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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.  “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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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.”
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.
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.
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.
 Jeanette Obbink . Hope . oil on canvas . 20 x 40"
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.
“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.
Pat Gibson HOME
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.
 Pat Gibson . Home, Summer Nights Apart . oil and screen . 20 x 24" Lisa Johnson "Considerations 2020", "Thinking 2020"
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.”
Geoff Farnsworth PUBLIC ART REFLECTIONS "Green Museum", "Girl and Dog in Lucid Shadbolt Dream"
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.
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.
“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.
Jill Price EMBODIMENTS “The Speechmaker”, “The Princess”
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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