"I'm just putting my toe in the pond," says Beamsville artist Catherine Dawn Coleman who will join the 41st annual lineup Saturday, Sept. 6, along Nelles Blvd. and this year for the first time, in Central School.

Coleman's latent talent was awakened just three years ago when she picked up a pencil and sketched a sleeping cat. Her gift was recognized early, by her high school art teachers, and nine trillium awards have been a blooming testament to her eye for beauty and composition. But a full time job and life, as it is, kept her from pursuing what was already a natural bent.

"I shock myself," she says with signature enthusiasm as she describes the revelation that launched what has become a growing demand for commissioned work.

The search for an art teacher to train the fledgling artist "as luck would have it" took Coleman just steps from her own front door. Irina Kosulina of Ink Studios lives on the same street and teaches in a studio to where she brought her own talent from her roots in Russia.

"She's been a wonderful mentor," said Coleman. Clients have also promoted her artistic confidence. "You can't stay hidden away," said Lucy Lukic, encouraging Coleman to show her work at the Grimsby Festival of Art. Coleman painted her daughter and horse from a photograph.

With that Coleman applied and said she is thrilled to be joining the festival.

This year's Festival, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. will again be a mix of an outdoor show on Nelles Boulevard and the lawns of the Grimsby Seniors Centre with an indoor venue in the gymnasium of Central School.

It's a real collaboration between local artists and the Grimsby community says Sarina Labonté, chair of the Grimsby Festival of Art planning committee.

"The residents of Nelles Blvd. have been amazingly supportive," said Labonté, Executive Director of Community Living - Grimsby, Lincoln and West Lincoln. Neighbours play an important role in the festival each year, patiently and generously giving up their boulevards to the festival and the crowds. Throngs of upwards of 5,000 people have attended festivals over past years.

"We try to introduce different attractions every year," Labonté said. This year's festival will feature a wine tent, live jazz entertainment and the added venue of Central School. Washrooms are available at the Grimsby Seniors' Centre.

It's a commitment shared by many artists who have built the popularity of the festival since it was established in 1967, when Ernie Matton, longtime festival chairperson, and Bill Poole, former director of the Grimsby Public Art Gallery organized the outdoor art show to commemorate Canada's centennial and raise funds for Community Living.

History blends with the future for 2008, as the Festival is being jointly run by the Rotary Club of Grimsby and Community Living. The funds raised by the event are shared between Community Living to support people with a developmental disability and by Rotary to support community projects.

The Festival is a juried show, which guarantees a high calibre of talented exhibitors, attracting over 100 fine artists and artisans in the disciplines of drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, wood carving and photography plus craftspeople of every description including potters, weavers, and stained glass designers.

The entrance fee at the gate is $4 for adults and children 12 and under have free admission. All money generated goes to fund the community projects of the Rotary Club of Grimsby and Community Living - Grimsby, Lincoln and West Lincoln.

For more information visit www.grimsby-festival-arts.com or contact Community Living at 905-563-4115.