you music lovers who don’t consider yourself a musician – don’t forget this great space on a Friday night. Come out and enjoy delicious fair trade coffee, fresh baked goods, and quality local music!

Help-Portrait is a world-wide movement of photographers joining together to use their skills and resources to give back to those in need this holiday season.
 
On Saturday December 12th photographers will set up in studios, community centres, coffee shoppes, and churches to take quality portraits of individuals or families who generally do not have access to professional photography. Each participant will be able to pick up a free 8×10 or 5×7 of themselves the following week.
 
It’s been a hard year for a lot of people in our community. We want to make them feel beautiful.

www.helpportrait.com

Starting September 1st, The coffee house is open Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 10 am to 10 pm (we are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays).

From June 1st – August 31st our new hours of operation are as follows:

Monday: 7 am – 4 pm
Tuesday: 7 am – 4 pm
Wednesday: 7 am – 10 pm (community workshops in the evenings)
Thursday: 7 am – 4 pm
Friday: 7am – Midnight (live music in the evenings)
Saturday: We are closed, but our space is available to rent.
Sunday: We are closed, but we have worship gatherings at 6 pm.

Click on image to enlarge.