K-W
K-W, the new exhibit at Uptown Gallery, showcases recent works from Featured Artists Chesley House, Emily O'Neill-Larsen, and Tina Jensen.
There will not be an opening reception, in accordance with COVID-19 safety protocols.The show runs from Tuesday, July 12, to Sunday, August 15, 2021.
About the Artists:
Tina Jensen is a representational artist who was born and raised in Kitchener- Waterloo. Working in oils, she interprets the beauty of light and colour from everyday scenes, and retells the visual story in a contemporary, almost abstracted, style.
Emily O'Neill-Larsen is an abstract artist currently living in Kitchener-Waterloo. She finds plenty of creativity in the beautifully historic and unique surroundings in the region. Her work is inspired by her feelings and the visuals around her, molded into acrylic and oil paints. Emily’s work provokes curiosity and inspiration in art enthusiasts through vibrant colours and textures.
Chesley House is the collaboration of Susan Arness and and Ron Hewson. Together they do both rural and urban landscapes. Susan’s work is shaped by her country background. Influenced by the mountains, lake, and farmland of Maine, her photographs of rural Ontario have a sense of familiarity. Ron’s life has been more urban. Born in Brantford, he moved to Kitchener-Waterloo in 1979. His photography centres on the ever-changing city landscape.
The show runs from Tuesday, July 12, to Sunday, August 15, 2021.
Nocturne
Nocturne, a new exhibit at Uptown Gallery, showcases recent works from Featured Artists Adrienne Zoe, Assem Hamdy, and Shaun McFee. The show runs from Tuesday, March 2, to Sunday, April 4, 2021.
Adrienne Zoe enjoys the night sky, and the challenge of night sky photography. She's always wanted to capture the moon's details and has combined her love for nature in her creative piece, "Midnight". "Blue Hour" was captured in summer of 2020 during a camping trip where the sky is dark. She's happy to share that "Blue Hour" was recently accepted into an international juried photography salon. Learn more about Adrienne's photography on her website: www.adriennezoephotography.com
Assem Hamdy says that beautiful art can never be away from nature, even in its most abstract forms like calligraphy. Whatever the language is, we find nature disguised. The instant where nature prevailed over the man-made, or when the man-made has only the third of the contrast against nature, is the instant that Assem Hamdy appreciates in a painting, design, or photo.
In his paintings, Shaun McFee seeks to suggest images that are sometimes obvious, and sometimes not obvious, to perhaps evoke memories or imaginative experiences. Like seeing through a filter or a window, a snapshot of a world is transformed by squares and grids, sometimes sharp-edged, sometimes blurry. Recently, his paintings intersect his square and grid work with his own idea of Post-Impressionism. Find Shaun McFee at lafwr.com/shaun-mcfee, on Facebook, and at his personal site.
Outer Limits
Outer Limits, a new exhibit at Uptown Gallery, showcases recent works from Featured Artists Laurie Spieker and Shane Langlade.
Through paint and glass, Shane and Laurie explore worldly and emotional limits. Echoing the retro black and white TV series, Outer Limits, they dial the volume knob, control orientation, mutate imagery, and fine-tune focus and clarity. There is nothing wrong with your eyes!
About the Artists
For this show, Shane’s loose brushwork and vibrant colours invite the viewer deeper into his pieces. Provocative, frightening, freeing, and fanciful, explore the Outer Limits of our inner minds and emotions along with new perspectives on the distant worlds of 1950’s science fiction. Don’t always trust what you see.
As the pandemic places us all at our “outer limits,” we are far removed from our normal. With kiln-formed, painterly expression, Laurie’s Pandemic Portraits express our longing for the normal that is behind us and the chaotic yearning for the new normal that awaits us.
The show runs from Tuesday, April 6, to Sunday, August 15, 2021.
Vision
“Vision,” an exhibition at UpTown Gallery, featured recent works by ManChoi Chow, Mary Lou Hiller, and Julie Krahule.
The show ran from Tuesday, August 17 until Sunday, September 19.
About the Artists:
ManChoi’s art is his vision of life that incorporates photography and his experience as a spiritual care and therapy practitioner. In “Vision,” he offers glimpses of his efforts to make sense of life, especially during liminal moments of uncertainty, and to connect with fellow sojourners in life who seek meaning, purpose, and fulfillment.
Acrylic painter, Mary Lou Hiller, has always found working to a show“title” an opportunity to explore new ideas. In this exhibition, she has interpreted onsite landscapes in new ways, be it through the inspiration of masters such as Van Gogh and Klimt, or by allowing a “happy accident” to take the lead.
Julie Krahule. Julie has been enthralled with nature since she was a little girl, making doll food with flowers, inspired by her grandfather who loved gardening. After a role as an event coordinator at Nortel Networks’ head office, she pivoted to roles as a landscape designer, a horticultural therapist, and a botanical artist. Then, introducing the joy of nature to children has been most gratifying, providing them with hope for the “vision” of the future.
Exploration
“Exploration,” the new exhibition at UpTown Gallery, features recent works by Ida Tong, Gordy Ess, and Christine Murray.
The show runs from Tuesday, September 21 until Sunday, November 14..
About the Artists:
Gordy Ess's work is characterized by texture and the bold use of colour. Energetic and multi layered; each abstraction brings the viewer to a new frame of mind.
The title Exploration reflects who Christine Murray is as a felting artist. She is constantly exploring her medium, and these pieces invite you to imagine how art can intersect with human experience. I
Ida Tong’s recent works explore the philosophical aspects of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the cross fertilization of our past, present, and future. Most importantly, Ida wants to reveal the interconnection between apes, humans, and robots as our progress “making.”
Illusion
All art is illusion created not to deceive but to perceive, to make the viewer see and understand something more.
Join us at the opening reception on Sunday, January 26, 2 - 4 pm. Refreshments will be served.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Skilled photographers Ron Hewson and Susan Arness exhibit as Chesley House and for this show have chosen works that present and create illusion. The illusion in the landscape is that there is something else there. It may be a mystery or a sense of change. The landscape asks “what else is there?"
Mary Lou Hiller experiments with various media and styles to reveal multiple meanings in a single image. For this show she uses collage, cubism, and surrealism to play with our accepted concepts of perception, space, and time to provide a new “ah-ha” moment.
Shaun McFee explores abstraction and post-impressionism filtered through geometric shapes and forms. For this show, he has chosen three pieces he feels represent the theme of Illusion through what he sees as an altered reality, verging on life-like, while exploring how replacing traditional representations of subject matter with squares may give the viewer a glimpse of an illusion.
We can't change anything until we get some fresh ideas, until we begin to see things differently. - James Hillman
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Candice Leyland is inspired by nature and influenced by the delicacy and transparency of watercolour. Candice strives to create paintings that are light-filled and emotional, encouraging the viewer to see the subject in fresh ways. Visit her at www.CandiceLeylandart.ca
Ida Tong’s current work explores the meaning of “futuristic-philosophical” art with Artificial Intelligence (AI) since it is becoming a big part of our daily life. Recently, the passing of Ida’s parents has given her some insights while grieving. Her “fresh” memory of her parents is vivid on her drawing board and canvases, expressing and capturing the essence of human suffering. The good news is that, in the end, there is a fresh start.
Laurie Spieker is inspired anew by each sheet of art glass she encounters. The qualities of the glass set her ideas down new creative roads, and fresh designs result. Visit Laurie at Grand River Glassworks, where the studio is bright, the kilns are warm, and the atmosphere is welcoming.
Whether her photographic subject is a bird, flower, or fruit, Adrienne Zoe strives to capture the freshness of the moment and her feelings. Her impression of the Northern Hawk Owl is captured in the intense moment when it sensed its prey. From her first-ever visit to a vineyard, Adrienne has created a colourful image that expresses her amazement in seeing vines that are more than one hundred years old bearing luscious grapes, ready to be picked. This image received a FIAP (Fédération Internationale de l'Art Photographique, the International Federation of Photographic Art) blue ribbon at the Toronto International Salon of Photography in 2019. More of her captivating images can be seen in this show and also on her website at www.adriennezoephotography.com.
Timeless
Timeless, an exhibition at UpTown Gallery, featured recent works from Ron Hewson and Susan Arness of Chesley House; Sanela Dizdar; and ManChoi Chow.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Ron Hewson and Susan Arness of Chesley House Photography use subjects such as horses, barns, and back country roads to convey “Timeless”. Capturing these scenes may hold time but it is the Chesley House interpretation that makes them timeless.
Sanela Dizdar's artwork in acrylic explores reflections, movement, and depth of water. Water, as an everchanging phenomenon, is the best challenge to play with in her favourite hues of blue.
In this exhibition, ManChoi Chow highlights the timeless interconnectedness and interdependence all around us, that now, more than ever, cries out ‘we are in this together’.
UpTown Gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, from noon till 4 pm.
UpTown Gallery reopens on February 23, 2021
Thank you all for your steadfast support of UpTown Gallery.
We value your visits and enjoy sharing our art with you.
The Celebration show will remain open until Saturday, February 27. A new show will open Tuesday, March 2.