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Jean Claude Roy
French artist Jean Claude Roy’s vibrant,
expressive landscapes have generated a significant
following in France, Eastern Canada, and the
United States. While Roy’s paintings are already
part of more than 100 Ontario art collections,
this artist’s work is available in Ontario
exclusively through The Bartlett Gallery.
Roy describes his style as
"expressionist-colourist"; he works most
frequently in oils and with a palette knife.
Characteristic of his landscapes are evocative
skies that include stylized suns. Roy found that
putting a sun, initially a black sun, in the sky
added light to the painting, and the technique has
come to form an important part of the composition
of each work.
Roy's art can be found in various private and
public collections including the Government of
Newfoundland and Labrador, Courvoisier-Cognac,
France, and Muse St. Pierre et
Miquelon.
George Horan
George Horan was born in New Brunswick, and has
lived in Newfoundland since 1956. He has studied
painting, drawing, sculpture and print making
through Memorial University of Newfoundland where
he has also taught Portrait Painting and Life
Drawing. Since he began showing his work in 1980,
he has participated in more than 20 solo and group
exhibits in Canada and Europe. Curators have
described Horan’s expressive paintings and prints
as tempestuous and sensuously
messy. His work is included in numerous private
and corporate collections throughout Canada,
Brazil, the United States, England, and France.
A dedicated advocate for the arts, Horan is a
member of the Resource Centre for the Arts in St.
John’s, the Artist’s Coalition of Newfoundland and
Labrador, and has served on various councils for
Canadian Artists Representation/Le front des
artistes canadiens (CARFAC).
His logos and prints have been featured in
numerous events and publications for the Canadian
Bar Association and the Law Society of
Newfoundland and Labrador.
James Gordaneer
Artist James Gordaneer’s incredible career has
spanned over half a century during which he has
become legendary within the Canadian art scene.
Evident in much of Gordaneer’s work is the
influence of the early years of the Abstract
Expressionist movement. Largely impacted by some
of the most prominent artists of the era, Francis
Bacon , Arshile Gorky and Dutch Abstract
Expressionist Willem de Kooning, much of
Gordaneer’s work reflects the element of realism
prevalent during those early years. Although
James Gordaneer is most frequently referred to an
Abstract Expressionist, his curiosity has driven
him to paint without the boundaries of style. Art
Gallery of Greater Victoria’s contemporary
curator, Nicole Stanbridge states: “He’s
experienced so many shifts in painting in
Canadian art and he has consistently kept his
own unique identity throughout
that€¦.He hasn’t felt limited by
being classified to one style or one movement,
so that flexibility has allowed him to
experiment. He’s never felt really inhibited to
try those things...”
Time has not slowed the work or exploration of
James Gordaneer. His growth as a painter continues
as does the complexity of his work. In 2010 his
work and life became the subject of a book written
by Lisa Baldissera and Nicole Stanbridge, James
Gordaneer €“ A Life in Painting. The
book serves as a retrospective of a career still
unfolding that will forever mark many eras of the
art world.
Gordaneer lived in Orangeville and taught in the
Arts Department at Orangeville District Secondary
School. For the past thirty-five years James and
family have made Victoria BC their home. Here
Gordaneer pursued a teaching career at the
University of Victoria, Camosun College and the
Victoria College of Art while continuing, in his
discipline of painting daily, his prolific
painting career.
Geoff Goodyear
Goodyear has been involved in Photography as a
professional and an amateur for over 35 years, and
has had several showings at Memorial University
Art Gallery (now the Art Gallery of Newfoundland
and Labrador) and has won several awards from
groups including the Canadian Community Newspaper
Association and the Atlantic Community Newspaper
Association.
Geoff is currently a helicopter pilot and gets the
opportunity to travel to remote areas of the
region which now hosts two of Canada's newest
National Parks. He also gets to work with wildlife
from time to time such as the Peregrine
Falcon. He resides in Happy
Valley-Goose Bay in central Labrador with a very
patient wife and a very cold dog.
Jacek Wolski
Jacek Wolski was born in Poland and has lived in
Canada since 1992. Jacek studied commercial art
and art education at UMCS University in Lublin,
Poland under the renowned artist Marian Bogusz,
one of this century’s most important figures in
Polish postmodern art.
Jacek’s exuberant paintings have been exhibited at
Art Gallery Zacheta in Warsaw, FIAP in Paris,
Galerie am Weidendamm in Berlin, and the Chicago
Cultural Center, as well as other North American
and European venues. The Bartlett Gallery’s
collection of Jacek’s works showcase his
exceptional gift.
Lynda Clare Grant
Lynda found painting in her late 30s. During a
course in 2000, she experienced a brain shift,
which taught her that that art comes from within,
and creativity is not something learned. But
skills and mentors cannot be overlooked. The
experiences and knowledge of fine artists she
worked with had great influence on
her. Lynda uses a variety of mixed
media in her work, usually layering with acrylic,
and often ending with the juiciness of oil
paint. From an over 25-year career as
a massage therapist, the human figure is most
familiar to her; therefore, figurative
representation is typically found in her
work. Her paintings can
be found in Canada from coast to coast.
Emily Knight
Emily grew up in St. John’s, Newfoundland and has
lived in Quebec for 15 years. Her
painting draws on her varied background in music
and social science. She lives in
Kingsey Falls, Quebec with her husband and two
daughters. ‘I began painting in
my thirties when the irrepressible need
arose. I work instinctively,
interpreting the music, ideas, physical
environment and people around me. I
draw my inspiration from that which connects us to
one another and to the planet : the cells in our
bodies, the moon, ocean currents, human
relationships, all intertwined in an eternal
dance. Initially I was drawn to
watercolours for their fluidity, so hard to
control and so alive. Now I work in
several media : watercolour, charcoal, acrylic on
canvas, mixed media, prints, all the while
searching for that same fluidity, that imprecise
place where jazz lives. The
imperfection lets in the light.’
Mike Smalley
The importance of mid-20th century Abstract
Expressionism has echoed throughout Smalley’s work
in eruptions of marks and gestural strokes that
are the soul of the surface, that contain the
canvas’s energy and movement. Lines guide and
shadow the paintbrush, disappear and reappear. The
line is the architecture, the movement, the finale
to every work. And yet there is an
undeniable desire to reach beyond pure abstraction
and the nonrepresentational, to offer disconnected
fragments of a representational language.
For the most part, my work is influenced by my
environment, consciously and unconsciously. With
the vast natural resource of visual stimulation
surrounding my Muskoka studio, even the smallest
area becomes fertile territory for subject matter.
This environment imposes an overwhelming demand on
both the ability to look and the capacity to see
and makes its powerful presence felt in all the
work I currently produce.
Elena Henderson
Elena Henderson came to Canada from Moscow
(Russia) in 1996. Since then, she
graduated from the International Academy of Design
and Technology in Toronto. She
resides and works as a full-time artist at her
studio in Amaranth, Ontario. Now, she
is working on her new abstract series of raw
canvases, using a variety of acrylic textured
paint and mixed media. Her style is
sophisticated and elegant, her colour palette is
unique and fresh, her shapes are organic and
electrifying.
Debbie Ebanks
Schlums
Debbie Ebanks Schlums is a three dimensional
artist living in rural Canada. Born in
Jamaica of mixed ethnic heritage and raised in
Canada, she spent seven years in Switzerland where
she completed an M.A. in International Relations
at the Graduate Institute of International
Studies. Prior to that, she earned a Joint
B.A. in Philosophy and Political Science at the
University of Waterloo in Canada. Her career
in glass sculpture began two years ago after
taking several workshops in glass at Sheridan
College, Canada, taught by glass kilncast artists
Hartmann Greb (Germany) and Irene Frolic (Canada).
The themes of her academic studies as well as her
personal history serve as the conceptual material
on which her art is based.
Since 2009, she has been exhibiting locally at
the Bartlett Gallery, RA Gallery and The Dam
Gallery in Ontario, Canada , as well as at open
air art exhibits in Toronto: the Riverdale Art
Walk, The Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition and the
Sunnyside Beach Art Show and Sale.
Debbie is a member of the Glass Art Association of
Canada, as well as local arts organizations.
In 2011, Debbie received an Ontario Arts Council
Visual Arts, Emerging Artist Grant, an award for
‘Best Other Media’ at the Riverdale Art
Walk, the “Best of Glass Award” at the
Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, and the Town of
Orangeville’s Emerging Artist of the Year Award.
Rui Lopes
Rui Lopes was born in the island of S. Miguel,
Azores. His sensitivity and determination to
challenge the beauty of the land and the
wilderness in particular, have led to various
accomplishments in the field of photographic art.
His work is well recognized for its personal style
in the mastery of colour, composition and
perspective. His personal approach to nature
photography, is enhanced by his former training in
the Arts and his love of the environment.
Invited by the University of Azores in the early
1990s, Rui has participated in four major
expeditions of the archipelagos at an
international level, as the exclusive photographer
for the institute. Due to his versatility and
creativity, he was commissioned to handle all
assignments, from nature, to architecture,
science, and macro photography.
2000 / 2003- Rui has
explored the state of Arizona, USA, and its unique
"Desert Light", as well as the province of
Newfoundland, Canada, and its distinguished
folklore.
2004 - He has dedicated
his efforts in capturing the diversity of imagery
that exists within Ontario Waterfalls leading to a
continuous body of work that persists to this
date.
2005 / 2006 - Toronto's
High Park became another project and many of its
seasons have been secured in great detail by his
unique view of this City's vast retreat.
2007 - Nepal could be
considered, so far, the ultimate journey of his
career. In the company of his older son Ruy Jr.,
he walked through the Himalayan mountain range,
completing the famous Annapourna circuit. Shooting
and recording this stunning landscape was a
transformative experience for this father and son
team.
2009 - New Orleans and
its culture, profoundly rooted in the Jazz sounds,
is worth embracing. For a total of a month Rui has
consumed the essence of this City dedicating some
of his time to volunteer for the Katrina's "OnSite
Relief" Foundation. He intends to return to this
settlement, as these amazing people have captured
his heart.
2012- An extended visit
to his home of birth, the Azores, is planned for
the later part of the year. A new body of work
will be produced, leading to a personal account of
this very unique and beautiful set of forgotten
islands, embedded in the middle of the Atlantic
Ocean. In the making is also a photographic show
of the "Maritmes", specifically Newfoundland. He
has a very personal attachment to this province
due to the link between his own roots and the
"Fishing Industry" of Newfoundlanders.
Janny Fraser
Janny Fraser is a graduate of the Ontario College
of Art, majoring in Drawing, Painting, and
Printmaking. She expanded her activities into
Fibre, Clay, and Photography, leading to Mixed
Media Gallery Installations. She is currently
working on a series called Time Images, creating
hybrid mixed media objects that deal with time as
the vehicle of change and transformation,
reflecting environmental issues in both the urban
man-made environment and the natural landscape.
Seth Koplowitz
Given the fragility of all things natural,
especially in this age of such dramatic global
change, I attempt to capture photographic images
which are not only aesthetically pleasing, but
also encapsulate the ephemeral qualities of
nature. Although my photography encompasses
a range of themes, in general I seek to explore
the unique interplay of pattern, texture, and
movement that exist in nature. All around
us, natural processes are constantly acting upon
and altering otherwise static forms, causing them
to evolve over long periods of time. This
state of ongoing transition is not always readily
perceivable by the observer. As people pass
through their physical environment, they are more
often than not in a state of motion (walking,
biking, driving, etc.) and thus are apt to
overlook the small intricate patterns, which
comprise larger aspects of the visible landscape
that may tend to capture the viewer's attention
more readily. While the classic saying of 'don't
miss the forest for the trees' is important,
through my photography I try to encourage viewers
not to miss the bark for the trees.
Seth has travelled extensively throughout North
America and abroad. Since moving north to Canada 7
years ago, he has found a ceaseless supply of
inspiration in the country’s abundant natural
beauty. His most recent travels
during the spring and summer of 2011 landed him as
such disparate places as the Mojave desert in
California, the spectacularly beautiful country of
Iceland, as well as the much loved Northern
Georgian Bay region of Ontario. Seth lives in
Hillsburgh, Ontario with his wife Nina who is an
artist and landscape designer, their dog Noket and
two cats Eli and Ponga.
Irene Hunchak
The words most often used to describe Irene
Hunchak’s figurines and sculptures are whimsical,
imaginative, and intriguing. The characters
initially capture a viewers attention due to their
bold visual presentation through the use of
colour, a strong sense of form, and a variety of
media. Each piece continues to draw the viewer in
as details and nuances are discovered which reveal
the narrative dimension. Inspiration
for each figurine is drawn from daily life and is
often a visual metaphor for a social commentary or
simply a snapshot of a moment in time.
Irene describes the creative process as such:
“Most often I will start a piece by hand modeling
and sculpting the head with some general idea of
the sort of character I want to
create. The character gradually takes
on more personality and asserts itself to the
point where it starts to dictate to me how it will
develop. Eventually I take a back
seat and resign myself to the fact that my hands
are the vehicle through which the character comes
to life. Hopefully I enjoy the ride along the
way!”
Irene is an accomplished botanical and wildlife
artist. She is primarily self-taught
with two significant mentors, Tasira
Strimban-Barishev and Jorgen Lauritzen (Sheridan
College Fine Art). Prior to engaging in
traditional genres of art, Irene was a highly
accomplished and successful sugar
artist. She lives in the Greater
Toronto area with her husband, two cats, and has
two beautiful daughters.
It gives me great pleasure to watch someone look
at one of my pieces. Usually a smile
will develop, occasionally laughter breaks out,
and perhaps even a comment such as “this is
exactly like my sister”. This is what
I hope my art does €“ bring joy and
pleasure to you, the viewer.
Greg Locke
Greg Locke is owner and operator of Gotham Glassworks, a
custom art-glass studio and proprietorship located in the
historic village of Schomberg, Ontario, a scenic 45 minute
drive north-west of Toronto in King Township.
Greg has been producing his own unique style of stained
glass artwork since 1996 including window panels, lamps,
glass art platters, vessels and unique decorative elements.
Greg’s initial style in traditional copper foil and lead
came methods incorporated what he terms “soft gothic” design
elements, hinting at the strong colours and lines of the
Gothic architecture and art era, “… but not so bold you
would tire of it in your home, restaurant or office foyer”.
Greg’s style has broadened in 16 years to incorporate a
distinctive palate of unique flowing shapes and colours.
Gotham Glassworks moved to Schomberg in 2008 and Greg added
fused glass (also called “warm glass”) to his offering with
the addition of a large glass kiln in 2008. Though he
continues to utilize traditional copper foil and leaded
glass methods in his artwork, fused glass is now his
predominant focus.
“Fusing offers much more opportunity to be creative and
expand my offering of works to include objects and shapes I
could never accomplish with foil or lead came. I am
delighted by my transition to kiln-fired art!”
Greg serves on the boards of Arts Society King and York
Region Arts Council. He received his Master of Business
Administration (Marketing) and Bachelor of Arts (Economics)
degrees at York University.
For commissioned works he only produces one custom
designed item. Each work contains his engraved signature.
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