The Elora Sculpture Project is an outdoor exhibition that runs from May – October each year. It is a self-guided treasure hunt for outdoor sculptures installed throughout downtown Elora and Fergus.
Call for entries now open! Submission deadline January 15, 2022. For information please visit their website.
Can art inspire us to make a change in our own life, our own neighbourhood, our own community? How can it make us think a bit differently and grab our attention to sharpen our world view? Can creativity and artistic expression partner with social justice causes to inspire people to act differently? Let’s find out.
Many of us are aware of our local water concerns regarding Nestle’s proposed large-scale water pumping at the Middlebrook well. “Here in the township of Centre Wellington, Nestle is planning on extracting 1.6 million litres of groundwater every day from our local aquifer” says Amy Corner of Save Our Water. “That equals the daily output of 3 township wells” she explains. The removal of vast amounts of water in tanker trucks causes significant environmental damage. Carbon emissions, climate change and a planet choking in plastic are all tied to this industry. Perhaps some of us are alarmed by the 8 million tons of plastic that enters our oceans each year (basically like emptying a garbage truck of plastic into an ocean every minute). There is more microplastic in the ocean than there are stars in the Milky Way.
The Elora Centre for the Arts decided they wanted to do something to help. What could our role be in helping to share the critical state of our water both locally and globally, and somehow encourage a few people to take a stand, make a few small changes or get involved? Art has always had the power to make us think and reflect. The Elora Centre for the Arts is hoping their spring exhibition will do just that, and then some.
H20 for Good features the work of three different artists who have been inspired by our oceans, lakes or rivers. Rebecca Brianceau of Toronto, Carolyn Sharp of Elora and Helen Utsul of Vancouver Island have each embraced the beauty of water in a way that will harken peaceful days at the beach, the power and might of the ocean, and the restful calm of our rivers. The exhibition will also remind us that our water is precious, and clean water is something worthy of protecting.
With the help of Save Our Water, the exhibition will try to encourage people to translate creative inspiration into motivation for one small action for good.
The ripple effect could be extraordinary.
10 things you can do to reduce your carbon footprint.
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Exhibition Dates: Thursday June 17 – Sunday August 1, 2021
Minarovich gallery, Elora Centre for the Arts
Coming from away, Yangyang Pan unpacks her paint box to interpret the Canadian landscape from a different perspective. With a bird’s eye view of the new, yet old earth around her, she challenges the Canadian Shield and honours the St. Lawrence Lowlands. It is an immigrant immersion. Her paintings, with their exuberance and wild colours, develop and evolve as an intuitive reaction to her beautiful surroundings. The resulting work is an interplay of memories and her present, bringing together the ethereal and the physicality of the land around her, but also reflecting her inner emotional landscape. Pan’s paintings pulse with life, and reveal a marriage of cultural connections and energy flow of the senses, creating a fusion of eastern and western traditions. The exhibition pushes the relationship between form and colour to create a visual sensation of energy, emotion and reality: epiphany.
‘Earth Poems’ | Resonance, Rhythms and Reflections
an exhibition by Janice Mason Steeves and Pearl Van Geest
Join us for an artist’s reception on Thursday August 19th from 6-8PM!
The artwork of Janice and Pearl expresses a love of Earth, something that they shared from the time they were students together at the Ontario College of Art and Design in the 90’s. While their approaches are very different, the message is similar: a concern for the earth and an abiding love for it.
“We’ve reached a time in human history when our global environmental crisis requires that we make permanent life-style changes. More than ever before, we need to fall back in love with the land. Silence is our meeting place.” – Gordon Hempton
Aiming to acknowledge and to express that meeting place of silence mentioned by Gordon Hempton, Janice’s work reflects her practice of meditation, where the mind becomes quiet and deeper connections are possible.
Applying oil paint in extremely thin, translucent layers that overlap each other her work reflects the rhythms of nature, the seasons, the cycles, the wind. She builds up the surface gradually, layer by layer, creating luminous colour fields that appear to move with the regularity of breath. They are experiential surfaces that offer quiet space, a form of visual meditation.
While floating on the surface of certain rivers and lakes, paddling along on days when the water’s surface is like a mirror, Pearl immerses herself in sensation – the vibrations of light, colour, movement, sound and other frequencies. Back in the studio, using photographs, she attempts to frame the experience as material, gestural and visual, as a way of reconnecting with that space. The bisymmetrical compositions resonate with structures and openings in our own bodies, and that of other creatures real or imagined.
“Rhythm is what connects the most elementary and primitive bodily structures of even the most simple organisms to the implacable movements of the universe itself: art, as music, sculpture, painting, architecture, dance, resonates or transmits force through every structure. This force … runs through all of life and connects the living in its various forms to the nonorganic forces and qualities of materiality itself.” – Elizabeth Grosz
About the Artists
Janice Mason Steeves
Janice Mason Steeves is represented by galleries in Canada, with work in public, corporate, and private collections in Canada and internationally. As well as an active one-on-one Art Mentoring program, Janice teaches painting workshops in Canada, the U.S., and Europe through a program she’s developed called Workshops in Wild Places. She has also been awarded artist residencies in Spain, Ireland, Sweden, Iceland and Wyoming, USA.
To view Janice’s virtual gallery exhibition, featuring the pieces in her current “Earth Poems” exhibition, please click here.
Colour and expressive line feature in my work. I generally work in series, developing a concept visually until the idea no longer compels me. In the making, I like to create a tension between open experimental mark-making and a refined deliberate responses to what was laid down, gradually becoming more responsive to the canvas. Much of my work is in one way or another inspired by prolonged observation of the natural world –colours and colour relationships, patterns and compositional structure, as well as textures and forms. I have been in my studio in the Trafalgar Building in downtown Guelph since 1997. During that time I have exhibited my work in solo and group shows across Canada. I have also developed interactive exhibitions where people can become involved in the creation of artworks, including Kiss Paintings whereby kiss marks are imprinted onto a canvas or topographical map before I return to my studio to paint in response to the pattern and design made by these marks. My work is part of the Canada Art Council’s Art Bank collection, and is in other private and corporate collections. I was the City of Guelph’s inaugural Artist in Residence, and together with participants, created an artwork that is on permanent display in the City of Guelph.
To view Pearl’s virtual gallery exhibition, featuring the pieces in her current “Earth Poems” exhibition, please click here.
GALLERY EXHIBITION SHOW & SALE
View a sample of all participating Studio Tour artists in the gallery at the Elora Centre for the Arts! All original art on display is available for purchase.
Please note that Studio Tour weekends (visiting artist studios) are September 25 & 26, and October 2 & 3, 2021. During open studio weekends, pick up a map at the Centre and plan your route. Some artist studios are located right in the Elora Centre for the Arts as well!
For more information about the Elora Fergus Studio Tour and opening reception, please click here.
POSITIVITY, ACCEPTANCE AND THE JOURNEY TO WELL BEING
A solo exhibition by Callie Gray
Artist Statement
‘Everything it its Right Place’ is an exhibition about things falling together in ways you may not anticipate, but turn out better than expected. It’s about positivity, acceptance and walking toward well-being. I hope this show lifts your heart.
Have you ever had a moment where everything in your life seems to be in its right place!? Like a painting where every element belongs; nothing to be removed, nothing to be added, it has arrived at that place where everything is right. But it’s not just about the painting; it’s about having this show, at this time, and in this place, and you reading this and experiencing this show in person.
It’s about positivity, well-being, and acceptance of all that is as part of one ‘Big Thing’ and everything is in its right place. And being ok with all of it. Learning to sit in the moment where it all fell together, different from what you hoped, better than you could have imagined. It’s about perspective, and being ready to shift that view when there are things outside of your control that you just have to let go of.
My paintings are an intuitive culmination of all I have observed, emotionally, physically and spiritually. Currently I am surrounded by the beauty and majesty of the Elora Gorge and this is what is coming out in my artwork.
To view Callie’s virtual gallery please click here.
We want to make it as comfortable as possible for our community members to come on in and support our amazing makers and artists this holiday season! If you would prefer to pre-register for a more private shopping time on Wednesdays leading into Christmas, please click here to sign up for a time that works best for you. We will only be opening the doors for people who pre-register on Wednesdays, and we will be keeping the numbers to 4 maximum at any one time. Our regular safety protocols are in effect, so you can rest assured that your shopping experience will be relaxing and enjoyable!
Thursdays are “locals” drop-in days in our Artisan Shop! We want to encourage our community to support our makers and artists and give the gift of handmade this holiday! We are featuring over 35 makers and artists, with hundreds of affordable and unique gifts and stocking stuffers! Open every Thursday for locals to drop in leading into Christmas from 11AM-4PM. Come see us!
Safety protocols in effect including masks, sanitizing and distancing.
If you prefer to reserve a private shopping time (instead of Thursday drop-in) you can sign up on our website for WEDNESDAYS (Wednesdays leading into Christmas are by appointment / pre-registration only)
We are committed to showcasing and supporting our artists and makers! Our handmade artisan market shop in the Harris gallery features up to 50 artists and makers at any given time, showcasing their unique, handmade or eco-friendly items – including pottery, self-care products, jewelry, bags, art cards and souvenirs. The artisan shop also features hand crafted home decor and an assortment of “Elora” things we love at affordable prices. You will also find original art and prints by local artists. We are constantly introducing new artisans and makers and changing up the inventory, so stop by and see what is new, fresh and handmade!
If you are an artisan interested in featuring your items in our Artisan Shop, please click here.
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September 17 – October 11, 2020 | Gallery & Artisan Shop open Thursday – Sundays
The Elora Fergus Studio Tour will look different this year! The annual Studio Tour Show & Sale WILL TAKE PLACE in the gallery at the Elora Centre for the Arts and feature a sample of each Studio Tour artist’s work. The Show & Sale in the gallery will run from September 17 – October 11, 2020. This also marks the re-opening of the gallery at the Elora Centre for the Arts – we look forward to seeing you!
To find out more about the participating artists in the Show & Sale at ECFTA, please click here.
Free Admission. All art is for sale and can be taken at time of purchase. Gallery Hours: Thurs & Fri 11AM-4PM and Sat & Sun 12 -5PM
Social distancing health protocols are in effect inside the gallery and artisan shop. For details please click here.
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