Illumination & Brilliance
featuring Barbara Di Renzo, Sanela Dizdar, Mary Lou Hiller, Cathy Pascoe, and Adrienne Zoe.
The opening reception is Thrusday, January 21st from 6 to 8 pm.
The exhibition runs from Tuesday, January 19th to Monday, March 21st, 2016.
UpTown Gallery presents Illumination and Brilliance. This show explores the splendour of light, reflection and colour to enlighten the inner mind. Five featured artists use a variety of media: coloured pencil, metal, oils, acrylics and photography to explore the emotional and thought provoking effects of light.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Barbara Di Renzo creates eco-friendly, mixed media art and jewellery based on recycled metals. She is inspired by colour, architecture and nature and interprets this through her colourful artwork and contemporary jewellery designs.
Sanela Dizdar, a constant self challenger, explores some whimsical characters and emotions in her unique graphite drawings on canvas. Her oil paintings reflect brilliance in human interaction, age and everlasting love. Join her in her drawing and painting classes at UpTown Gallery and in her art studio.
Mary Lou Hiller uses transparent layers of acrylic paint to interpret the transformative effects of light on everyday scenes and objects. Unusual compositions and attention to detail mark the originality of her work.
Cathy Pascoe has been fascinated by light and shadow for her entire life. Whether experimenting with graphite pencil for portraiture or exploring the amazing potential of artist‐quality coloured pencil, her constant focus has been to interpret the myriad patterns of light and shadow.
Adrienne Zoe is a creative photographer who explores light and reflections. Some images are painterly, others surreal, and many are complex and colourful. Her goal is to engage the audience with images that demand reflection and contemplation.
Quotation Inspiration
featuring Mary Guillaume, Julie Krahule, Valerie O'Flynn, and Laurie Spieker
Opening reception is Saturday, March 26th from 2 to 4 pm.
The exhibition will run from Tuesday, March 22rd to Sunday, May 15th, 2016.
UpTown Gallery presents Quotation Inspiration. In this new show, Mary Guillaume, Julie Krahule, Valerie O’Flynn and Laurie Spieker explore the space, meaning and content found between the quote marks that punctuate text, speech, reality, popular culture and the imagination. Was this passage important? Did that notation inspire? Is this adage relevant? Visit our show and rediscover the potent power of the Quote.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Mary Guillaume has been sketching and painting from a very young age, as her school notebooks with every page festooned with drawings in the margins (and saved by her mother) can attest! Mary is inspired by the intriguing shapes and light effects that surround, inspire and excite her every day. It's a life-journey of discovery as she happily explores different media and styles to visually express her response.
Julie Krahule dwells on inspiration, especially by the enchanting poetry of her Uncle, Maironis, a Renaissance poet and priest. Some of Maironis’ poetry details the beauty of nature, which Julie enjoys interpreting through her artwork, and which inspires her in her role as a horticultural therapist. In this millennium, prevailing, positive words continue to hearten us all, opposing the language of bullying that uses words to demean, or destroy lives.
Valerie O’Flynn has always been inspired by words. Spoken, written, social, political, or philosophical, words have always set her mind to visual responses. These responses are given form in either two or three dimensions as sculptures, prints, paintings, or mixed media. Inspired by a quotation, poem, article or lyrics, each of her works for this show are a direct response to one or more of these forms of wordcraft.
Laurie Spieker welcomes the world to her doorstep at Grand River Glassworks, where she creates fresh and imaginative contemporary glass art and eagerly shares the inspiring beauty of glass with her community. As an Honours English graduate, Laurie is overly familiar with essay-writing and the quotation mark, and is intrigued by its place in our chaotic, connected and fast-paced world as we all chase global and personal meaning.
Favourite Things
featuring Jane Bayne, Sanela Dizdar, Sophie Drouin & Christine Gagnon, and Jim Heldmann
The opening reception is on Sunday, May 22nd from 2 to 4 pm.
The exhibition runs from Tuesday, May 17th until Sunday, July 17th, 2016.
This eclectic group of five artists have conceived work that reveal their personal passions and memories. They have used a variety of interesting mediums from historic to modern to create jewellery of distinction and pieces of art that leave a lasting impression on the viewer.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Jane Bayne keeps her camera by her side to record the welcome of warm light of spring days, flowers for the market and her love for antique pottery. Watercolour will always be her medium of choice but she is now painting in acrylic as well to add another dimension to her work.
Sanela Dizdar’s favourite things are shown through a set of souvenirs from Old City, Sarajevo-Bosnia. The smallest details in her colour pencil drawings show a rich cultural background and exploration of the warmth spectra of colour in originally hand-carved masterworks.
Christine Gagnon and Sophie Drouin's love of organic, nature-derived themes and shapes is at the heart of their continued collaboration. Christine has created a series of beautiful, one-of-a-kind pieces in sterling silver, which Sophie has filled with intricate, vibrant micro-mosaic using hand-pulled "filati" (threads) of Venetian glass. We really hope you enjoy this collection of classy, unique pieces.
Jim Heldmann is a toy collector and it is only natural that toys are among his favourite things to paint. Waterfalls in southern Ontario are another subject he enjoys, having visited and painted many of them. As for interesting buildings, Jim has found homes, churches and heritage buildings special subjects to paint. As this show demonstrates, when painting his favourite things, he is at home with oil, acrylic, and watercolour.
Floral Fantasy
featuring Elaine Cowan, Vickie Lawrence, and Adrienne Zoe.
The opening reception is on Sunday, July 24th from 2 to 4 pm.
The exhibition runs from Tuesday, July 19th to Sunday, September 18th 2016.
Uptown Gallery presents Floral Fantasy. In this wonderful new show, the featured Artists, Elaine Cowan, Vickie Lawrence and Adrienne Zoe, present the many different, joyful, delicate and colourful aspects of floral art. Flowers symbolize hope, renewal and the beauty of nature. Whether in a vase or growing in the garden, this show represents the many fantastic, fragrant and delightful creations that Mother Nature has given us. Come to the opening reception and meet the Artists, enjoy light refreshments and view the lovely floral fantasy!
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Elaine Cowan enjoys working in watercolour and acrylic. She especially loves the flow and magic of the intense colours of acrylic on canvas, and the exciting surprises that happen on the slippery plastic surface of Yupo paper. These mediums allow for refreshing ways to render the timeless subject of florals.
Vickie Lawrence works in a variety of mediums including graphite, coloured pencil, watercolour, acrylic, and mixed medium. She enjoys the challenge of portraying her floral subjects in photo realistic detail... capturing that fleeting moment in time with vibrant colour, mood and great lighting. Vickie has enjoyed gardening for many years and often uses her own flowers as subjects in her art.
Flowers provide an endless source of inspiration for photographer Adrienne Zoe. Her creative signature images look like paintings, and involve in-camera manipulation and some digital post-processing. In straight photography she captures refreshing new perspectives on subjects. A nature lover, she portrays birds, plants and animals artistically in photographs.
New Perspective
featuring ManChoi Chow, Mary Lou Hiller, Cathy Pascoe, and Sharl Smith.
The exhibition runs from Tuesday, September 19th to Sunday, November 13th, 2016.
Whether interpreted as “a point of view” or as “a dimensional illusion”, PERSPECTIVE provides a limitless creative playground for the artistic mind.
Photographer ManChoi Chow, acrylic painter Mary Lou Hiller, coloured pencil artist Cathy Pascoe and bead designer Sharl Smith set their sights and skills to the discovery of New Perspectives.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
ManChoi Chow: “That speaks to me”, she said upon seeing my art. Through New Perspectives, I hope to explore ways that my photographic art connects with others, to “provoke tiny jubilations” (Roland Barthes, Camera Lucinda, 1980).
Mary Lou Hiller works in transparent acrylic layers and a naturalistic style. In all her work colour, design and light are her principal focus. For this show she has chosen humorous, philosophical and special effects approaches to her presentation of New Perspectives.
Cathy Pascoe often explores the myriad patterns of light and shadow in her drawings. She usually explores new perspectives through her varied artistic subject matter; however, this time she approaches through a new challenge in light. For this show she has chosen to use different media.
Sharl Smith explores the art of bead stitching from a new perspective. In this show she studies the five Platonic solids and other shapes, further indulging her love of geometry and developing the sculptural potential of her chosen medium.
Celebration
featuring the Uptown Gallery members.
The exhibition runs from Tuesday, November 15th to Sunday, January 15th, 2017.
The opening reception is Friday, November 18th from 7 pm to 9 pm.
Please join us for the opening reception of UpTown Gallery’s 10th Anniversary show! We are also celebrating our third consecutive Diamond Award as the Favourite Art Gallery.
This show will feature a display of 10 x 10 artworks at celebratory prices. During the reception, all sales will be discounted by 10%. Enjoy live music by Tina Marée and a debut vocal performance scheduled for 8 pm. Festivities will include draws for 10 door prizes, too.
Come celebrate with us!!