Summer 2023
NEW WORK
• Teri Wing •
Teri Wing
Not currently available – If you are interested in this, please contact us.
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Studio 22 Open Gallery is delighted to present Collective Sparks, an exhibition of new work by the Shag Rug Collective.
Composed of some of the most respected and established artists in the Kingston community, the Shag Rug Collective represents an array of diverse styles and varied subject matter. For many years the members of the artists’ collective, which was named after the yellow shag rug which once adorned the studio of founding member, Erika Olson, have gathered together to inspire and nourish each others creativity. Each individual brings their own unique perspective to the treasured experience of working together in a group setting, often around a shared still life, and the collective sparks which these gatherings ignite.
In addition to the animated still lives of Studio 22’s seasoned artists, Erika Olson and Margaret Hughes, the exhibition also includes the vibrant landscapes of Sharon Thompson and Josephine Wren, as well as the imaginative abstraction of Evelyn Rapin, Rose Stewart and Deborah Brown.
Erika Olson finds inspiration working from life—particularly the perishable and delicate nature of food—elevating the domestic sphere into the realm of art.
Margaret Hughes, an accomplished ceramicist, painter and pastel artist, often bridges the gap between her various media by drawing images of her own ceramic pieces.
Sharon Thompson, an artist of diverse inspiration, creates memorable works from landscapes to abstraction, or whatever happens to catch her well trained eye.
Josephine Wren paints the world around her, in part because the act of creation connects her to her own existence, resulting in lush landscapes and still lives.
Evelyn Rapin frequently bases her intensely colourful imagery on musical themes, creating lively works of abstraction.
Rose Stewart’s abstract compositions dance with eclectic forms and vibrant colours.
Deborah Brown creates intricate and organic abstract drawings.
Collective Sparks will be on display from November 15 – December 23, 2016.
Gallery Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 10 am to 6 pm, Thursdays until 8 pm, and Friday Evenings until 10 pm.
Patti Leishman (formerly Emmerson) embraces the unexpected and celebrates the rhythms and patterns of life. Whether out on the trails or strolling the city with her newlywed husband and beloved dog,
Leishman draws inspiration for her art from her observations of the world around her.
Since her return to her hometown roots in Kingston and her artistic debut in 2013, Leishman has produced an astonishing body of work and amassed an enthusiastic following. Her paintings speak to the beauty and abstract rhythms of life—in them she captures the artistry of the everyday, as she sees it.
To produce these images, Leishman likes to say she “throws caution to the wind.” Through her riotous painting techniques—rollers, knives, squeegees, and a fair dose of whimsy, surprising results unfold. By following the paint where it leads, Leishman’s abstract canvasses erupt with colour and texture, expressing her unique interpretation of beauty and her zest for life.
https://soundcloud.com/studio22-sounds/aviva-jacob-interviews-patti-emmerson-artist
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
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
Local artist Debra Krakow lives with her family on Wolfe Island in a beautiful self-designed home. As an architect Krakow designed the house for her young family in the mid 90s. At the top of this tall, yellow structure sits a small, bright studio, tailor made by and for the artist who resides in it.
Walking through the family home I am bombarded with colour and texture filling all possible hanging space on the walls. I am charmed by the beautiful music floating from the piano in the living room, filling the whole house (not to mention the homemade cookies and peppermint tea I am offered upon arrival).
The art, though covering a spectrum of styles and mediums, is amazingly produced by the same artist. Krakow uses her home and personal space as a platform to display her art to her family and guests when it’s not being shown in galleries throughout Ontario.
While climbing the final stairs to reach the glowing room at the peak of the house I find myself entering a blooming garden of warm colours and textures just leaping off every wall and surface. Looking out the windows I can see a full one-hundred and eighty degrees along the shore of the island and up the road. The space is light and, though chilly in the winter, it’s warm in colour and more full of life than the view outside the windows.
The warm tones in Debra’s work draw me closer as I examine each piece in the room. She explains her process of adding quilting and sewing techniques to her paintings and shows me each of her tools and brushes in great detail.
In the far right corner of the room there are four pieces hanging together which perfectly demonstrate the techniques being described to me. On top of the 3-D brush strokes on the canvases hang gorgeous patterns of thread in even brighter and warmer tones.
One piece becomes reminiscent of a glistening yellow spider web hanging from small branches as the sun sets behind. Another is a garden with beautiful thread vines growing throughout. The textures created by the thread are wonderfully woven and sewn into the foreground, seemingly just sitting atop the canvas.
Each piece has a feeling unique to itself but together Krakow’s work flows into a common theme. Her body of work feels natural, growing, and full of life.
Not all of the pieces are abstractions of nature, though. Many of the works consist of massive, sweeping brush strokes which carry your eye from each corner of the canvas. The artist talks me through the very process of creating these pieces; moving large, wet globs of paint onto a canvas spread on the floor of her studio.
The paint spattered floor shows a history of her process, a timeline of the works created there.
The house, the studio and the artistic family within it were all created by the very same artist. Debra Krakow’s body of work is ever expanding past the walls of her home and her beautiful space.