Mike Smalley

Mike Smalley is another Ontario artist that I had the pleasure meeting at the Artist Project Toronto.  His large scale paintings focus around two natural themes:  geological formations and grasslands.  He described his process of starting his geolocical paintings with a dark underpainting that is then drenched in turps, which cause unexpected movement and travelling of the dark blue/grey pigments.  He then follows the lead of this movement with facades, fissures and planes.  They are truly a sight to behold!

Monument #2, 2012, Oil and Charcoal on Linen, 78" x 60"

Untitled, 84" x 50"

Genesis Chapters #7,  2012, Oil and Charcoal on Linen, 58" x 42"

History of the World Panel #2, Oil and Charcoal on Linen, 2010, 60" x 84"

Here are some more details about Mike Smalley's subject matter from Navillus Gallery in Toronto: 

"His depiction of a “living” environment in flux appears cracked, broken and then resurrected. Rocks cut from the rough Canadian Shield undergo a metamorphosis beneath jostling waves. Grass cut by various shades of light bristles in the wind. The horizon peels into the water as the sun dips down for twilight. In Smalley’s ethos on the canvas, shapes are pinched and cracked. As with cubism, we see the whole from multiple perspectives, learning how the pieces interact: a shadow from a rock is cut into the grass, creating a rough gouge. By fragmenting the landscape and disassociating the shapes from one another, Smalley pieces it back into a more perfect whole."

Mike Smalley's Website

Christine Kim

I ran into Christine Kim's work at the Toronto Artist Project (as well as Christine Kim herself).  A fellow teacher and artist, I was really drawn to her intricate cut paper and juxtaposition of images of slightly obscured figures, fences and screens.  It was really neat to watch actually work at her booth, making her deft, precise cuts, all while conversing with passers by.

In her own words, here is Christine Kim speaking about her art:

"In my work, I am drawn to areas of tension – the kind of tension found in moments of silence where emotions have not yet found a language. The figures drawn speak to a sharp vulnerability. The bodies are revealed only in fragments, they turn away, and not all is known. Cut from the original paper, the viewer is also reminded of the fragility of the support, or lack thereof. Hovering between layers, there is an uneasy relationship between figure and ground, sometimes even precarious. The figure is cut out, but recaptured; this time, layers accumulate like sediment.

Inspired by boundaries, I often use Victoria fences to illustrate the tension created at these borders. At once, sturdy and restrictive, the fence also stands as a decorative ornament to mark the line between private and public spaces. It is a stern warning and a delicate ornament. The illustrations accumulate layers of fences, figures, and screens -- all cut and perforated with patterns to allow viewers to see the distance between and the new relationships built by this displacement. "

- from christinekim.ca

Here is an interview she did with Plaid Magazine, where she talks about her work in more depth:

Plaid Magazine - Christine Kim Interview

Peter Yuill

I just discovered the work of Peter Yuill and am totally wowed!  Apparently he is a Sheridan Illustration Graduate and now lives in Hong Kong and does incredible work with ink.  Just take a look at this stunning work that he is still working on now:

He does very nice perspective drawings in ink as well:

Peter Yuill's Blog

Laurie Skantzos

I first saw Laurie Skantzos at the West Hamilton Artist Tour. Her work is inspired by wild gardens, urban landscapes and gritty graffiti and strives to make the invisible visible. She incorporates a wide variety of materials and media in her work. Japanese paper and tissues, powdered pigments, lino block printing, acrylic paint and oil sticks are some of her favorites. She is showing at the upcoming One-of-a-Kind Show, so look for her work there!

Here is what she says about her work:
"The process of creating a painting, watching as it unfolds and seeing it as a finished product is both exciting and meditative for me. This duality that I experience in my engagement with the work interests me in other areas as well. Order and chaos vie for dominance; beauty gives way to decay only to emerge once again, deliberation retreats as intuition takes over. I find that the act of painting eventually reveals to me what is really going on in my inner world even as I react with or against the outer world, searching for inspiration.

I'm interested in organic life on all levels, as well as expansion and procreation. As I get older, I seek to break open and expand on my experiences and ideas rather than begin to shut down in complacency. My painting is an expression of that and also an investigation."

Laurie Skantzos

Mathew Borrett

Thanks to Jonathan for introducing me to the work of Mathew Borrett!  He is an artist from right here in Ontario, and a graduate of OCAD.  I love his drawings of small nooks, crannies and rooms.  This is what Mathew Borrett has to say about his work:

From a very early age I used to have frequent dreams about finding hidden rooms between rooms in my house. Usually some facet of my fears or desires would be present in these rooms. As a Lego fanatic, I'd often find fantastic new Lego sets I didn't know existed (which made waking up a disappointment). Later we moved into an old farmhouse with lots of nooks and crannies and a basement that often flooded. It underwent a lot of renovation over the 17 years we lived there, and I was always fascinated when a wall was removed or temporarily breached and you could pass from one room to another in a new way. The scope of the dreams expanded to include strange gaps and holes and secret shafts that dropped away into spooky abysses. Sometimes I'd explore basements beneath the basement, or attics beyond the attic. I think I've probably explored a thousand different dream versions of that old house.

Mathew Borrett's Website

Juliet Jancso

I came across the porcelain sculpture work of Juliet Jancso a few weeks ago at the Mad & Noisy Gallery in Creemore, Ontario.  Her show was called "Embarkation" and featured white porcelain sculptures based on ships and boats found in 12th and 13th century manuscripts.

From Jancso's website:
My exploration of medieval illuminated manuscripts continues, with much delight. The images I find there have been the inspiration for a series of sculptures - the most recent being a flotilla of ships. I have created them in porcelain, a material I chose for its bright whiteness which I have then highlighted with gold leaf."

Intrigued by her work, I contacted the artist.  She explained her work a bit further, notably her stylistic choices: 

I like the understatement of small highlights of gold leaf. The preciousness of real gold leaf, and the fact that gold was very frequently used in the manuscripts add to my appreciation of it.  

I was lead to the manuscripts when seeking out examples of proportions that differ from the norm.   I got hooked by those images and as I studied them closely I became fascinated by their history

Bede’s Life and Miracles of
St. Cuthbert, Durham
c. 1200

The Golf Book, Bruges
c. 1520-30

Luttrell Psalter, East Anglia, c.1330-40
Lower margin of page

Juliet Jancso's Website

Kate Rivers Collage

I want to share with you another amazing post from my new favourite art blog, Art, Artists, and Galleries.  I highly encourage you to subscribe to this blog, as the art is fresh and the writing is very insightful!   This time it is the work of Kate Rivers who creates very unusual collages of birds nests, subject matter that I love and that has appeared in my own work in the past.

From Art, Artists, and Galleries:
"What other animal is known for creating collages? A bird, of course.Kate Rivers knows this and reflects this in her work. These nest works caught me off guard, because I didn't even think about this fact about birds collaging until I saw her work. But enough about birds. Kate Rivers work is attractive as a collage, because she is taking a fresh approach to an art form. I mean, typically if you have seen one collage you seen them all, but Rivers really shakes it up with a more representational approach, rather than something purely abstract or something that uses to much of the recognizable part of the images in the collage. Not Rivers, she plays with these cutouts and creates an amazing composition of strips of paper.

On her website, I found a very eloquent artist statement.  Here is a section of it, where she explains her source material and her symbolism of the nest:

"I collage fragments of these things that I collect: maps, notes, cancelled stamps, old books, children's drawings, clothing labels, love letters, buttons and pins and weave them together as a bird constructs a nest. I use the image of the bird's nest as metaphor. The nest is a symbol for home and that space becomes synonymous with memory, loss and nostalgia. I use maps frequently because they link the body to the land and to the physical space represented. The individual is divided and classified within these geographic spaces. The map represents my struggle ,a type of resistance and a search for ownership of self, separate and unique from what I see as a deluge of banality of images within our culture. However, I understand that separateness only exists within my own idea of myself.

The collage elements that I use are deliberately selected from that which would have been or was thrown away, discarded or set aside. I specifically include things that are given to me and things that reflect that day or week that the piece was created. I work on paper, wood and canvas. Objects are sewn, nailed, or glued in place." 

Kate Rivers website link