Author: Director

Janet Read is a painter, musician, and poet, whose childhood was spent near the shores of Lake Simcoe. The artist has sought the water’s edge ever since. Her roots go back to the Ottawa Valley Irish, Belfast, and county Wexford in Ireland. Perhaps this explains a fondness for fiddle music, poetry and the sea.

Residencies in Newfoundland and Ireland, and travels in Norway, Iceland, and Scotland have allowed her access to the sea, leading to a lifetime’s investigation of water as a metaphor for strength and fragility. Recent travels in the high Arctic prompted an ongoing body of work, High Arctic Light exhibited at the Propeller Art Gallery and virtually at the Heliconian Club of Toronto.

Exhibitions include commercial and public galleries, including the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, with a catalogue, the Art Gallery of Peterborough, and the Frederick Horsman Varley Gallery in Unionville. Paintings can be found in public and private collections and internationally in Australia, England and the US.

Pat Dumas-Hudecki is an Ontario artist who has been in many solo and group exhibitions, and has won many awards. She sends this statement:

Through my different painting series I want to chronicle how the everyday objects around us transform and convey their own unique narratives. My realistic acrylic paintings pay homage to the sweet disorder and chaos that surrounds us; they are an integral part of our living spaces-indoors and out.
When I paint the visual chaos of my interior spaces I capture the domestic wilderness of activity and play that is too often tidied up and civilized before it can be appreciated for its beauty and meaning.
When I paint urban and rural utility poles I show how they have developed unique personalities as they alter through time and purpose.
I enjoy creating art that makes people take a second look at their everyday surroundings and transforms their perceptions of it.
http://www.dumas-hudecki.com/

Pat Hertzberg  is a textile / mixed media artist currently living in Caledon, Ontario.  After graduating from York University and Sheridan College Pat had a career as a fashion designer, before transitioning to fine art, as a textile artist.  She was a Resident Artist at Mississauga’s Living Arts Centre, and is an active member of the ‘Connections Fibre Artists’ group. Pat has been the recipient of numerous art awards. She has juried several art shows, given artist talks, and taught various courses and seminars. Her work has been in Gallery exhibitions across Canada and included in both Canadian and American publications.  Pat’s innovative fibre and mixed-media works can be found in both corporate and private collections in Canada, the USA, Great Britain, Mexico and Italy.  www.Pathertzberg.com

As well, Jeff Nye joins us again as our curator. Jeff is a Canadian artist, writer, teacher, and curator. Jeff has a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree with Distinction from Concordia University in Montreal (1998) and a Master of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Regina (2007). His paintings and multimedia installations have been exhibited in public galleries across the country. He has curated exhibitions for the Mackenzie Art Gallery, Dunlop Art Gallery, and Last Mountain Lake Cultural Centre. He has also instructed studio art, exhibition design, and art history classes at First Nations University of Canada, University of Regina, and Georgian College.
Jeff has received several distinctions and awards for his work, including grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Saskatchewan Arts Board, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.