Think Globally, Art Locally
Many thanks to the 70 artists who sent us work this year!
We are excited, honoured, humbled to see the number of artists who entered this year, and to see the quality of the work they sent.
It’ll be a long night getting it all ready for the jury panel. We meet via Zoom next week to decide what work is in the show, and set the awards. Stay tuned!
Here are our Jurists for NJAS2021
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.
Janice LeBlanc is a Simcoe Region based artist, Art Therapist and educator. Janice holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) and Bachelor of Education from York University (1986), as well as a Masters Diploma in Art Therapy (2001). She is now a retired secondary school educator, having taught Visual Arts for over 30 years. Janice has been practicing Art Therapy in various organizations for over 20 years and is currently in private practice. Through many ongoing workshops and courses, Janice has explored a variety of art media including acrylic painting, mixed media, encaustic painting, pottery, jewellery making and printmaking. Art exhibitions include a solo show in Barrie and participation in group shows in Creemore Ontario. She continues to enjoy taking art workshops both locally and internationally and creates pieces that integrate many media and varied perspectives.
I think that you will be excited to meet our 2020 jurists, Jeff Nye, Pat Dumas-Hudecki and Sarah Burtscher.
Jeff Nye is a Newmarket-based 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 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.
http://www.livestudio.ca/
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/
Sarah Burtscher is the Gallery Director at Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto’s leading commercial photography gallery for historical and contemporary work from Canadian and international artists. Sarah has curated exhibitions including Open Call 2019 for the Exposure Festival in Calgary; MYTORONTO, an exhibition through which participants affected by homelessness connect with their community; and SNAP!, an annual photographic fundraiser in support of programs and services provided by the Aids Committee of Toronto. She has also been on several exhibition juries including THE FENCE 2018 and RMG Exposed in 2017 and 2018.
Sarah holds a BFA in Photography Studies from Ryerson University’s Image Arts program.