Pauline Conley
Conley was born and raised in Vancouver where she studied fine art and English. She also lived on Vancouver Island for several years working as an artist, art teacher and cultural administrator. In the summer of 2009, Conley moved to Kingston, Ontario where she remains today.
“As a painter, I am drawn to the power of the non-representational”, say Conley… “First, the horizon found it’s way into my - the sight line which is the friction point between the elements and between the known and the unknown. It’s a powerful cultural, proprioceptive and visual reference point upon which the metaphor of landscape hangs.”
Recently, Conley has taken to deconstructing the motifs she had been working on, shifting focus to the grids and patterns themselves as evocative montages of everyday life - both routine and divine.
Jerre Davidson
Jerre’s early career was in dance at the Scottish Ballet School in Edinburgh, which instilled in her a love of rhythm and movement. Later in life while developing her glass work, she began to appreciate the various tempos found in nature.
“Each place has its own tempo. It can be slow and sensuous like the waves lapping the shore or harsh and staccato like an up-thrusting rock formation.”
Jerre is particularly drawn to moving water which is a primary element in the Canadian landscape. Much of her recent work seeks to share the changing mood and rhythm of this landscape. She photographs the local countryside to capture a specific moment in time then interprets it in glass using frits (small granules of glass) and pre-fired components to communicate her experience to the viewer. Some of her pieces are assembled and fired face down allowing for a more impressionistic image. Others are composed of a number of layers fired face up many times. Sometimes she manipulates the glass when it is hot to provide movement to the piece.
Tom Dietrich
Born in Brantford, Ontario, Tom Dietrich now lives and works in Guelph. Tom is an honours graduate from the Ontario College of Art and Design as well as an elected member of the Society of Canadian Artists. His trademark sculptural paintings explore our relationship with our environment and our struggle for control over it, often drawing attention to the power of art to manipulate our perceptions. The resulting works exhibit fresh perspectives on the landscape with luminous flourishes of colour and light, and a bold interaction of sculpture with painting.
His work has been exhibited extensively throughout southern Ontario and is in private collections in Canada, Ireland and France. As a sculptor, painter and art educator, Tom is influenced by his own nostalgic past as well as an appreciation of the dilemma of managing human needs in a complex ecosystem.
Andrea Ferkul
Andrea graduated from the Interpretive Illustration program at Sheridan College, School of Art and Design. She spent several years working in the fashion advertising industry, creating ads for newspapers and magazines. Years of Graphic Design further developed her style, as dedication to detail and strong composition, shaped the future of her work. Andrea’s focus eventually turned to painting, pursuing the fine arts instead of the commercial. Her work explores the subtlety of colour, texture and mixed media techniques. She paints in layers, repeating the adventurous process of adding and subtracting as the work progresses, making the background an integral part of each painting. While not exclusive to fashion, it is a recurring theme in her subject matter.
Carmen Hickson
Before venturing into the world of Fine Art, Carmen spent several years working as an illustrator and art director which taught her the value of hard work and made her understand that there are many, many talented artists out there waiting for an opportunity to express themselves.
Carmen focuses primarily on mixed media sculpture and painting. Her paintings are created using the expressionist method which is to present the image from a purely subjective perspective, distorting it to express an emotional experience. This method allows her subconscious to come to the surface through the painting and manifest itself on the canvas. The result is a positively honest portrayal of the emotional state of her mind. She paints primarily with acrylic paints but also incorporates pencil, pastel, and ink as the need arises.
Her mixed media sculptures are the complete opposite and are created using a strategic plan which involves preliminary drawings, prototypes, and finally meticulously executed models. These sculptures are the medium through which she can create a narrative or story. The materials used are sometimes found objects and other times manipulated objects. Carmen’s gift is to see the potential in any object, like the rusty tin can that has such a beautiful natural patina that to paint it would only destroy it's beauty.
Supria Karmakar
Raised in England and of East Indian heritage, Supria Karmakar has displayed an inclination to artistic creation from her childhood to her adult years. Inspired by diverse life experiences born of Eastern and Western cultures coming together, Supria uses the encaustic mixed media, as well as the altered book mediums as avenues to work out her musings about life’s journey. The encaustic mixed media and altered book medium is the perfect ‘vessel’ for her work, as they unfold stories, contains depth, intrigue, vibrancy and the unknown.
Annette Kraft van Ermel
Annette Kraft van Ermel grew up on a tree nursery near Belle River, a small town in southwestern Ontario. In 1987 she moved to Toronto to pursue formal studies in art and in 1992 she completed her BFA at York University.
The paintings of Annette Kraft van Ermel are a quiet celebration of beauty in the small details of life, the familiar and the commonly unnoticed. Emerging through layers of oil, wax and charcoal, subjects are obscured yet still hold structure resulting in a very compelling dynamic tension. Annette’s mission is to hold onto small moments of grace against the erosive passage of time.
Annette’s art appears in private collections in New York City, England, the Netherlands, Australia and across Canada.
Anna Kutishcheva
“Kutishcheva is a painter well known for her ability to convey significant depth within the field of landscape painting. By channeling the natural environment around her, Kutishcheva implores the viewer to reconsider places that are often overlooked. Her compositions are extremely well rendered, but it is her celebration of tone and hue that invoke melodrama. Her pieces, not unlike the landscapes of the early Canadian masters, leave us in awe of the sublime forces that exist within nature. In order to affect her audience, Kutishcheva chooses atypical subjects as landscapes – expanses of barren trees and heavy clouds leave us feeling unsettled. In this manner, she pushes past the picturesque into territory that refuses to remain purely decorative. Her technical objectivity belies the heavy symbolism in her works; this tension is the force that keeps her audience rapt with attention, as if each sequential piece promises to reveal a touch more on the mystery of the Canadian landscape.”
--Cole Swanson, Curator, Living Arts Centre of Mississauga
Michelle Leblanc
Born and raised in Kapuskasing, a small town in Northern Ontario Michelle was involved in the Franco-Ontarian cultural movement of the 70s. She studied with many of the area’s artists and obtained grants to pursue her work. Eventually she moved to Toronto to study at the Ontario College of Arts. She now lives in Guelph and works out of Synchronicity Studio with her partner and fellow-artist Larry Lawrence. She is a member of the Whitestone Gallery and the Guelph Studio Tour. In 2009 and 2010 she was commissioned to produce the artwork used by the Guelph Jazz Festival for their publicity materials and she recently won the Painting prize in the Elora Insights show.
Michelle’s style of painting has its roots in the later abstract expressionist movement in that they reference emotions and memories rather than specific objects or scenes. She brings the balance of colour, tone, scale, line and movement to the process of drawing and painting.
The works are created through a process of layering fields of colour that are then scraped or scrubbed using a “pentimento” technique to reveal the layer(s) beneath. Charcoal lines and more paint are added using a variety of tools once the layering and scraping are complete. The pieces, a mix of fields of colour paired with loose details and precise lines are highly textural and have substance, movement and energy. In the last ten years she has experimented with techniques and media and developed a stronger personal style. Her focus recently has been on pushing beyond what she calls her “creative comfort zone”. She is looking to find a looser, less structured rhythm to her works on canvas without losing any of the elements that make her paintings unique.
Lorraine McDonald
Living in a little old house built in 1869 in the rural town of Fergus Ontario, McDonald‘s art studio overlooks the Grand River. “It is a beautiful place to live and paint. A place of inspiration!”, says McDonald.
Each day with brush in hand and new ideas, McDonald works in the art of watercolour. The last ten years has seen an opportunity to grow in a medium that reflects her energy. The latest, the excitement of creating pieces painted in abstract realism.
Teaching watercolour painting and drawing for several years has afforded McDonald the opportunity to try new techniques on her students.
A graduate of Sheridan College in the Fine Arts and of the Ontario Teachers College, she continues her passion and is presently a third year student at OCAD (Ontario College of Art University) in Fine Arts in Drawing and Painting.
McDonald enjoys her three children and Springer Spaniel Millie.
Tina Newlove
Tina Newlove continues to be recognized by curators and jurors as an artist who is making a significant contribution to the cultural life of Canada. The Arts & Letters Club of Toronto commissioned Tina to create their 1998/99 Executive List. Her oil painting “Organizing my Mind” is in the City of Toronto’s permanent collection. Newlove received an Award of Merit from the Society of Canadian Artists for her painting “Step Lightly” at the Art Gallery of Hamilton. In 2008 Tina’s sponsors for her exhibition ‘PROTECTION’ at the Latcham Gallery included Bruce Cockburn and the Ontario Arts Council. Most recently she was selected by the Art Gallery of Mississauga as one of the participating artists to be included in The Salmon Run Project and has received the First Prize Award and an Honourable Mention in the Lakeshore Arts juried exhibition ‘Through the Eyes of the Artist’.
Sarah Palmer
When speaking of her passion for her art Sarah evokes images of a "fire in the belly" when she draws and paints the human form. Her paintings are the exploration of a moment in time; a "dance of life's many poses". Sarah captures the intimacy of a moment in her paintings and drawings through unusual juxtapositions of figures, and accentuation of body extremities. Her work often alludes to ambiguity of gender, misguided perspective, as well as the power of colour.
Grayce Perry
Grayce is an interdisciplinary artist living in Elora. She began her artistic journey eight years ago with a focus on sculpture. Known locally for her series of sculptures “Women I have Known” which won first prize for sculpture at the Insights Juried Exhibition. Recent focus has shifted to contemporary, mixed media painting, preferring the use of oil, graphite and charcoal on mylar.
Grayce is a self-taught artist who pursues artistic development with a passion. She brings to her work a rich background of travel and a childhood spent in India.
Through the process of layering and gestural marking works evokes memories and longings, strength and vulnerability. For Grayce the painting process is a form of meditation and intuition, drawing from her own internal landscapes. The resulting imagery is sometimes ambiguous, appealing to the viewers to find their own insights into the work. “I have come to realize that in painting, just as in life, anything can happen”, says Grayce.
Works have been shown in numerous juried and non-juried exhibitions and are in private collections in North America, Europe, Africa and Australia.
Ryan Price
Ryan Price is an artist working out of Guelph Ontario. He moved to the city in 1991 after graduating from the technical arts program at BealArt in London. His focus for the most part has been in printmaking, specifically in the areas of drypoint and monotype. His works in these mediums have won several awards and have been viewed and collected fairly extensively. Over the past few years, while maintaining his printmaking practice, Ryan has begun to branch into other mediums and fields. In 2006 he had published his first illustrated book, an interpretive version of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven".
Jim Reed
Jim studied painting and drawing in France and England. He worked with Corbet Gray of Elora, Ontario for a period of ten years. Corbett had studied with Hans Hoffman, the German-born American abstract expressionist painter, at the Art Student’s League in New York.
In the region of Waterloo/Wellington Jim has been a juror for several exhibitions. As an advocate for aesthetic elements in community projects, he continues to participate. A recipient of awards in painting, drawing, and photography, works have been displayed on the new Sleeman teletron in Guelph, Redfish Gallery, East Aurora, New York, and the Barber Gallery, Guelph. His paintings are in the Wildcraft Restaurant, Waterloo and the Columbia Fitness Centre.
Currently, Jim works in a variety of media and styles.
Linda Risacher Copp
After completing her fine arts degree, Linda Risacher Copp worked in sculpture, oil and acrylic before discovering Batik. This exacting resist medium provided a new challenge to an artist intent on capturing the inner light of the landscape. As artist in residence at Queen's University's Hersmonceux Castle in England, she created a sense of the Sussex landscapes for her exhibit "A Place in Time" (1997) at Union Gallery, Kingston. In addition to group shows, Linda's major exhibits "A Year on the Grand" (1999) and "Rivers of the Grand"(2004) established her reputation as one of Canada's leading artists using the batik medium. Linda was honored to recieve 1st place in the Shirley Dilworth Jaychuk Painting Competion for her batik "Ah...Summer"(2007) and 2nd place in 2009 for "April Light"
Cathy Senitt
Born in Rochester, New York, Cathy attended the Rochester Institute of Technology, School of Art and Design. Cathy developed a successful painting career in Toronto during the late 1960's and throughout the 1970's. Highlights include Expo 70 in Osaka, Japan; the inaugural show of the Art Gallery of Ontario; and 'Man and His World' exhibit in Montreal, to name a few.
Her work is known for its creativity and sophisticated use of naive forms. Many of her works incorporate unusual human forms, and various series have focused variously on abstract portraiture, her pet Red Dog, and hybrid human-animal forms reminiscent of Hieronymous Bosch or Gaugin. Cathy's work is in public and private collections across Canada. We are honoured to have Cathy Senitt's works showcasing at Strata Gallery.
Ivano Stocco
Ivano is a self-taught painter, who dabbled creatively until, in 2005 when he participated in a plein air painting competition in Spain, won a prize, and started to paint professionally. Since then he has taken part in several dozen live contests and have won a number of awards. He has also exhibited widely both individually and collectively. His latest work is a blend of urban landscape and figurative art.
He works out of a studio that used to be a moonshine still at his home in the Ward part of Guelph and in a turn-of-the-century apartment in downtown Valencia. As well as an artist, he is a father, translator, and writer.
Marcelo Suaznbar
Marcelo Suaznábar developed a great amount of his work in his birthplace, the city of Oruro, Bolivia, located at more than 3,700 meters above sea level. The city was founded in 1606 and named “Real Villa of San Felipe of Austria”. Oruro possesses a mystical energy in its surroundings and has a strong folkloric tradition.
Suaznábar sets his imagination free in his work and in his explorations. He examines the elements of the subconscious, and themes that preoccupy human beings universally on a regular basis, such as the passing of time, death, nature, sexuality, beauty, temptation, fear and religion. With each new work he undergoes a process of experimentation and learning what it is that he is able and willing to say, or contribute.
Elizabeth Vercoe
A renaissance woman, Elizabeth paints, sings, grows organic foods and if given time, would keep bees. With an abundance of energy and a need for doing all things creative, Vercoe started teaching herself guitar at age 8 to accompany her singing. Years of performing locally as a folk musician led to studies at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto then privately in London and Hamilton, training as a coloratura soprano. Singing venues include: Opera Hamilton, The Shaw Festival, Niagara on the Lake, Cardiff, Morriston and London England to mention a few.
“Music is an inspiration to art”, says Vercoe. That art came in the early 90’s where works were and still are sold from Elizabeth’s home studio in Port Hope, Ontario. Primarily self-taught, her watercolour and mixed media works can be found in private collections in England, Holland, Germany, the US, and Canada.
Heather Wood
Heather graduated with Distinction with an Honours Bachelor of Arts with a Studio Specialization in Sculpture. Her studio is now located in Elora, Ontario, where she works using a kiln to alter, fuse and slump glass. Using glass enamels she also paints and etches these kiln-fired flat glasses to create two- and three-dimensional works.
Heather’s teaching experience includes painting with kiln-fired vitreous glass enamels as well as glass fusing and slumping, with glass powders and frits. She has taught these glass practices at the Burlington Art Centre, the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery in Waterloo, and at the Haliburton School of the Arts. She also teaches drawing and art related projects in local schools, through extension classes and with community groups such as Stonehenge in Guelph.
Rick Worthington
Classic diners with checkerboard tiled floors, chrome stools and red upholstery. The lively, but old-fangled café, worn buildings full of character. Through his travels, Rick searches out these places; camera and sketchbook at hand. Back in studio, he revisits those moments using further informal roughs to bring his vision forward. Though not striving for faithful reproduction, it is a dynamic contrast Rick is looking for… “something subtle, something exaggerated”
Tanya Zaryski
Tanya considers herself an image-maker. Many of her pictorial narratives re-invent scenes she remembers from her childhood growing up on a farm in rural Ontario. “I have become again interested in that familiar landscape as a constant backdrop for the events (past and present) which are acted out. Certain rooms, familiar fragments of furniture, of architecture, or fields and houses reappear. Some images read as allegories—I have created myths out of my own history. There is a collapsing of the ordinary and the sublime into a single moment, where every event is laden with symbolism and significance.”
She began her art training at the University of Toronto, studying art history, painting, drawing and sculpture, before discovering glass blowing at Sheridan Collage. Upon graduation Tanya completed three years working as an artist-in-residence at the Harbourfront Glass Studio in Toronto. She currently lives and works in the Beaver Valley near Georgian Bay where her love of painting, glassmaking and gardening are allowed to peacefully co-exist.
