News release

Highland Village Presents Peter Rankin Exhibition

Nova Scotia Museum

An exhibition of drawings and paintings inspired by the traditional lifestyles, stories and scenes of Gaelic Cape Breton is being held at Highland Village.

The Iona, Victoria Co., museum will officially open the 21-piece show by Mabou coal mines artist Peter Rankin, entitled Air Aithris aig M'Athair (Stories my Father Told), at noon on Sept. 15 as part of Pioneer Day celebrations. The exhibition, on display in the Malagawatch Church at Highland Village, will close Oct. 14.

Rankin's recent works include illustrations for Alistair MacLeod's compilation of short stories To Every Thing There Is a Season and Joanne Taylor's Making Room, a children's book for which he won the 2004 Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Excellence in Illustration. Art from both works headline the Air Aithris Aig M'Athair show, along with a number of other images inspired by stories of earlier times, often told by his late father John Archie Rankin.

Mr. Rankin, who had his first published works while still in high school, relects his passion for countryside settings in rich and earthy interpretations of people on the land and their places of belonging.

For more information, call 902-725-2272.