Current Exhibition: The Promise of Painting
Three artists work within the promise of painting to uncover and contribute their individual passionate attachments to this form of visual expression. The viewer will experience levels of emotion and relationships to the media of painting and to the artists who manifest these works.
Robert Achtemichuk works with gouache on silk or washi (Japanese paper). Achtemichuk’s studio looks out into an ordinary Ontario back yard in Kitchener. His interest is in the quiet contemplation of the small changes that occur due to time of day, weather, season and the inspirations and revelations 
from that kind of study. Misty, watery, sensual small paintings are titled the date they were painted. Sultry, earthy colours of raw umber and grays, and washed out blues and reds direct the viewer through a quiet passing of time. There’s innocence in his work from a delicate touch that exposes poetic vibrating atmospheric simplicity. In today’s fierce world this may be considered otherworldly.
Robert Achtemichuk received his BFA from the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg. He apprenticed in colour etching techniques in France and studied master classes at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas, Mexico City. He has exhibited his work and taught courses across Canada. He has been the Executive Director at Open Studio, Waterloo Regional Art Council, and the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery. This work is accompanied by a catalogue written by Liz Wylie, Curator of the Kelowna Art Gallery. Robert Achtemichuk acknowledges and appreciates support from the Ontario Arts Council and the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund.
Cristina Zanella is interested in the play of light and dark and its effect on the intensity of colour. She treats her 
subject matter, whether it is dead birds or subtle still life forms, with an eye to balancing broken space with colour, light and line. Her paintings are both vibrant and moody with a linear graceful approach to her marks.
Port Dover based Cristina Zanella has exhibited throughout Southern Ontario. She received a BFA from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.
Ian McLean uses colour to lure his viewer with his unusual environments and combination of elements. His imagery harks on a 1950’s feel but his colour palette is later; part pop art/ part post impressionistic. Residential environments hold an elusive chronology with his use of symbolic objects expressed 
through textured painted surfaces. Both McLean and Zanella use black as accents in their work and often include lime green, cadmium yellows, oranges and turquoise. McLean’s objects are infused with a landscape of these brilliant colours applied with creamy seductive brush strokes of oil paint on canvas.
McLean resides in the Sarnia area in Brights’s Grove and received a B.Ed. from the University of Western Ontario, and a BA in Fine Arts from the University of Guelph. He has had solo and group exhibitions in Ontario and he is represented by Gallery Moos, Toronto.
In the Community Gallery Space, Jack Jackowetz’s photography is 
manipulated with computer software. His subject is our built heritage with a focus on architectural renderings. He calls his process post impressionism photography. “I start with an original photograph then I use software to ‘paint’ or enhance the image.” Jack has shown his work throughout the region and is represented by galleries in New York, Waterloo, and Paris ON.