Exhibitions 2004

Winter 2004

Damage Control: Michael Barber, Douglas Bedard and Andrew McPhail
November 6 -- December 19, 2004
Opening Reception and meet the artists, Sunday, November 7, 2004, 2 - 4 pm

Three artists in their mid-careers create autobiographical work using personal visual vocabulary. Their sense of playfulness in colour and form belies their more serious underlying themes. Each artist in his own way confronts the alienation of men and the dark realities of their supposed freedom.

Michael Barber of Simcoe looks through the layers of his memory in search of hidden understanding. Scratching through surfaces of paint and wax both exposes and protects.

Using acrylic on canvas, Douglas Bedard of Windsor explores the confusion of man’s role in light of society’s male expectations.

Andrew McPhail of Toronto draws with pencil crayon on Mylar. He sets up the gist of innocence through his use of commonplace objects like plumbing or electrical wires but upon closer examination one sees that the images are metaphors that question societal issues.

FALL 2004

Open Door 2004 Juried Exhibition
September 18 -- October 31, 2004
Opening Reception and meet the artists: Saturday, September 18, 7:00 -- 9:00 p.m.

Selecting work for a juried exhibition is not unlike the process that an artist engages in when creating a work of art. The jurors considered such elements as theme, technique, composition, driving force and emotion in their selections. We are pleased to have had two insightful jurors. Gerald Vaandering is an accomplished artist from London, Ontario and Deborah Currie is the Cultural Affairs Manager at Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario. With much thought and consideration, they have succeeded in selecting forty-one works that have become the Open Door 2004 Juried Exhibition. Congratulations to the jurors, the artists and to the public who will be visually rewarded by this collection.

Congratulations to the award winners: The Jurors’ Award went to Romney David Smith for his zinc etching, Beauty of 2nd Thoughts. Fran Freeman’s plant fibre sculpture Opposable Toe was selected for an Award of Merit as was the fibre work by Susan Norman entitled, Form and Colour. In addition, we gratefully acknowledge the sponsorship of this exhibition by Storeimage Programs Inc.

The Nature of Identity: Ryszard Litwiniuk
July 31, 2004 -- September 12, 2004
Reception Saturday, August 14, 2004 2:30 -- 4:30 p.m.
Walking Tour with Ryszard Litwiniuk Saturday, August 14, 2004 3:30 p.m.

Ryszard Litwiniuk will take three approaches to communicate the transformation of nature, identity and infinity. Litwiniuk’s wood sculpture explores and uncovers the source of a tree’s energy. He transforms a tree with a chainsaw to reveal the texture and grain of the wood in a new arrangement. His forms float, drift, curl and split off. Wood and metal rods combine to show the metamorphosis from the natural design of the tree to the invented form that these new organic shapes become.

Litwiniuk will transform one of the gallery spaces into an installation piece in the form of a single line drawing to examine the subject of infinity. In another gallery, he’ll use Mylar and digital imagery to articulate the issue of human identity. These three approaches communicate universal issues and are an expression of the constant imaginings of Litwiniuk through his use of a variety of media in a highly original way.

Litwiniuk’s first involvement with Glenhyrst occurred when several of his works were shown during Universal Language, a biannual culturally based exhibit in 2000. One of his works was purchased for Glenhyrst’s, Outdoor Sculpture Garden, and as a response to his innovative work we are pleased to present this solo exhibition.

Walking Tour with the artist: Please join us on Saturday, August 14 at 3:30 p.m. for a walking tour of the exhibition with Ryszard Litwiniuk. Ryszard was born in Poland and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk where he received his Masters degree. He now lives in Mississauga, Ontario and has been exhibiting extensively in North America. He has presented his work in International Sculpture Symposiums in France, Germany, Argentina and Spain where many of his pieces have been preserved in collections.

SUMMER 2004

Three Female Perspectives: Kathy Bickford, Carolyn Dover, Sonja Pushchak
June 12 -- July 25, 2004
Opening Reception: Sunday, June 13 2:00 -- 4:00 p.m.

Three artists, Kathy Bickford of Brantford, Carolyn Dover of Grimsby and Sonja Pushchak of Toronto, use the figure as a reference to compare objects and set up relationships that result in a dialogue about females in world society.

Kathy Bickford explores relationships and attitudes between humankind and their environment. Bickford is a collector of objects that inspire her. She uses these objects to interact with her own working environment and with the live models that she uses as a source for her oil paintings on canvas. Using a realistic style, Bickford depicts humans at odds with their environment. Beautifully painted rusted industrial forms contrast with impressionistic brush strokes of lucid colour and tone that make up the figure. The symbolic relationship between humans and their environment reflects ideas about potential danger and outside threats that lie dormant, for the time being.

Carolyn Dover investigates themes of feminine identity and gender roles. Dover uses visual materials and experiences collected from her time lived in the Middle East and contrasts that with her life in North America. These two distinct cultures and religious belief systems are given expression through symbolic objects and the use of drapery to express the female figure. Dover works in oil paint on canvas to illustrate the emotional impact that results when ones freedom of choice is limited.

Sonja Pushchak borrows from the Japanese, Ukiyo-e style of graphic art that emerged in the middle 18th century. Previously Pushchak’s artwork examined specific women in history and used them as a source in her very detailed, finely crafted, pencil crayon drawings. These new works in acrylic on board have that same delicate approach but now incorporate the flat, solid shapes and dramatic colour and design found in the early Japanese woodcuts. At first glance Pushchak depicts women with grace and poetic charm but upon closer observation she uses this historical visual reference to express symbolic behaviors that are a result of the pressures of “everywoman” in contemporary society.

This exhibition sponsored by the Ontario Arts Council and VanEl Condominiums.

SPRING 2004

Diffused Landscapes: Scott Addis, Ann Lawtey
February 28 -- April 18, 2004
Opening Reception: Sunday, February 29 2:00 -- 4:00 pm
Lecture by Scott Addis at 3:30 p.m.

Diffused Landscapes is an exhibition expressing the heart and soul of the Canadian landscape by two artists. Scott Addis is a Montreal painter formerly from Cincinnati and Ann Lawtey is a Toronto artist from the state of Massachusetts. Their fresh views of Canadian landscape are influenced by their relocation to large, populated Canadian cities. They have both chosen to represent the secluded surrounding countryside of their new geographic regions, in search of a source of light and moody atmospheric conditions.

Ann Lawtey invites the unpredictable effects that occur when working with the monoprint process. A monoprint or monotype is a process where an image is transferred from an inked plate to a sheet of paper that has been pressed into it and lifted off. Lawtey uses a combination of techniques of applying and removing ink to achieve that unique soft edged quality that this technique affords. Spontaneity is encouraged as the material dries relatively quickly. She has a particular interest in the power of the horizon to influence a sense of the immensity of the elements of sky, fog or water. These small works convey an intimate window into Ontario’s lakes, beaches and wooded terrain.

Scott Addis uses explorative, painterly means to convey a sense of light and atmosphere onto a pastoral environment. Like the impressionists before him Addis begins by drawing outside to capture the tonality of the scene. Using shades of gray he then movies into the studio. His interest is in using the objects of tree, sky and land as a means to present colour and light from his own subjective, interpretive manner. With a scientific eye toward combinations of colour, mixture of media and diverse techniques, he achieves diffused, fluid, landscapes in rich, hazy colour. His shapes have no edges and through these blurry images he achieves a sense of movement and fertile atmosphere.

This exhibition supported by the Guardian Members of Glenhyrst.

Ken Danby: Canadian Icon
April 24, 2004 -- June 6, 2004
Opening Reception Sunday, April 25, 2004 2:00 -- 4:00 p.m.
Lecture with Dr. Chandler Kirwin, Professor of Art History at Guelph University
Saturday, April 24 at 7:30 p.m.

Ken Danby is a Canadian art celebrity who along with other well-known works has painted one of Brantford’s heroes, Wayne Gretzky. The title Canadian Icon summons ideas of fame, popularity and a symbol of identity. Included in this exhibition are a variety of Danby’s works that concentrate on Canadian sports imagery with a particular focus on Wayne Gretzky, otherwise known as “The Great One”, “#99” or “Brantford’s own World famous hockey player”. Included are six of the twenty-four watercolour studies of Gretzky that led up to and include Danby’s large, acrylic painting of the “Great Farewell”. This work is the Official Retirement Portrait of Wayne Gretzky representing his final moments on the ice at Madison Square Gardens. Also on display will be a variety of Danby’s original works in egg tempera, oil, watercolour and graphics plus a selection of works from our Permanent Collection echoing a sports inspired theme.

Olympic Spirit: School Art Project
April 24 -- June 6

Ken Danby is a great supporter of education through art making this exhibition a natural fit with the Brant County School Art Project. Olympic Spirit is an outdoor project in collaboration with Glenhyrst and the Elementary teachers and students of Brant County. Schools have been invited to participate in a project where the theme draws references from history, geography, culture, and sports including the aesthetics of movement. T-Shirts painted with representations of the Olympic theme will be strung in the Outdoor Gardens of Glenhyrst uniting the variety of images reflecting the 2004 Olympics in Greece.

WINTER 2004

Conversations in Shape and Colour:
Barbara McGivern and Arthur Potts
January 10 -- February 22, 2004
Reception: Sunday, January 11, 2:00 -- 4:00 p.m.

Barbara McGivern joins Arthur Potts in an exhibition of abstract painting with its origin in the landscape. For Toronto artist Barbara McGivern, a 1997 driving trip through the deserts of the Mid East set the colour and scope of her art. We experience the light and the vastness through her eyes. Layering her colours to create the reddest red or the bluest of blues McGivern creates a landscape of brilliant colour accented with defining squares of gold leaf. She incorporates the square as a device for reducing nature to its most basic shapes. We feel the abyss flicker, float and fall. These confident landscapes mesmerize the viewer with their apparent simplicity and the longer they are viewed, develop into deeper layers of understanding. McGivern studied at the Ontario College of Art and The Toronto School of Art. Among her accomplishments, she has twice been invited to participate in the Florence, Italy, Biennale Internazionelle Dell’Arte Contemporanea.

Arthur Potts also reaps a strong sense of colour and atmosphere from his travels, particularly in Spain. His paintings are poised between the emotion captured in his colour and form and the recognition of his paintings by the viewer as landscapes. He uses a high horizon that strips the painting space across the top of the picture plane, forming a plateau. The work is accomplished through Pott’s first hand experience of a place and his translation of it through personalized colour and a distinctive deliberate application of the paint. Arthur Potts who paints from his Cambridge, Ontario studio, studied at the Instituto Allende San Miguel, Mexico. He later found that studio classes taken with painter John Hartman held particular relevance and encouragement for him.

Both artists have a concern for space and natural phenomena. The influences from their individual travels provide them with a record of a variety of images. While both artists are interested in the saturation of colour, the contrasts in their paintings become evident as the individuality of their perceptions become unavoidable.

This exhibition is sponsored by the Ontario Arts Council.