Author: Ally Jacob
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10 Artists ~ ShagRug Collective
Deborah Brown • Margaret Hughes • Robin Moon • Erika Olson • Lyn Rapin • Rose Stewart • Sharon Thompson • Lina Van Helvert • Jo Wren • Ron Wilkinson
October 25th to November 30th, 2014
The shag rug collective came together spontaneously through the generosity of Erica Olsen and Simon Andrew who invited some interested artists to participate in biweekly gatherings in Erica’s studio. The dominant yellow shag rug on the floor of Erica’s former studio became an obvious choice for the name of the group.
We paint and draw together using still life as a jumping off point. The diversity of responses to the same subject stimulates and revitalizes the often lonely process of art making. The group also benefits from voluntary critiques and the opportunity to share art information.
We dedicate this show to Ron Wilkinson, an original member, who died September 2013.
• Deborah Brown
Deborah Brown has been making art for as long as she can remember. Beginning with drawing and then moving to photography, fiber art, and painting. Her current works are black and white drawings emphasizing geometric forms, repetitive patterns and negative spaces. She attended New School of Art in Toronto, St. Lawrence College, and received a Masters in Fine Art from Concordia University.
• Margaret Hughes • BFA PGCE
Born in South Africa and lived in Kingston since 1968.
Producer of decorated ceramics, paintings and pastels from my studio in Kingston for about 40 years. Co-owner ( and one of the co-founders) of Cornerstone Fine Crafts in Kingston from 1981 – 2004. I exhibited my work in ceramics locally, provincially and nationally and paintings and pastels locally and in Toronto. Past teacher of ceramics and art.
After closing my ceramic studio I adapted it to serve as a painting studio and returned to painting and drawing where I had started. For a number of years I have been one of the regulars who meet at Erika Olson’s studio, the so-called Shag Rug Studio, to work on still life or whatever we choose to work on. The artist’s life is rather solitary and our regular gatherings provide opportunity to critique and receive critiques of our work from respected peers. I have found these gatherings to be stimulating, helpful and thought provoking, especially when experiencing a “dry” spell.
Ceramic pieces, often made by me, have been part of my subject matter, providing a bridge between the two media that have been part of my life for more than 50 years.
• Robin Moon
• Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours; specialty in Printmaking), Queen’s University, 1991
• Bachelor of Education (Art and Drama), University of Western Ontario, 1992After an extended hiatus from painting, I have recently begun to re-explore a fascination with portraiture that I experienced in childhood – considering questions that emerge, fade, and then resurface around the nature of identity, of our physicality, how we connect to the inner lives of others, and how to express personal relationships with the natural and spiritual world.
I am captivated by Milan Kundera’s novel Immortality, in which the protagonist, Agnes, yearns for an afterlife as a place without faces and the author examines the “certain part of all of us that lives outside of time.” My goal is to reconcile the ideas in that book with the impulse to paint, to find in both a narrative that begins to unravel the differences between what is seen and what is shown.
~ Robin
• Erika Olson
Biography
Erika Olson Completed her BFA at Concordia University in 1997, and returned to Kingston where she has developed a strong following, taking many awards. With numerous solo exhibitions and group shows to her credit, Erika has shown in North America and was represented in the UK at the Innocence Gallery.
I paint as urgently as possible. Working from life, I paint what I see, but it is processed through my emotional attachment to the subject matter. All of my work evolves directly from my environment and the objects that I find in it. Appearing ordinary and dealing with subject matter like food, or the domestic sphere my work chronicles daily life and elevates these subjects to be worthy of consideration as art.
~ Erica• Evelyn Rapin
Evelyn Rapin is a professional artist living in Kingston, Ontario. Her paintings are frequently based on musical themes; however, she also produces artwork inspired by a variety of subjects. Movement, expressionism and ambiguity are favoured elements seen in her work.
On display at Studio 22 are a series of works inspired by the music of David Bowie. Kandinsky (1977)* claims that “every work of art is the child of its age and, in many cases, the mother of our emotions. It follows that each period of culture produces an art of its own which can never be repeated.” On that note, these works represent a personal impression of music and its cultural evolution, a subject of infinite inspiration for the artist.
*Kandinsky, W. (1977). Concerning the spiritual in art. Toronto, ON: Dover Publications (republication)http://evelynrapin.com
• Rose Stewart
As well as teaching for many years in Kingston and Toronto, I have maintained a studio practice for many years. The focus of my art, in recent time, has been the arrangement of disparate old drawings (my own) as well as select colours and textures into a large body of work in the form of collage – the series entitled Contingency. The reference, in part, comments on the myriad possibilities, the often chance occurances involved in the process of art making. Further, my curiosity is with the integrity of mark making. During our shag rug studio days, I draw exclusively and fragments of these drawings
often end up in my collages.My work, prior to present day collage art, employed the medium of oil painting
~ Rose• Sharon Thompson
Gardens 2014
What I care about in this recent series of garden paintings is how light, space, fluidity and colour work together to create the impression and sense of the garden I am painting.
I begin the painting in the garden, but I spend much time with it later in the studio creating a whole, mainly by ‘feeling’ the relationships and how they belong in the painting’s overall structure. This second stage is very influenced by my long apprenticeship in abstract painting.
~ Sharon Thompson, September 2014
Sharon Thompson is a Kingston (Ontario) based artist. She is an abstract painter but she also works in mixed media, and keeps a life drawing and plein air landscape practice as well. These nourish the abstract focus of her work.
She graduated from Queen’s University in 1983 with a BFA (first class honours).
Her numerous solo shows include: Robert Langen Gallery, Wilfrid Laurier University; Modern Fuel Artists Run Centre; Justina M Barnicke Gallery, Hart House, U of T; Ottawa School of Art; McLanahan Gallery, Penn State U, (Ivyside Juried National Competition); Karsh Masson Gallery, Ottawa; The Cambridge Centre for the Arts; State of Flux Gallery (MFARC). Her work has been included in numerous group shows including: Bowery Gallery New York City; Impact Artists Gallery, Buffalo NY; Sacramento Fine Arts Center.
http://www.sharonthompson.ca
• Lina Van Helvert
Lina has been painting for over fifty years and has explored several mediums. She has taught herself watercolour painting and acrylic, she tried very hard to master encaustic, and now she is in her element as a pastel artist. The colour intensity and layering possibilities lend themselves so well to
landscape, which has often been her first choice of subject matter. And lately these very qualities of
pastel have drawn her to portraiture and the figure. Of course she will always be trying new things,
experimenting with styles, taking courses to learn about other mediums, and just experiencing the joy
of creativity.She grew up amongst an enormous family in rural southern Ontario, but has spent her adult life in and around Kingston.
• Jo Wren
Jo Wren studied Itten’s Theory of Colour at the Koffler Centre in Toronto in 1980. She began her BFA at Queen’s University in 1981, finishing in 1985. During her third year in the program, Jo studied drawing for one semester at The Boston School of Fine Art. Her work has been exhibited in galleries in Canada, England, Australia, and the United States and appears on the cover of several books, both fiction and poetry.
• Ron Wilkinson
Ron had been a frequent visitor to Studio22 for many years. He would pop in for almost every new exhibit. He would come in fresh from a long bike ride, throw down his helmet and backpack on the nearest available chair and proceed to commune with the art. He was always eager and engaged and at the end of his gallery tour, would thank us for this ‘hit’ of inspiration and sustenance.
The day after Ron learned that he had cancer, he came by for one of these regular visits. He was a bit shell shocked as he told us of this new reality but was determined to be optimistic and strong. About a week later, Ron returned, made a quick round of the exhibit he had previously pursued, and then announced that he would be purchasing 3 pieces.
Ron had enjoyed the art on our walls for many years, but had never bought anything before. He said he wanted to actively express how much our gallery meant to him by buying these pieces of art. He saw these purchases as life affirming – as something that would help him get through his days of taxing treatments and fear. This act was for him and for us.
We were very touched and grateful beyond words. Our motto is a statement by theatre artist Irwin Piscator that says of his efforts in the arts,
“I wanted to rid myself of the feeling which I had experienced that art has nothing to do with reality and is not sturdy enough to help us live up to it.”
Art is sturdy. Art is necessary. Ron knew this and he relied on it to help him face his life and, ultimately, the end of his life. Like his friends and fellow artists in the ShagRug Collective, we remember Ron’s life and honour him with this exhibit.
~ Ally & Hersh Jacob
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Rebecca Cowan in her Studio
Art finds itself in peculiar places, and artists even more so; pulling into the residential area nearby my former middle school – a region I regrettably beforehand regarded as lacking in creativity – I am reminded of that truth.
Rebecca Cowan’s new prints carry a quality of grace only reinforced by the drawings they surround.
Underneath a quiet house in a floral suburb lies a basement studio filled with rollers, plates, brushes, paints, papers, inks, carving tools, plexiglass, and one hefty iron printing press. The scene strikes me as reminiscent of group and educational studios I’ve visited, and Rebecca soon explains that she teaches art courses, and multiple other artists and students borrow the space when it’s available.
The wall facing the stairwell is adorned with rows of her new works, spectral faces in layers of forest; the title “Nymphs” fits precisely the sense of magic suggested in the trees. Soft-featured and translucent, the faces float as if suspended in the first moments of relaxation.
Sitting at a table, edges covered by tape securing a gridded plexiglass sheet to the surface, I listen as Rebecca happily explains her process; how she uses a variety of tools to etch spans of forest onto metal plates, printing multiple layers onto high quality, almost transparent Japanese paper (and driving to Toronto to buy it). The figure is drawn in coloured pencil on the opposite side from the print, the paper is adhered to a stained wooden panel, and sealed under clear acrylic. Although it is hard work, she jokes that it is far less stressful than her early forays with ink drawing.
Rebecca is unfalteringly passionate about her work and eager to share, teach, and explore art. Remaining animated and enthusiastic throughout the interview, she shows a deep love for art, and the magic beauty that art shares with the world, that shows most clearly in the most dedicated of artists.
Ascending the stairs from Rebecca Cowan’s basement studio and back into a regular, family home, one realizes that not only is art everywhere around you – it’s likely even under your feet.
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Molly McClung in her Studio
Many people, complaining about their jobs, might use the phrase “stubborn as a rock” in reference to a coworker.
Molly McClung knows what many people mean, and in most cases, would put them to shame.
A sculptor, gardener, and former schoolteacher, Molly has worked with rather difficult mediums throughout her life. Stone is as determined to stay as it is, where it is, as plants and children are to not. Years of persuading the uncompromising to compromise show through in her sculpture, as naturally purposeful as they are gently durable.
Situated in a calm residential suburb, behind a tended lawn, shrubs, and flowers, sits her house. Stepping inside, I turn and am presented by a room with over a dozen pieces of varying size, stone, and shape, all in various stages of being packed up and delivered to Studio 22. Passing the sculptures, we descend a small corner staircase into the basement, and enter Molly’s studio.
I am struck first by how clean it is, and she mentions going over it in preparation for the visit, but it is an amazing feat. I have no experience with the amount of dust kicked up by a sculptor working stone, but have the impression that it is more than I imagine. A corner table supports two great halves of a stone, split diagonally, that she says will be matching pieces. Turning behind us to the opposite wall, she pulls a hacksaw from a hook under the steel ductwork she shares the space with, the likes of which I’ve never seen before; the blade a centimetre-thick rod with a surface textured like steel sandpaper. It’s used for major cuts that she doesn’t have made beforehand, Molly explains, before moving on to her extremely fine squares of sandpaper – designed for auto body work.
Returning to the first floor, I began to take a closer look at the room of pieces we had passed earlier. Molly explained how the new show, aptly titled “Curves,” draws inspiration from the natural female figure, and its contrast with the jagged roughness of raw stone. She picks up different pieces, drawing the curtain back with her other hand to hold them in the light and demonstrate how the light shines through the translucent stone, giving it a beautiful inner glow.
Speaking with Molly McClung gives you a sense of her no-nonsense air of control, and her work shows it to you. The stone has been persuaded to compromise and Molly is its teacher, its tender. She chisels life and humanity into a medium that is known for lacking both, and does it well.
Stepping out of the house, I found myself thinking of the quip on her shirt – “Gardening would be genteel were it not for all that icky dirt” – and remembering never to walk across a gardener’s lawn.
by Owen Darrah
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Curves ~ New Sculptures by Molly McClung
Molly McClung
Alabaster, Chlorite & Soapstone Sculpture
Nature, including human nature, is my starting point. When I handle a rough mass of stone, I see elemental forms, simple, organic, strong and uncluttered. When I finish a piece, the rough has become smooth and the jagged edge has become a clean line. -
Nymphs ~New Works in Mixed Media by Rebecca Cowan
Rebecca Cowan
We do not want merely to see beauty… we want something else which can hardly be put into words- to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it. That is why we have peopled air and earth and water with gods and goddesses, and nymphs and elves.”
― C.S. LewisThis set of nymphs encompasses several of the themes I have been exploring in my work for some time. First, there is the notion that modern society continues to be influenced by ancient archetypes. Second, I have long been fascinated by the ways people show their public and private faces, and how secrets, dreams and desires are kept hidden. Most recently, a close examination of seasonal trees has led me to consider the importance of nature in our technology driven lives. And just as the images bring together a variety of thoughts and ideas, so does the technique.
I have used a range of media and techniques to produce this work. Each piece begins as an intaglio monotype printed on semi- transparent Japanese paper. In most of the work, at least two different metal plates have been printed to create an illusion of the forest’s depth. Next, a coloured pencil drawing of the figure is done on the back of the printed image. Then, a wood panel is stained to enhance the colours of both the trees and the figure. The Japanese paper with its printed trees and drawn figure is adhered to the board. At that point additional drawing or painting, on the surface of the paper covered board, may be added. And finally the entire panel is coated with several layers of acrylic medium to seal the image.
Gods, Monsters & Movie Stars, Spring 2011 -
Blue ~ Oil Paintings by Teresa Mrozicka
Teresa Mrozicka
Originally from Poland, Teresa received her training in fine arts at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, and graphic arts at George Brown College in Toronto. She has been painting and gardening for over 15 years since she had moved from Toronto to the rural area near Kingston.
Mastering a technique that she has developed over a period of years, Teresa creates semi-abstract vibrant work using bold primary colours in her own pointillism style. The paintings look like they have little jewels applied all over the surface, and have a rich, tactile quality with rhythm and symmetry. The artist states: “The ultimate goal I wish to accomplish, mastering my technique is to be able to captivate the energy of an inner glow and with the effect of a trance-like rhythm of the dots give the paintings their own pulse”.
Through the years the female figure tends to appear despite the different themes that I have explored in my painting practice. Most recently the female nude has become the subject. Her landscape-like body manifests the tendency to intertwine with earthy Elemental Forces that I have been working with in the past. Spring is Air – youth. Summer is the Sun and the fruition of our mature years. Autumn is Earth – harvest time, old age. Winter is peace and death. Essential waters are transformed into snow. Recently I have been contemplating the essence of beauty, openness and the need to give and connect, I imagine our Planet as a vulnerable woman that needs to be respected, loved and cherished. I would like her to continue to flourish and give life.
http://teresamrozicka.com
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Talking with Stefan Duerst
https://soundcloud.com/studio22-sounds/aviva-jacob-interviews-stefan-duerst-july-2014
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Duerst’s Studio
These days, it seems to be extremely uncommon to see the word “blacksmith” written on the roadside signs while driving down a highway, and yet, I find myself spotting just that on my way to Duerst Studio in Godfrey, ON.
Stefan Duerst is a blacksmith. He is an artist.
The drive through Godfrey leads me down winding country roads lined with homemade signs and the occasional colourful, metal landmark to reassure me that I’m on the right path. Coming to my destination I am faced with two buildings; the artist’s home and his studio. An old barn sits further on the property and everything else turns green as far as the eye can see.
The studio itself looks far more industrial than artistic but as I enter I am faced with the beautiful, colourful, twisting structures that have been created within. One, standing fourteen feet above the ground, reaches for the sky in bright oranges and yellows. Staring up at the steel tree I feel as though I have entered a world created by Doctor Seuss and Stefan tells me that the piece was in fact a direct product of his recent discovery of the children’s author.
Inside sits another dozen pieces, wrapped in cloth for protection. As he pulls aside the covering on each standing structure, the artist reveals to me metals shining in rich hues – purples, reds, oranges. Once finished with a piece, he picks a colour and sends it down the road to a painter. He considers this a great collaboration; allowing someone else to create something out of his creations.
He explains to me his process of heating the metal to outrageous temperatures in order to bend and mould it in any way he pleases. I think about how fantastic and empowering it must feel to command steel. To make it liquid.
Stefan’s hands are proof of his hard work. They hold past scars and crushed nails as reminders that his art is still physical – but now that he has a family, he must be careful. He tells me this as his young son places a freshly picked flower into his worn hands.
He is more cautious with his work recently and more intentional than he has been with past choices. He assures me, with a smile, that the loss of his reckless ways has only improved his work.
Leaving the studio, Stefan leads me past the old barn and down a path lined with more of his pieces. It is a garden of steel. The metal appears to be growing from the ground, organic and natural. He has been cultivating this path for the past few years to lead visitors through his work, giving them a chance to view it in the most pleasant of settings.
With the sounds of young children playing in the field and the wind blowing the grass at the base of the gorgeous steel sculptures, Duerst Studio is a fine place to spend a morning (or more).
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Stefan Duerst – Liquid Steel
New Metal Sculptural Works
July 19th to August 24th, 2014
Stefan Duerst is a creator whose mind, body, spirit and sculptural works can all be viewed through the concept of Liquid Steel. There is fluidity and strength aplenty.
Stefan’s metal works are suitable for indoor or outdoor display. Some are free standing; some hang on a wall. Some of his works are so large that they will not fit in our gallery. This has given us the opportunity to do something we have long wanted to do – exhibit artwork in Market Square. For the evening of Saturday July 19th, we will be exhibiting Stefan’s larger works in historic Market Square concurrent to opening his ‘indoor’ exhibit at Studio22 (overlooking the square) between 8 and 10:30 pm. The outdoor exhibit is open to the public.
Artist Statement:
Since moving to Canada over 18 years ago, I have been collecting tools and equipment that fill my 1800 sq ft studio, enabling me to produce high quality work in a variety of sizes for the 60 acres sculpture garden on my property near Godfrey, ON.
I am drawn to the inherent qualities of steel; the paradox of its structural integrity and nearly unlimited malleability. Heating this metal in my forges allows me to shape it by handheld hammer, anvil, power hammer and bending fork. I fabricate the pieces without the help of an apprentice, which often pushes me to my physical limits and thus creates a deep, meditative connection with my work.
Important to my work is the Canadian shield; the natural environment surrounding my house and studio provide an endless source of inspiration to me. I bring to these scenes of nature a sensibility inspired by my European background, especially the Bauhaus period and the metal sculpture movement in the 60’s, as well as Art Nouveau. These influences are evidenced by the combination of a strict geometry in dialogue with flowing, organic lines.
Also integral to these works is the play between space/non-space, minimalism, archaic forms, and the properties of the material itself. The surface treatment of my work ranges from raw steel to bright industrial paint, depending on the overall emotion of the piece.~ stefan duerst
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Audio Interview with Patti Emmerson
https://soundcloud.com/studio22-sounds/aviva-jacob-interviews-patti-emmerson-artist
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Studio interview with Patti Emmerson
Patti Emmerson is bursting with energy as she invites me into her home. She speaks with her hands and greets me with a smile on her face which truly sets the tone as I enter the small room that acts as her studio. The floors are splattered with paint and the walls are covered with Patti’s art.
Some of the pieces filling the room look almost too big to have possibly been created there. Patti explains that she works on the floor and takes up the whole room with her process. As a physical person she moves with her art and moves to music as she creates. She starts each day by cranking up her stereo and allowing herself to get into the physicality of her work.
As we continue talking I look around and realize that there is something missing from this art studio – there are no brushes. Patti laughs as she tells me that she uses anything and everything, except brushes, to move her paint. She creates her abstract scenes with a myriad of painters tools but doesn’t feel the brush can do exactly what she wants in this body of work.
As I look around the art itself leaves me staggered in the doorway. Though the pieces are still in progress they are already complex with strong texture and movement jumping off each canvas. Beside each piece sits a small, polaroid sized photograph of a scene. Patti uses these photos, most taken by the artist herself, as a base for a new painting.
The photos, in contrast with the abstracted paintings, give the viewer a timeline of the artist’s process and her more recent experiences. The collection of photographs were taken in a combination of Fernie, BC; Patti’s home for the past twenty years and in Kingston, ON; where Patti now resides.
My viewing of the body of work leaves me feeling refreshed and excited. Patti’s energy is evident in each piece. From wall to wall I am taken on an adventure down unreal streets, up abstracted mountains, and through obscure forests.
Standing and looking between a photographic scene of reality and a canvas bursting with incomprehensible colour and texture I find myself catching a brief glimpse into the mind of Patti Emmerson.
Written by Aviva Jacob
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Patti Emmerson – Trip the Light
Patti Emmerson
Trip the Light
New Abstract Acrylics
June 14 to July 13, 2014“trip the light” : to “trip the light fantastic” is to dance nimbly or lightly, or to move in a pattern to musical accompaniment. It is often used in a humorous vein. To dance, especially in an imaginative or ‘fantastic’ manner.
Artist Statement:
Painting is a dance. I boldly go where my heart and movements take me. Sometimes a waltz, sometimes full on interpretive jazz! It allows me to be the happiest version of myself, it allows me to be free.
Captured photographic moments of simple vignettes surrounding me, evolve and twist into unexpected abstract expressions.
Acrylic colour and texture are spread across the canvas with rollers, knives, trowels … anything but brushes; spontaneous results develop.
My current body of work “trip the light” embraces the magic of patterns and light and the pure joy of freedom of expression. For me, it’s that simple.
Patti Emmerson
Kingston, ON
May 2014 -
Phillida Hargreaves – Narrow Spaces
Phillida Hargreaves
Narrow Spaces
New works in Textile & Fibre
May 3 to June 8, 2014This exhibition is about narrow spaces in the urban landscape. I am drawn to narrow spaces at the same time as I am anxious to move through them. It is this ambivalence that I explore through art.
My intent is to examine the emotional responses triggered by being in these spaces: spaces that hint at something hidden or mysterious; spaces that confine and enclose; spaces that frame and enhance. Such spaces can elicit anything from pleasure to anticipation, to excitement, to curiosity, to claustrophobia, to discomfort, or even to fear.
While many of the spaces I examine are physically narrow, there are others that evoke a feeling of narrowness, such as being among the soaring office towers of Toronto; and still further spaces where the frame is narrow and the object seen beyond is enhanced.The pieces in the collection are loosely based on photographs I have taken in Canada, Europe and North Africa. My aim is to interpret the space according to my emotional response to it, and to invite viewers in so that they too may experience the various responses that narrowness evokes.
My medium is fibre, primarily cloth and yarn. The textural dimension that fibre offers adds to the emotional impact of the pieces. Much of the cloth has been altered through painting, dying, rusting and discharging, and the yarn through dying, felting and knitting.http://www.phillidahargreaves.ca
Gallery Hours
Tuesday to Sunday – 11 to 5 pm
& Friday evenings 7 to 10 pm
(Anytime by appointment) -
Debra Krakow – Evolving Surface
Our NEW season launches on March 22nd:
New works in Acrylic and Mixed Media
March 22 to April 27, 2014
Debra Krakow is a Canadian artist and architect whose luminous abstract paintings in acrylic and mixed-media evoke the light-infused landscape of the Thousand Islands region of Ontario where she lives, and the less knowable, multi-layered landscape of the mind.
Debra has exhibited in her native city of Montreal, as well as in Ottawa, Kingston, Halifax and New York State. Her works are held in public and private collections throughout North America.
Artist Statement
My artwork is a quest for a new aesthetic that melds our deeply rooted notions of beauty with our modern, urbanized sensibilities. I tend to work in series, with many pieces in progress at one time, each informing the other.This year I’m continuing my exploration of spontaneous abstract painting, but moving into larger formats. With a big canvas, there’s just more room for interesting things to happen. Beginning with an underpainting of luminous glazes, I build my paintings layer by layer, selectively revealing and obscuring the intent of the layer below. This creates a richly textured finished piece that is evocative and intriguing, and invites interpretation without imposing an overt meaning.I’m also working on a series of smaller, playful mixed-media works on canvas and paper. The quilted series brings together my recent forays into textile art, handmade paper, collage and paint. These pieces are inspired by nature yet still, for the most part, completely non-representational. The infusion of fibre and paper crafts into these paintings gives them a three-dimensional, tactile quality which I love. I am very excited by these new paintings, and by the process of creating them.