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VOIDS
Paintings by Cody Smith
Opening Reception: Saturday 14 June 2014 8PM
On display until Friday 28 June
I am bringing my latest series of paintings titled Voids to the Niagara Artists Centre (NAC). The work will be up from 14-28 June so please drop in and check it out if you get the chance.
Also, join us at the opening reception on Saturday, June 14th from 8-10pm.
VOIDS – We question, explore, test, and long to fill them.
Join the Facebook event page HERE
DON’T READ THIS IF YOU’RE A WOODPECKER
The Scrapbook Paintings by Melanie MacDonald
14 June – 26 July 2014
Opening Reception: Saturday 14 June 7-9pm
St. Thomas-Elgin Public Art Centre
301 Talbot Street, St. Thomas, ON
www.stepac.ca
Gallery Hours: Tues-Wed 10-4 Thurs-Friday 10-9 Sat 12-4 Sun 12-3
Admission is Free
This series of paintings is based on imagery from a pair of scrapbooks made anonymously during the late 1930s and early 1940s. The creative re-appropriation of mass culture found in these books represents an effort to sustain cultural memory in some form, to somehow preserve and compile what is otherwise discarded, valueless and obsolete.
The scrapbooker used the same techniques we’ve come to associate with more prestigious traditions of modern art and I began this project by reproducing individual pages faithfully. Eventually, I used the scrapbooks as an image bank, and in the spirit of the original creator, developed my own compositions. By taking the private, often trivialized and feminized hobby of scrapbooking and presenting it in ‘heroic scale,’ I celebrate the efforts of the scrapbooker and the symbolic richness of the images themselves.
Like a ruin of a bygone era, a reminder of a past we can’t fully understand, the meaning and context of these works is obscured. As paintings, they become a series of riddles holding a mirror to the madness of the world and reflecting our contemporary sense of shattered innocence and vanishing optimism.
Melanie MacDonald lives in downtown St. Catharines and is an active member of the Niagara Artists Centre. She has participated in group and solo exhibitions in Niagara, Hamilton, London, Kingston, Toronto, Western New York and Quebec. Her work was selected to appear in Carte Blanche 2: Painting, Magenta Publishing’s national survey of Canadian painters. In 2009 she received a Trillium Excellence in the Arts, Emerging Artist Award from the City of St. Catharines. She has been the recipient of numerous Ontario Arts Council Exhibition Assistance grants. www.melaniemacdonald.ca
Fabric|ation: Exploring the World of Fibre Arts
18 June to 17 October 2014
City of St. Catharines’ 10th Annual Juried Show
Opening Reception
Wednesday 18 June at 4PM
2nd floor, St. Catharines City Hall
50 Church St., St. Catharines, ON
Ten local artists display artwork with fibre or textile as the principle element.
Artists: Irma Bull, Cecelia Cameron, Gillian Dickson, Alexa Fraser, Debra Jackson, Tammy Jane Lepp, Chris Liszak, Kathy McBride, Darlene Monroe and Crystal Zettel.
Fibre and textile are part of our everyday lives; normally performing purely utilitarian or ornamental functions, these materials also have a place in fine art. Through stitching and knitting, sewing and felting, multiple meanings can be woven into the very fabric of the art work. With its multitude of materials, this is a medium that offers rich texture and tactility and even richer possibilities for execution and expression.
Fabric|ation: Exploring the World of Fibre Arts is an initiative of the City of St. Catharines’ Public Art Advisory Committee and the Recreation and Community Services Department. It is the 30th exhibit presented at City Hall.
Local Photographer Looking for Portrait Subjects
My name is Trevor and I am a corporate portrait photographer from Niagara Falls. I am interested in taking a personal project to light and I need the help of the local art community to do so. My project, “In Their Space”, is an environmental portrait series that looks to create images of artists in the space where they create their art. I am drawn to the way we interact with our environments and how they shape the way we create, this project series will dive into this with your help.
I am looking for artists from the NAC who would be willing to sit, or stand, for me for a portrait session. The session will be in your space and will not take up much of your time. To compensate you for assisting me, I would be willing to work with you to create a portrait you can use for promotional purposes free of charge.
If you are interested, please contact me at 905 351 3423, or use the contact page on my website at www.trevorstoddart.com
I appreciate any help you all could provide me in completing this project.
