Author Archives: Arts Administrator
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‘A Moment in Time’ Exhibition by Maureen Ault
Comments Off on ‘A Moment in Time’ Exhibition by Maureen AultOctober 6 – November 20, 2022 | Artist reception on Saturday October 15 from 1-4PM
“A Moment in Time” by emerging mixed media artist Maureen Ault captures the idea that all of us experience moments in our lives that leave lasting impressions upon us. Whether that be a particular location or experience in nature, we carry those memories within us because we relate to them and want to revisit them time and again. When Maureen began focusing on the subject matter to be included in this exhibit, she thought of those experiences and places people could relate to, but in the end, she realized that it was a personal journey to those places, experiences, and feelings that have touched her life.
Maureen Ault uses hundreds, and sometimes thousands of tiny pieces of leaves, petals and other materials to create one culminating image. The Elora Centre for the Arts is thrilled to host her new exhibition, entitled ‘A Moment in Time’ which captures the experiences and moments in life that leave a lasting impression. The artist focuses on personal experiences and places in nature that have touched her life.
Maureen’s own artistic journey was rekindled during the latter stages of her hospitalization following a motor vehicle accident in 2012 that resulted in an Acquired Brain Injury. Working with traditional pressed flower art became a critical part of her rehabilitation and transformed her as an artist.
The works featured in the exhibition harken Maureen’s best memories from visiting some of Ontario’s most majestic places like hiking the quartzite mountains of Killarney, camping in the Bay of Fundy National Park, her first visit to the covered bridge in West Montrose, and lazy Sunday drives in rural Ontario. “My hope is that you will not only enjoy the pieces in this exhibition but reflect on the moments in time that have touched your own lives as well” says the artist.
With so many tiny elements and pieces and intense focus required for this type of work, patience is essential. “Many times, I have reminded myself to wait patiently to see where the layering of botanical material takes me” shares Ault. “The challenge for me as an artist is how to create my vision for each piece using a limited palette that restricts the development of shadows and highlights” she says. Maureen spends hours at florists, greenhouses, friends’ gardens and commercial flower pressing companies to source the best materials to work with for each piece.
The exhibition will run in the main gallery from October 6 – November 20th. Everyone is invited to attend an artist meet-and-greet on Saturday October 15 from 1-4PM. Admission to the gallery is free, refreshments will be served. The Brain Injury Association of KW is arranging transportation to and from the Opening Reception for its members, for details please visit http://www.biaww.org/a-moment-in-time.html
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‘Common Threads: A Printmaker’s portal’ – Exhibition by Carolyn Riddell
Comments Off on ‘Common Threads: A Printmaker’s portal’ – Exhibition by Carolyn RiddellExhibition dates: November 24, 2022 – January 22, 2023 | Opening reception with live music: Sunday November 27th from 2-4PM
Carolyn Riddell is a painter and printmaker who muses and makes work about place and memory.
She has had studios in Europe, Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Her research and studio practice, active since 1986, is a constant unfolding towards an understanding of material, history, ritual and meaning.
Her visual explorations resound in printmaking, stitch work and assemblages using ready made materials. Prints, wallpaper, weaving, thread work and collected artifacts become Carolyn’s signatures: possibilities for recollection, affirmations of the handmade and the manifestation of personal stories.
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‘Soar’ exhibition: Celebrating our ABILITY to fly, sing and SOAR through the ARTS
Comments Off on ‘Soar’ exhibition: Celebrating our ABILITY to fly, sing and SOAR through the ARTSOpening Reception: Saturday March 11 from 2-4PM
Our SUPPORTIVE ARTS groups will be filling the gallery with their interpretations of our avian friends! Migrating birds, land birds, sea birds, birds of prey, sparrows, swallows and songbirds – they all have unique traits and skills that make them powerful.
As we explore flight, song, and soaring, we are also invited to consider the metaphors within. We can consider how we explore and appreciate unknown places and unknown ways of being. How to see things from a new perspective, (a “birds-eye view”), and how to navigate the challenges of diversity as part of a larger group (or flock). In art, as in life, when we are celebrated for who we are, we can find courage to express ourselves creatively and connect with the world around us.
In this exhibition, over 80 Supportive Arts artists are featured and were engaged with ideas collectivity and individuality. Working with various materials, they explored different ways to represent our theme of TAKING FLIGHT. Working within a theme allowed these artists to explore a range of ideas and to find their own unique voice. Each artist was able to engage their individual creativity and self-expression with each of the three art projects in the gallery, while appreciating and supporting the diverse approaches of others.
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Call for Artisans and Artists! | Creative Spark in the Yard | Summer 2022
Comments Off on Call for Artisans and Artists! | Creative Spark in the Yard | Summer 2022CALL FOR ARTISTS! Apply today! | This is a handcrafted only, juried show
Elora Centre for the Arts presents Creative Spark in the Yard 2022 | An artisans and makers show & sale
Event Dates: Saturday & Sunday July 9 & 10, 2022
Time: 10AM – 5PM, both Saturday and Sunday
(Entry fee for patrons will be by donation to the Elora Centre for the Arts)
The Venue: Elora Centre for the Arts, 75 Melville Street, Elora ON
Quite literally held in the Yard on the property of this wonderful historic 1850’s stone building just around the corner from the Main street and shoppes. Over 50 artisans, artists and makers will be showcasing and selling their work and products during this two-day weekend OUTDOOR show. Food trucks and parking available at and around the venue and just a short walk to the wonderfully quaint village and gorgeous view of the Elora Mill. It’s a great weekend destination spot for sight seeing and shopping for unique treasures.
For more information and application details to apply, please click here.
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‘Beyond Words’ a student artist showcase
Comments Off on ‘Beyond Words’ a student artist showcaseThe Elora Centre for the Arts presents ‘Beyond Words’ in partnership with the University of Guelph’s School of Fine Arts & Music (SOFAM) department to present a student exhibition that is sure to leave a lasting impression. ‘Beyond Words’ is a curated, by invitation show that taps into the wisdom and the power of artistic expression, and the importance of developing creative ways to help us understand the world we live in.
Art students at SOFAM were challenged to submit pieces for this show that gave voice to something important to them, allowing them to use their art form to communicate their perspective to the world, and to us as a community. The topics explored in this exhibition range from cultural issues, climate change and nature, to memory loss and mental health. Artistic medium includes, oil and acrylic paintings, intaglio prints including photogravure, photography, pencil drawings and mixed media. This group exhibition illustrates a diverse use of many mediums to convey the artists’ thoughts and inspirations.
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‘The In Between’ | An exhibition by artist blacksmith Sandra Dunn
Comments Off on ‘The In Between’ | An exhibition by artist blacksmith Sandra DunnMarch 10 – April 17, 2022 | Main gallery, Elora Centre for the Arts
Artist reception drop-in: Saturday March 19th from 1 – 3 PM
“Between the idea, and the reality”, a line from T.S. Eliot’s The Hollow Men, is a quote I keep coming back to in my work. There is an entire world of process that happens in the gap between the invisible phase of ideas and the reality of a finished forged piece. The final object leaves behind it a trail of tools that were also designed and made by hand in order to give it life. This exhibition attempts to demonstrate the “in between” by providing a peek behind the scenes at what’s involved and also what gets created along the way.
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‘Everything Connected’ | Octarine artists respond to Climate Change
Comments Off on ‘Everything Connected’ | Octarine artists respond to Climate ChangeApril 21 – May 15, 2022
Artist Reception Drop-in: Sunday April 24th from 1 – 3PM , everyone is welcome!
The Octarine Women Artists’ Collective (OWAC), founded in 2013, is a group of 8 artists, living in Centre Wellington, working in various media who exhibit together. The OWAC members are Judy French (oil), Carol Hughes (watercolour), Kim Johnston (watermedia and oils), Dianne Kennedy Cruttenden (weaving,textiles) , Jean Loney (in memory, glass mosaic), Gail Root (oils and chalk pastel) , M. Anne Smith, (textile and fibre arts) and Nancy Farrell (acrylics).
About the Exhibition:
Climate Change is the existential crisis of our time.
Many of us have become very aware that we are part of a living planet, and that our health is connected to the health of our environment and all living creatures. There is a growing realization that solving our environmental problems will require massive changes to our economic and social systems.
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Elora Plein Air Festival Art Show & Sale | in the gallery at Elora Centre for the Arts
Comments Off on Elora Plein Air Festival Art Show & Sale | in the gallery at Elora Centre for the ArtsSunday May 22, 2022 | 1:00 – 5:00 PM in the gallery at the Elora Centre for the Arts
Elora Plein Air Festival Show and Sale: This is the culmination of the artists’ efforts and they are ready to share and celebrate. In the gallery there’s a buzz of excitement as people come in to view and buy the beautiful works the artists created over the previous 3 days. Meet the artists, discover a piece you can’t resist, vote for your favourite for the People’s Choice award and just enjoy the show!
For more information about the Elora Plein Air Festival (May 19 – 22) please visit their website.
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‘Splendid Isolation’ by Eva McCauley
Comments Off on ‘Splendid Isolation’ by Eva McCauleyOpening Reception: Saturday May 28, 2022 from 2-4PM | Main gallery at the Elora Centre for the Arts
‘Splendid Isolation’ is a series of paintings exploring themes of isolation, uncertainty, and transience during the strange and surreal time of the global pandemic but also, simultaneously, of enhanced connections, and deepening of the creative spirit.
This has been a time of renewal as we explore new ways to live. Many of us are re-examining our existence and what is most important to us, as we emerge from the pandemic, finding new meaning in our transformed lives as we plot a course in still uncharted waters.
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‘Connection and Response’ exhibition by Bruce Cull
Comments Off on ‘Connection and Response’ exhibition by Bruce CullMeet the Artist in the gallery: Sunday September 11th from 2-4PM
Northern Ontario artist Bruce Cull draws from the impact of the last two years, during which time his long-held belief was reinforced: that the most important aspects of our lives is our sense of connection. As Cull explains, we begin our lives connecting to our parent, our siblings and gradually extending those relationships outward to a greater world of friends, co-workers and others whom we encounter on this journey. Most of all, we reach for mutually nourishing intimacy in partner relationship and this connection of love brings us hope and strength.
‘Connection and Response’ reminds us that we are participants in and a part of the physical world we inhabit. Over time, we have lost that sense of connection, have all too often let ourselves be severed from a world of which we are a part. Bruce Cull’s work expresses his fear of lost connection with each other, with our environment and a hope that we will rediscover old, new and better forms of connection.