If you happen to be visiting the great tourist area north of Toronto over the next month, drop by my latest exhibition called ‘Vibrations’ at the Bartlett Gallery in Alton, Ontario. Also showing are sculptor Mark Puigmarti and Elena Henderson.
I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting either artist, but their work looks amazing.
The show runs from Nov 14 – Dec 9
The Opening Reception Saturday, November 17th
1 pm - 3 pm with Cellist Isaiah Farahbakhshrah
Why not make it a week-end get-away !
The gallery is located in the historical Alton Mill Art Centrewith lots of things to do in and around the Orangeville area. It’s also right next door to the renowned Millcroft Inn and Spa.
Hope to see you there !!
‘Vibrations’ opens at the Bartlett Gallery in Alton Ontario
Take a peek at this short video of me painting and talking about my inspirations and methods. It was produced by my global art licensing agent in Austin, Texas, New Era Portfolio.
Federal MP Brian Masse, me, Councillor Joanne Gignac
I was recently honored by being chosen as winner of the prestigious Elizabeth Havelock Art Award. It’s an annual award presented to one mid-career artist who’s made significant contributions to arts and culture in their community.
My husband Jim, me, Federal MP Brian Masse
There were several other cultural group winners that evening being presented by the Windsor Endowment for the Arts. We all enjoyed a lovely evening in an enchanting, recently revived, historical building. They served the most tasty and tempting appetizers. We were also treated to an exquisite piano recital of Chopin and Rachmaninoff.
I just returned from a wonderful weekend in Chicago for the annual Art Chicago fine art fair. It was at the Merchandise Mart downtown and ran from April 29 – May 2.
It was quite a surprise to see how much leaner and more regional it was this year. All the exhibitors were on one floor instead of four. This year only about 90 established galleries and 60 emerging galleries participated. By comparison,in 2008, when I was last there, about 500 international galleries from every major art city in the world participated.
Attendance was sparse too. Most people have other things on their minds these days, I suppose. But there was lots of interesting art to see. The lack of crowds made looking much more enjoyable without all the usual jostling.
For me fine art fairs are a wonderful, time-saving way to get a quick overview of what’s new and noticed in the contemporary art world. It’s a visual feast and I always come back to my studio reinvigorated and eager to work.
Contemporary art fairs are also great for networking, meeting new people and talking about ideas and the state of the art world. The economic downturn has definitely had a major impact on the visual arts in terms of fewer buyers. However, this hasn’t stopped fine artists from continuing to create exquisite and relevant work. Nor has it dampened the enthusiasm of the gallerists who represent them.
Way back in January, I decided one of my goals before spring would be to totally Clean, Sort and Organize everything in my studio.
My working methods as an artist naturally cause me to collect lots and lots of materials. Sometimes things I save actually prove useful. While a lot just takes up valuable space and clutters up my thoughts.
So I decided to de-clutter and and only keep tools and material I actually do use. I was feeling pretty good about the results and was just getting back in the groove of painting with everything close at hand.
Then BAM !
Two large shipments of paintings came back to my studio from exhibitions at the same time. First all the art from the Art Gallery of Windsor solo arrived, then an enormous crate came back from Naples, Florida.
Things looked like this for a few days last week until Harmony, my assistant and I were able to sort and put everything away.
'Natural Networks' ID-1036, 36"x36" (c) 2010 Shirley Williams
As part of my exhibition at the AGWcalled ‘Forces of Nature’, is a series of 7 canvases called “Natural Networks”. There is actually an eighth in this series of 36″ x 36″ canvases. But we ran out of wall space. The lonely “orphan” is in the cool colors and deserves the spotlight too. It is included on the next post. Here are the 4 warm paintings.
'Natural Networks' ID-1032, 36"x36" (c) 2010 Shirley Williams
'Natural Networks' ID-1033, 36"x36" (c) 2010 Shirley Williams
'Natural Networks' ID-1034, 36"x36" (c) 2010 Shirley Williams
This series of 8 paintings called “Waterfall Spectrum” are each 72″ high and 36″ wide. There are 4 in the warm range and 4 in the cool range.
They have been hung in the “Forces of Nature” exhibit at the AGW with the warm on one wall and the cool on the opposite wall. This creates a sense of “parting the water” as you walk between the two walls.
Shirley Williams 'Yellow Spectrum' ID-1004 (c) 2010 SOLD
Shirley Williams 'Orange Spectrum' ID-1009 72" x 36" (c)2010
Shirley Williams 'Red Spectrum' ID-1012, 72"x36" (c)2010
Shirley Williams 'Red Spectrum' ID-1013, 72"x36" (c)2010
