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Dana Cowie: family tree

1/27/2021

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Dana Cowie
 
Having to spend more time at home during the lockdowns of this past year, Dana Cowie has juggled homeschooling two young children and finding time to paint. Although hectic at times, Cowie found herself with the opportunity to pursue a great deal of work on archiving her family tree, and gathering a deeper understanding of her connection to the land where her ancestors had resided. This research would eventually become intertwined with her art, exploring Cowie’s interest in family lines, her own origins, and the history of the UK. From her home Cowie observed images digitally of areas of England, Scotland, and Ireland that her family had come from. Cowie’s research culminated in a series of paintings of the British countryside and of Coll and Tiree Islands of Scotland. Throughout her process, Cowie employs trust, patience, and faith in God, which is always a strong element within her work. She hopes to one day visit these places of the UK in person, exploring the castles in which her ancestors had lived.
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“The piece I call Forgotten Field is of an area in Essex where one line of my family has deep roots and were mostly paupers and servants - many were in jail for stealing food! I have always felt connected to England and Scotland but now I have places, names and stories.”
- Dana Cowie

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Dana Cowie is an painter and art educator currently based in Owen Sound, Ontario. She studied visual arts at Central Technical School in Toronto. Cowie employs an impasto technique inspired by cubism to her oil paintings of farm landscapes to achieve a patchwork quilting effect. The work that she creates has a sculptural feel, and the imagery that results is both abstract and representational. ​​

Written by Kaitlyn Sun-Hwang

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Brent Schreiber: New Artistic Avenues

1/27/2021

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​Brent Schreiber

Over the course of 2020, Brent Schreiber’s practice went through many changes in reaction to the pandemic, and for Schreiber, the year would become a period of training and exploration. At a time of turmoil experimentation came naturally to Schrieber, giving him the freedom to “pull back into simple ideas and making art for art’s sake.”
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The Artist Rachel Tondreault
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Sunset, Bayfield ON
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Main Beach, Port Elgin ON
Primarily a figurative/portraiture artist, Schreiber decided to dive head first into a new series, confronting his insecurities with landscape painting and working for months to develop his strengths and work on his weaknesses. Schreiber would create studies of the areas surrounding Lake Huron incorporating a glow of natural light, a technique that he would come to build further understanding of within his work. Working with charcoal for a small series of his figurative pieces, Schreiber had to find ways to get around being present with a live model. Opting to collaborate digitally with his subjects, he had to forgo a level of control in the creation of his drawings, leading to interesting and beautiful results. Experimenting with different materials that he has added to his drawing toolbox, Schreiber is currently exploring techniques and studies for a new body of work that will reflect the events of the past and upcoming year.
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Brent Schreiber is an artist and illustrator based in Elmira, ON. His figurative paintings involve compositions of illustrative and realistic elements to cultivate narrative. Known for his Listen series, Schreiber explores symbolism and themes of God, faith, spirituality, hope and the human bond. An Art Renewal Center International Salon Finalist, Schreiber’s work is featured in private and public collections in the United States, Europe, Australia and Canada.

Written by Kaitlyn Sun-Hwang

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Donna andreychuk: still life

1/27/2021

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Donna Andreychuk
Still Life
 
The title of “Still Life” for Donna Andreychuk’s floral series is one that follows a feeling of stagnation, the sense of life standing still over the past year. As a COVID-19 diagnosis and implications of pandemic limited Andreychuk’s opportunities to paint plein air, she moved her studio space that she had occupied for 5 years from downtown Delaware, ON back to her home. Although a disruptive and challenging time to make art for Andreychuk, she began to paint from memory and took inspiration her immediate surroundings, often from her studio windows. The blooms of spring and summer became the main source of Andreychuk’s imagery, and during the past year she has found herself being able to complete commissions in styles such as portraiture, much different from her usual work. Andreychuk’s gestural and colourful floral paintings mean to spread happiness and joy, even in hardship.
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Out the Window
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Late in the Season
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Donna Andreychuk is an artist based in Delaware, Ontario, who draws inspiration from her love of the Canadian landscape. Often working outdoors, Andreychuk first creates small paintings and then creates larger studio works that employ loose gestural brushstrokes and vibrant colours to capture fragments of her subject on site, the end result and energetic and cohesive image with elements of abstract expressionism. Andreychuk is currently represented by Canvas Gallery in Toronto, ON, and her work has been featured worldwide in solo and group shows, television programs, and in private and corporate collections.

Written by Kaitlyn Sun-Hwang
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Cold Waters
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My Iris
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Jeanette Obbink: painting the neighbourhood

1/21/2021

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Jeanette Obbink
"Breaks are a lot Quieter These Days", "Hope"

​Jeanette Obbink’s work for the Gallery Group Show 2021 was created during lockdown in the Spring of 2020, and during social distancing for the remainder of the year. Working from en plein air,  Obbink focused on scenes close to her studio in Paris Ontario or else worked from photo references. 
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Jeanette Obbink . Breaks are a lot Quieter These Days . oil on canvas . 30 x 30"

​Obbink took inspiration from the homes in her neighbourhood, recognizing their place as a safe haven. On the front porches of these homes, once busy and now emptied, Obbink observed people on zoom calls with friends and loved ones. For Obbink, empty chairs became a theme within her work, reminiscent of intimate social experiences lost due to the pandemic.
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Jeanette Obbink . Hope . oil on canvas . 20 x 40"
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Jeanette Obbink is a painter, teacher, graphic designer and art director based in Paris, Ontario. She obtained a BA in Fine Art and Textiles in 1983 and has since worked as a teacher, graphic designer and art director. She has carried a passion for painting since high school, and is currently a landscape artist working primarily in oil. Her work has been shown in various group shows and solo exhibitions, and is part of both private and public collections.
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PAUL LAMBERT: a snapshot of the moment

1/21/2021

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Paul Lambert
"Isolation", "STOP KILLING US", "God givin freedoms" "DANGER due to America"
For photographer Paul Lambert, the circumstances of the past year has proved challenging for his creative output, perhaps in hindrance to the turmoil of 2020. Inspired by the social commentary behind the subjects of his photographs, Lambert turned his focus towards the dialogue of chaos, protest and isolation intertwined within the events of this past year. 
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Paul Lambert. Isolation
"We were in lockdown by March so that meant an immediate stop to almost any close physical interaction. I vowed to go for a walk every day and create images that captured the emotion I was feeling about this "new normal." 
“STOP KILLING US” documents the Black Lives Matter protest on June 6th 2020, which drew an estimated 10,000 supporters to Victoria Park in London. This occurred as part of widespread civil unrest extending across North America. ​On July 3, 2020, the New York Times wrote “The recent Black Lives Matter protests peaked on June 6, when half a million people turned out in nearly 550 places across the United States. That was a single day in more than a month of protests that still continue today.”

“God givin freedoms” depicts members of the Church of God participating in unsanctioned anti-mask protests in Aylmer, ON. Aylmer Mayor, Mary French, had received threats after declaring a state of emergency over fears that a so-called Freedom March by those opposing COVID-19 safety measures could attract counter demonstrations. 
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STOP KILLING US
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God givin freedoms
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DANGER due to America
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​Paul Lambert is an artist from London, Ontario who uses photography in order to represent his feelings towards people, places, and experiences. Inspired by texture, geometry, and light, Lambert captures unique compositions of seemingly ordinary subjects in order for the viewer to see them in a new way.
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Pat Gibson, home

1/20/2021

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Pat Gibson
HOME
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Pat Gibson . Home, Taken by the Flood . 20 x 20"
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Pat Gibson . Home, Lost in the Fire . 20 x 20"
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Pat Gibson . Home Behind the Curtain , 20 x 20"
Pat Gibson began this small series in late 2019 as an experiment in mounting semi-transparent Mylar layers on board. Focusing on abstracted images of the home, she explores the sentimental meanings and values tied to our connection to domestic space. In Gibson’s words, “The house shape which is placed under the top layer suggests to me a safe place to live, grow, love and create.”

As Gibson continued the series through the COVID-19 pandemic, her view of the series began to change and evolve. She described that “The work soon took on a life of its own reflecting the current stories of historic floods, fires and masses of people seeking asylum. Perhaps the piece Neighbours at Night foretold of the isolation we would experience in 2020.” Although there is an added sense of melancholy involved with the disruptions and layering of Gibson’s imagery of home, what is also revealed is strength in adversity.
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Pat Gibson is an artist, art educator and former Curator of Exhibitions a the Ingersoll Creative Arts Centre, since 1982. She is co-founder/ co-curator of Oxford County Art Project : Art in Public Spaces. Gibson has had opportunities to show her work in multiple solo and group exhibitions throughout Ontario, and her work is featured in both public and private collections throughout Canada and the USA. ​
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Pat Gibson . Home, Summer Nights Apart . oil and screen . 20 x 24"
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Lisa Johnson - "what, why, how"

1/8/2021

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Lisa Johnson
"Considerations 2020", "Thinking 2020"
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Lisa Johnson’s creative journey over the past year has faced many ups and downs and challenges due to the pandemic. It was a feeling of newfound freedom for Johnson that emboldened her to paint solely for herself, but with an added sense of isolation that left her with what she describes as somber introspection. 

​On this introspection, Johnson writes “With all the uncertainty of this past year --not just with the pandemic but with the political chaos in general and the worries for the future, I often find myself questioning my purpose. What to paint? How to paint? Why to paint? Certainly I've been more aware of my own mortality.”
​

Johnson’s newest work found inspiration from memories of driving trips that she took over this past year exploring new places throughout Ontario. Traveling from the shores of Lake Superior to as far as Wawa, Johnson took her studio on the road, sketching and painting along the way. Her work in abstract landscape represents an element of escapism and a deep appreciation for Canadian scenery.
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Bigger Spaces 2020

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Lisa Johnson is a painter based in Toronto, Ontario. She graduated with honours from the Ontario College of Art, where she was awarded the Mrs. W.O. Forsythe Award for 4th year women painters in 1996. Johnson’s intensely gestural paintings are inspired by on-site studies, with an emphasis on space and movement to represent the passage of time of an evolving landscape.
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Geoff Farnsworth - Public Art Reflections

1/7/2021

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Geoff Farnsworth
PUBLIC ART REFLECTIONS
"Green Museum", "Girl and Dog in Lucid Shadbolt Dream"
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Geoff Farnsworth’s 2020 experience has involved adjusting to a new way of life in many different ways, and this has been a driving force in the paintings he has created over the past year.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Farnsworth began creating art from home after leaving his shared studio space in downtown St. Catherines, first turning his attention to the impact of the pandemic on public art spaces. As galleries and museums continue to tackle with closures and other obstacles due to the pandemic, the ways in which we show and observe art has confronted several challenges. Farnsworth began his exploration of the loss of these viewing experiences through paintings of figures within public art spaces. In Farnsworth's words, 
“As covid continued and I kept on with this theme, it took on more of a fantasy element with not being able to actually be in public art spaces any longer. And with being more isolated from people. I felt more of a longing for these spaces, and reminiscent.” 

​As he spent more time at home, Farnsworth began working on portraits of friends, authors and directors that he had been spending time with over quarantine, as well as of George Floyd in the midst of the BLM protests. For Farnsworth, these works represent 
“a way for me to connect with people and people's energy over this time of separation”. Currently Fansworth focus has turned towards incorporating more surreal and fantastical elements in his paintings that reflect on nature, inspired by the many walks he has taken during the pandemic.

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Geoff Farnsworth is an artist based in St. Catherines, Ontario. After obtaining a Bachelors of Commerce degree at UBC in 1990, he changed his direction and pursued Graphic Design and Illustration at Capilano College. It was here that he rediscovered his love for drawing and painting and from 1997-2002 he went on to study at the Art Students League in New York. His work has been shown in New York City, Washington DC, Minneapolis, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, the Niagara region, Thunder Bay, Vancouver, Sweden, Norway, and Trinidad.
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January 07th, 2021

1/7/2021

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Paul Lambert
“Isolation”, "STOP KILLING US, Black Lives Matter Demonstration, London, ON", “God givin freedoms, Freedom March, Aylmer, ON”, “DANGER DUE TO AMERICA”

For photographer Paul Lambert, the circumstances of the past year has proved challenging for his creative output, perhaps in hindrance to the turmoil of 2020. Inspired by the social commentary behind the subjects of his photographs, Lambert turned his focus towards the dialogue of chaos, protest and isolation intertwined within the events of this past year. ​
As quarantine hit, Lambert captured “Isolation” after he had vowed to take a walk every day with his camera in an effort to document the essence of our “new normal” through his lens. Some days more successful then others, his images present a point of view of the feeling of isolation in the early days of the pandemic.
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Paul Lambert . Isolation
“STOP KILLING US” is a powerful photo from the Black Lives Matter London ON protest on June 6th 2020, which drew and estimated 10,000 supporters in support of racial justice. This protest is part of widespread civil unrest throughout North America.

Standing in jarring contrast, the piece 
“God givin freedoms” presents members of the Church of God participating in unsanctioned anti-mask protests in Aylmer, ON. Aylmer Mayor, Mary French, had received threats after declaring a state of emergency over fears that a so-called Freedom March by those opposing COVID-19 safety measures could attract counter demonstrations. 
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STOP KILLING US
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God givin freedoms
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DANGER due to America
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Paul Lambert is an artist from London, Ontario who uses photography in order to represent his feelings towards people, places, and experiences. Inspired by texture, geometry, and light, Lambert captures unique compositions of seemingly ordinary subjects in order for the viewer to see them in a new way.
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Jill Price - embodiments

1/7/2021

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Jill Price
EMBODIMENTS
“The Speechmaker”, “The Princess”
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Jill Price’s EMBODIMENTS are an ongoing body of mixed media collages that visually explore the material connections between humans, non-humans and their surroundings. Started during the first few months of COVID, they are a continuation of Price’s explorations into unmaking as a creative method. Each work is composed of earlier drawings, prints and text that often work to map past personal experiences and emotions in an abstract way. Compartmentalized, severed, layered, contrasting, and at times intersecting, each figure points to the complexity of our day to day existence and the archetypes that may inform or determine the way we move through space or inhabit place. 

Often a visual response to the political, social, economic and racial issues being broadcasted daily over the radio, social media and television, each figure emerged intuitively as a way to offer Price company, comfort and hope while isolated from family and friends.
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Jill Price is a multidisciplinary Canadian artist, curator, and art instructor researching New Materialism. Price received her BFA from Western University, and would then go on to earn her MFA in Interdisciplinary Art and Design at OCAD. Working across a plethora of mediums, Price’s work intersects drawing and sculpture, employing elements of nature and memory tied to her childhood spent outdoors in Pickering, ON. Price’s work is both narrative and abstract and serves as an indexical and expressive way for her to map her surroundings, their materiality and the constant state of change in which we attempt to coexist.  
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