Maud Lewis exhibit may be China-bound

Folk artist Maud Lewis rarely strayed far from DigbyCounty during her lifetime, but some of the paintings she created in her tiny Marshalltown, N.S.,homemay soon be travelling far across the Pacific Ocean to an art museum just north of Hong Kong.

According to Nova Scotia Culture Minister Leo Glavine,the province has been able to secure a promise to hold an exhibition of Lewis's work at amuseum in the Chinese city ofGuangzhou, home to more than 14 million people.

"We have a commitment from the Guangzhou Museum of Art, again, a very large city, for within the year that we would have an exhibit," Glavinetold reporters at a news briefing at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. "That was a very strong commitment on their part."

Glavinesaid the job now is to turn that promise into a formal agreement. He and a delegation from the province are just back from what the province billed as"Nova Scotia's first culture-sector mission to Asia."

The minister estimated the weeklong trade mission to China and Japan cost taxpayers about $80,000. According to his department, the delegation includedfive government representatives andthe managing director for Halifax-based 2b Theatre.

Department spokespersonLynetteMacLeodsaid in an email they are still waiting on final invoices for translation services, transportation in China, venue rentals, meals, event hosting and some other expenses.The airfare costs totalled $24,061.14 and hotel costs were $10,766.64.

"I believe $80,000 for a long-term investment is really, you know, a small price," said Glavine about the expense.

International exposure

The CEO of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Nancy Noble, said it would be "really great" for the gallery to get that kind of international exposure.

"There are millions of people who live there, so I think the potential is enormous," she said.

Lewis died in 1970. The gallery owns the rights to her work, so any merchandise sold during the exhibit would come back to the gallery as revenue.

In recent years, the popularity of the Hollywood film Maudie, loosely based on the story of Lewis's relationship with her husbandEverett, has stirred up interest in the gallery and Lewis-themed prints and memorabilia.

Shop sales at the AGNSlast year were almost five times what they were the year before.Revenue from admissions more than doubled over the same time.