VAM 37 | Artist Profile: Keith Shearsby

Visual Arts Mississauga 37th Annual Juried Show of Fine Arts, at the Art Gallery of Mississauga from January 15 – February 14, received 232 entries from across Ontario. Jurors selected 41 artists to be in the show.Until the end of the exhibition, the AGM blog will feature VAM 37 artists. Learn about the thinking behind the works in the exhibit, and see the works in person at the AGM! Vote for the VAM 37 People’s Choice Winner at our facebook page! To purchase works, contact the AGM.

In this post, the AGM blog features Keith Shearsby.

Keith Shearsby, Useful Things: Light Spade, 2014. Sculpture: Altered spade,113 x 31 x 16 cm. http://keithshearsby.com/

Tell us about your work in VAM37. How did you come to the idea to construct this work? What was the thought process behind it and what were your strategies in expressing this idea visually?

The piece I have entered is “Light Spade”, a found spade that I have altered. It is part of a larger series of “Useful Things” that I’ve been creating in which I am exploring the idea of “usefulness” and how it filters our perception of ourselves and the world around us. One of my strategies to make this filter visible is to try to “improve” things until they no longer work.

I found the spade in a flea market, a common haunt of mine. It was an older model, very well made, and very heavy compared to spades made today. I thought that it would be better if it was lighter.

Rather than do the obvious and re-make it out of lighter materials, I thought I would try taking some of it away. I began drilling holes of various sizes, eventually drilling over five thousand holes and removing half of the mass. I was left with an object that still retains the form of a spade, but not the original function. The act of taking parts of it away has changed it from a sturdy industrial tool into a delicate lace-like object. I called it Light Spade as it now weighs less and also allows light to pass through it.

Based on your experience in the 905, what has been the importance of a public art gallery and juried art shows?

I live outside of the 905 area in Brantford, ON. My only experience of Mississauga so far has been with the Living Arts Centre and now the AGM. They are both magnificent structures and facilities that any city would be proud to have as their own. The broadening of the scope of the call for the juried show allows and encourages artists from across Ontario to experience and gain an appreciation for this emerging cultural hub of Mississauga.

View more of Kieth’s artworks on his Facebook page.

VAM 37 | Artist Profile: Jacqueline Treloar

Visual Arts Mississauga 37th Annual Juried Show of Fine Arts, at the Art Gallery of Mississauga from January 15 – February 14, received 232 entries from across Ontario. Jurors selected 41 artists to be in the show.Until the end of the exhibition, the AGM blog will feature VAM 37 artists. Learn about the thinking behind the works in the exhibit, and see the works in person at the AGM! Vote for the VAM 37 People’s Choice Winner at our facebook page! To purchase works, contact the AGM.

In this post, the AGM blog features Jacqueline Treloar.

Jacqueline Treloar, Corona Puer, 2013, Fabric and mixed media on a plastic mesh base, 47 x 35 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.

www.jatreloar.com

Tell us about your work in VAM37. How did you come to the idea to construct this work? What was the thought process behind it and what were your strategies in expressing this idea visually?

Corona Puer is part of an ongoing, multi-segmented project called, “Great Crowns for the Queen of Heaven”. My fascination with the crowned statues of the Virgin Mary evolved during the years that I spent living in the inner city of Palermo where religious processions and festivities are a part of the fabric of the city. My Coronas Magnas Reginae Caeli series is inspired by the Vergine Maria Del Monte Carmelo in the church of Carmine Maggiore, Palermo, Sicily and the wonderfully exuberant crowns worn by the Mary Queen of Heaven statues in southern Spain.

By incorporating images of my own friends and family members, I invert the crown’s untouchable sacredness into a vulnerable personal statement, which communicates universal concepts of human experience such as birth and death, aging and dependency as well as the strength of family bonds and social relationships. The elements that I have used in Corona Puer include fabrics, findings, heat transfers, stencilling, stitching, and beading.

Based on your experience in the 905, what has been the importance of a public art gallery and juried art shows?

My largest solo exhibition to date was in 1997 at the AGM with director Stuart Reid. I have also won awards and participated in several juried exhibitions. Both the public art gallery and the juried exhibitions have been key to my professional activities.

Who’s your favorite artist (ideally within the 905)? How do you feel this artist has inspired your work?

Most of my favorite artists are dead. Alive? Amselm Keifer.

See more of Jacqueline Treloar’s work on her Facebook and Twitter pages.

VAM 37 | Artist Profile: Donna Saull

Visual Arts Mississauga 37th Annual Juried Show of Fine Arts, at the Art Gallery of Mississauga from January 15 – February 14, received 232 entries from across Ontario. Jurors selected 41 artists to be in the show.Until the end of the exhibition, the AGM blog will feature VAM 37 artists. Learn about the thinking behind the works in the exhibit, and see the works in person at the AGM! Vote for the VAM 37 People’s Choice Winner at our facebook page! To purchase works, contact the AGM.

In this post, the AGM blog features Donna Saull.

Donna Saull, Jive, 2014, Acrylic on canvas, 30” x 36”. Image courtesy of the artist.

Tell us about your work in VAM37. How did you come to the idea to construct this work? What was the thought process behind it and what were your strategies in expressing this idea visually?

In the piece that I submitted to VAM37, I wanted to express the joy we feel from movement, from flexibility and from music. I experimented with different tools to achieve the effect of fluid motion, and then added a dash of sparkle to finish it off.

 Based on your experience in the 905, what has been the importance of a public art gallery and juried art shows?

Public galleries are essential in exhibiting the art of up and coming artists as well as showcasing the art of our experienced local artists.  Juried art shows validate an artist’s self-worth.

Who’s your favorite artist (ideally within the 905)? How do you feel this artist has inspired your work?

 Lila Lewis Irving, a well-known and respected Mississauga artist is my favourite artist.  She had inspired me to be free and intuitive, keeping in mind all of the ‘rules’ that influence good art.

VAM 37 | Artist Profile: Kelsey Whalen

Visual Arts Mississauga 37th Annual Juried Show of Fine Arts, at the Art Gallery of Mississauga from January 15 – February 14, received 232 entries from across Ontario. Jurors selected 41 artists to be in the show.Until the end of the exhibition, the AGM blog will feature VAM 37 artists. Learn about the thinking behind the works in the exhibit, and see the works in person at the AGM! Vote for the VAM 37 People’s Choice Winner at our facebook page! To purchase works, contact the AGM.

In this post, the AGM blog features Kelsey Whalen.

Kelsey Whalen, A Girl’s Regret, 2014, Papercut, 41 x 33.

http://www.kelseywhalen.portfoliobox.me/

How did you come to the idea to construct this work? What was the thought process behind it and what were your strategies in expressing this idea visually?

My work in VAM37 is part of an ongoing series of collages, using female figures which have been taken from a Victorian women’s magazine. The magazine “The Girls own Annual” first published in 1880 was a magazine catering to girls with advice and entertainment.

The original source material has been effaced with botanical imagery, in order to explore the relationships between women and botany. In the 18th and 19th century botany was a form of science more open to women, and it was a respectable pastime for women to collect and press flowers.

Each picture contains a flower that was traditionally used as a healing medication, and still has modern uses in pharmacology. These remedies passed down from wisdom collected over centuries has opened doors for women to become more informed about their sexuality, and in the science of botany. My work is inspired by this history, and by the use of flowers over time as a metaphor for femininity and female sexuality. The imagery explores different female archetypes, and questions ideologies about how women traditionally behaved.

Based on your experience in the 905, what has been the importance of a public art gallery and juried art shows?

Mississauga is a diverse community, with people creating artwork that stems from different places, and ideas. I feel that it’s important to have a public art gallery to showcase just how culturally different our community is.

Who’s your favourite artist (ideally within the 905)? How do you feel this artist has inspired your work?

Many of the collages I create employ a technique called cyanotype, an alternative process of photography developed in the 1800’s. I was inspired by the photographs of Anna Atkins, a botanist who created an extensive collection of cyanotypes of the plant life she collected. She is considered to be the first female photographer.

VAM 37 | Artist Profile: Rena Sava

Visual Arts Mississauga 37th Annual Juried Show of Fine Arts, at the Art Gallery of Mississauga from January 15 – February 14, received 232 entries from across Ontario. Jurors selected 41 artists to be in the show.Until the end of the exhibition, the AGM blog will feature VAM 37 artists. Learn about the thinking behind the works in the exhibit, and see the works in person at the AGM! Vote for the VAM 37 People’s Choice Winner at our facebook page! To purchase works, contact the AGM.

In this post, the AGM blog features Rena Sava.

Rena Sava, Cityscapes 5 V.E., 2014 , Relief print on Paper, 79 x 64 cm. Image courtasy of the artist

renasava.wordpress.com

Tell us about your work in VAM37. How did you come to the idea to construct this work? What was the thought process behind it and what were your strategies in expressing this idea visually?

My print “Cityscape” is an abstracted view of the urban spaces we inhabit. I am attracted to the way light plays against the materials that make up the buildings that surround us.

The prints are relief prints using Styrofoam as the matrix vehicle. The multiple layers of transparent colours and shapes help me visually express distance and space.

This process produces irregular results that mimic the textures of steel, glass, and concrete.

 

Based on your experience in the 905, what has been the importance of a public art gallery and juried art shows?

Art is an integral part of culture and must be bought to the communities in which we live.

The AGM has an important place in Mississauga and is making contemporary art available to all.

Juried art shows give local artists the opportunity to be judged with their peers and exhibit their work in a professional setting.

I have been fortunate to have been included in past VAM juried shows, and just recently have exhibited my prints in the XIT-RM in the AGM. This was an invaluable experience for me, since it showcased my work in a contemporary manner along with other professional artists. It gave me the opportunity to work with a curator, and have my work presented to a varied audience.

Another reason why the AGM is important, giving the opportunity to local emerging artists to exhibit their work in this gallery setting.

 

Rena Sava is a veteran of Visual Arts Mississauga’s Annual Juried Show of Fine Arts.

Check out interviews with her from VAM 33, VAM 36, and her recent exhibition with the AGM

VAM 37 | Artist Profile: Jane Austin

Visual Arts Mississauga 37th Annual Juried Show of Fine Arts, at the Art Gallery of Mississauga from January 15 – February 14, received 232 entries from across Ontario. Jurors selected 41 artists to be in the show.Until the end of the exhibition, the AGM blog will feature VAM 37 artists. Learn about the thinking behind the works in the exhibit, and see the works in person at the AGM! Vote for the VAM 37 People’s Choice Winner at our facebook page! To purchase works, contact the AGM.

In this post, the AGM blog features Jane Austin.

Jane Austin, Eggs: Winter Light through Cedars, 2014, HD Video, 8 mins 30 secs. Courtesy of the artist.

www.janeaustinartist.ca

How did you come to the idea to construct this work? What was the thought process behind it and what were your strategies in expressing this idea visually?

My video work Eggs: Winter Light Through Cedars was taken under very specific lighting conditions. Within about 2 weeks in January, I need a few days of strong sunlight and an active wind to create moving, filigree shadows caused by a cedar hedge. I set up some sort of white still life , in this case on the floor, and video the shadows moving across the items in the still life. I have a very short window of time to do this as the sun starts to set. I add sound in order to augment the mood of the piece and also to extend the sense of space out from the video. To me, these are paintings with the addition of sound and movement.

It has become obvious to me that life never gives the same conditions twice so I find that my work, which is based on light and the movement caused by wind, necessarily changes from year to year.

 Who’s your favorite artist (ideally within the 905)?

I will say that I find the videos of Adad Hannah inspiring and the paintings of Kim Dorland wondrous.

View more of Jane Austin’s videos, here.

VAM 37 | Artist Profile: Jason Brown | Curator’s Choice Award Winner

Visual Arts Mississauga 37th Annual Juried Show of Fine Arts, at the Art Gallery of Mississauga from January 15 – February 14, received 232 entries from across Ontario. Jurors selected 41 artists to be in the show.Until the end of the exhibition, the AGM blog will feature VAM 37 artists. Learn about the thinking behind the works in the exhibit, and see the works in person at the AGM! Vote for the VAM 37 People’s Choice Winner at our facebook page! To purchase works, contact the AGM.

In this post, the AGM blog features Jason Brown, winner of the Curator’s Choice Award.

Jason Brown, Moose Season in the Gaspe, Riviere-au-Renard, QC, 2011, 2014, Archival Pigment Print. Image Courtesy of the artist.
www.jasonmbrown.ca

How did you come to the idea to construct this work? What was the thought process behind it and what were your strategies in expressing this idea visually?

This piece is from a larger body of work entitled You Seem To Be Where I Belong. The series is sort of my own personal exploration and documentation of Canada as I encounter it. What started out as a very loose project framework (almost an excuse) to allow me to go out and explore and make photographs in settings and environments that engaged my interests and emotions, has developed into what I think is an interesting portrayal of the Canadian landscape. The specific piece in VAM37 – Moose Season in the Gaspe, Riviere-au-Renard, QC – was made during a 5-week road trip in Eastern Canada and the Maritimes. It’s an image that is loaded with a lot of personal meaning, but at the same it’s also an image that I think represents the area quite well and that  many people can find some relation to, whether they are from that area or not, which is really what I’m trying to achieve with this body of work.

Based on your experience in the 905, what has been the importance of a public art gallery and juried art shows?

Juried art shows have provided me with opportunities to exhibit my work in certain galleries and situations that, at the time, would not have been open to me otherwise. Beyond this, juried shows, and public art galleries in general, provide me with continual sources of inspiration as they allow me to connect with a variety of local artists and artistic practices that I’m generally not exposed to on a daily basis.

Who’s your favourite artist (ideally within the 905)? How do you feel this artist has inspired your work?

I wouldn’t say I have a single favorite artist, but I admire and find inspiration from the work of many artists. With respect to the type of images I make, I have to say (hopefully without sounding too obvious) that I identify strongly with the “usual” masters in colour photography, including Joel Sternfeld, Stephen Shore, Joel Meyerowitz, etc. And I’m continually following the work of more contemporary (younger?) photographic artists, such as Eirik Johnson, Jessica Auer, Scott Conarroe, Eliot Dudik, Lucas Foglia and Jeff Rich, to name just a few.