FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM
@womensartofcan
The Women’s Art Association of Canada (WAAC) is pleased to present the “Connections: New Members” group art exhibition, in the Dignam Gallery, and online. Visit us at our heritage building, at 23 Prince Arthur in Toronto, Canada, to view a unique collection in various media including: batik; carving on scorched wood; ceramic sculpture; collage; digital media; drawing in charcoal, graphite, and pastel; fused glass; mixed media; painting in acrylic, oil, and watercolour; photography; and printmaking. We look forward to meeting you!
VIEW IN-PERSON IN THE DIGNAM GALLERY SEPTEMBER 9 – 25, 2021.
Gallery hours: Wed.-Sat. 9:00-4:00
Tuesday: By appointment.
Before visiting, please check the website for up-to-date Dignam Gallery opening information, or call (416) 922-2060.
*COVID-19: Public access to the gallery is guided by government regulation and protocols.
VIEW ONLINE SCROLL DOWN OR CLICK EXHIBITION CATALOGUE to view the artwork and artist information presented alphabetically. To contact an artist, or to learn more about their work, follow the links to the artist’s email, WAAC portfolio page, website and social media. Search by artist name in the list of PARTICIPATING ARTISTS. The online gallery will be available for viewing in the Past Exhibitions section of the website after September 25th.
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS Meral Altinbilek, Sharon Bacal, Jaspal Birdi, Karen Buck-Mackintosh, Christy Chor, Carol Cormier, Sylvia Falkiewicz, Susan Farquhar, Alison Galley, Catharina Goldnau, Josie Greco, Kate Greenway, Pia Israelsson, Tai Kim, Ursula Queeny Krubnik, Adriana Lee, Dorion Liebgott, L’OR, Merike Lugus, Sharon MacLennan, Judith Mason, Lana Matskiv, Joanne Nelson, Leigh Nelson, Elva Palo, Litsa Parker, Janice Pich, Janet Read, Joan Solomon, Catharine Somerville, Andrew Cheddie Sookrah, Triveni Srikaran, Barb Symons, Sally Thurlow, Dulce Vanasse, Wendy Wallace, and Karen Zavitz.
Please join us in welcoming our new Artist-In-Residence, Jaspal Birdi!
For artwork inquiries, please contact the artist directly. Arrangements for pick-up of artwork may be made with WAAC, by contacting Executive Office Manager Cal Lorimer (cal@womensartofcanada.ca).
VIEW THE ONE-MINUTE EXHIBITION PREVIEW BELOW
MERAL ALTINBILEK
Radishes
Watercolour
12” x 14”
$75
Turkish Carpet Design: Fading Memories
Watercolour
16” x 20”
NFS
Meral paints in watercolours. She took numerous courses with distinguished artists and participated in juried exhibitions. In 2015, she completed painting courses in the New York Arts Academy. Her affection for nature is revealed in her paintings through realistic landscapes, colourful florals, shapes found in nature, ethnic rugs and copper pots. Her paintings hand in many public and private collections in Canada, the US and Europe.
SHARON BACAL
Majesty- Sometimes, to really appreciate the majesty of the world, we need to take a moment to just unplug and walk about in it.
Watercolour on paper, mounted on gallery panel, resin-coated by artist
18″ x 18″
$1600
Geometry- A straight line between any two points only exists in geometry
Watercolour on paper, mounted on gallery panel, resin-coated by artist
15″ x 23″
$1400
JASPAL BIRDI
17h23m
Oil paint and photo-transfer on emergency blanket
41 x 60 cm
$1500
Jaspal Birdi (B. 1998 Toronto) is the 2021 WAAC Artist in Residence, supported by the Ontario Arts Council. Birdi is a multidisciplinary artist combining photography and painting. Through programming, print and paint, her practice filters and reconstructs virtual and physical memories. Birdi completed her BFA in drawing and painting from OCAD University 2010, a Masters in Art Management from Istituto Europeo di Design 2013, and a Specialization in Curating Contemporary Art from Venice School of Curatorial Studies 2016. She is a recipient of international awards and honours, exhibiting in notable group and solo exhibitions in Europe and Canada. Recently, Birdi’s works were presented in “Can I Play Outside?” , a solo presentation supported by the RBC Foundation and RBC Emerging Artist Project at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery.
jaspalbirdi@me.com
jaspalbirdi.com
instagram.com/birdiseyeview
KAREN BUCK-MACKINTOSH
Cyan Sisters #1
Cyanotype photograph
7.25” x 7.25”
$300
Cyan Sisters #2
Cyanotype photograph
7.25” x 7.25”
$300
“Cyan Sisters 1, and 2” depict four sisters, closely related in age, dressed the same and posed together in close proximity. Photographic negatives are presented as explorations into subconscious levels of sibling bonds. The works are contact-printed in the historical cyanotype iron salt process. Enlarged positive transparencies with halftone dot patterns are printed onto emulsion coated paper, exposed with sunlight and processed in water to produce monochromatic blue images.
Water Moccasin and Sportspal
Gelatin silver photogram woven with analog photograph
13.25” x 9”
$500
“Water Moccasin and Sportspal” is a gelatin silver photograph woven with a snakeskin photogram to represent the complex dynamics between father and son.
CHRISTY CHOR
Connections
Cone 6 stoneware for the glazed hands, and mixed media ( thick glass panel, wooden blocks, threads )
28” L x 8” D x 17” H
Connections
Detail View
“What does the artist do? He draws connections. He ties the invisible threads between things. He dives into history, be it the history of mankind, the geological history of the Earth or the beginning and end of the manifest cosmos.” -Anselm Kiefer. I believe art is a creation and a time capsule to connect our souls to our memories, environment and happenings. This piece is my emotional expression of individuals who face isolation, anxiety and despair. The hand is the icon and metaphor of identity and expression. Those hands represent different reactions when people struggle amid pandemics. We connect in the air through technology though we have never experienced it. We survive and move to the next era of communications and connections. How amazing the negative reality turns to be the catalyst to connect us more in different ways.
christyymchor@gmail.com
christychor.com
instagram.com/christychor.ceramics
facebook.com/christy.chor.5/
christysart.myshopify.com (online store)
CAROL CORMIER
A Road Trip to the Country
Acrylic paint on canvas
16” x 16”
$160
Madeline’s Garden
Acrylic paint on canvas
16” x 16”
$160
“A Road Trip to the Country” is how I see the landscape when I drive up Hwy. 27 to the cottage. We pass numerous fields and farms and there are always flowers by the roadside. “Madeline”s Garden” is my first intuitive painting. It seems that most of my paintings end up in florals. This one reminds me so much of my girlfriend’s mother’s garden. She loved pinks and a whole variety of flowers.
SYLVIA FALKIEWICZ
Untitled
32” x 24″
Acrylic on canvas
$165
Ranch Horse
24” x 32”
Acrylic on canvas
$145
“Nature is the source of all true knowledge. She has her own logic, her own laws, she has no effect without a cause nor invention without necessity.” -Leonardo da Vinci
SUSAN FARQUHAR
Snapper
Pastel drawing and paper relief
39″ x 30″ (99cm x 30cm) framed
$1800
Susan Farquhar has absorbed many influences as a professional printmaker working with artists; witnessing their artistic processes provided clues to her own. Early on the physical environment and the stories of its inhabitants were her focus. Canada’s Boreal Region inspired layers of texture, colour, repeated pattern, paper-cuts and coarse mark making whether in print or unique artworks. More recently Susans approach has evolved into considering the broader scale effects of the current Anthropocene age.
“Wild Tapestry” in 2017 was a series of mixed media panels imagining positive change in the face of disaster inspired by the writing of Dr. Margi Prideaux, a dedicated academic in wildlife conservation. “Where is Wild” shown in the Dignam Gallery in 2019 was an exhibit of paper works questioning what happens to animals living in such an environment so radically changed forever. “Snapper” is an example from this exhibit.
susanfarquhar5@gmail.com
susanfarquhar.com
instagram.com/sfarquhar108
ALISON GALLEY
Bag of Lemons
Oil on canvas
12” x 12”
NFS
Clementines
Oil on canvas
12” x 12”
NFS
Cherries
Oil on panel
10” x 10”
$500
Daily rituals dictate my life as the mother of an adult daughter with severe physical and cognitive disabilities. Much of my time is spent performing the routine daily tasks of caring for her and advocating to others for her many needs. My hours painting are my great escape, a time to be by myself and enter another world free of the stresses and strains of my role as caregiver. As a caregiver, my days tend to revolve around my home, so it makes sense that the sources of my imagery come from the everyday objects that surround me. Still life as subject matter provides me with opportunities to explore colour and light, and the play of both on different surfaces. Capturing the subtleties of light and how it describes form is a consistent theme in all my work. My aim is to provide viewers of my paintings with an appreciation for the beauty in the everyday domestic objects while allowing them to indulge in a momentary, contemplative escape from the busyness of their own daily rituals.
CATHARINA GOLDNAU
Ceramic Obelisk
Stoneware, glazes, copper, concrete
126cm x 18cm x 18cm
$600
Catharina Goldnau explores transitions, juxtaposing traditions and materials in sculptural work that borders functionality. Born in Germany, Canada became home at the age of 19. Following a life-long passion, she left a teaching career to study Ceramics at Sheridan College. Growing up in the rural countryside, I now work in a large urban centre, immersed in concrete. Oscillating between these poles, my work strives to connect both by making a beautiful piece of art that can be enjoyed in the lusciousness of a garden. We need nature to regenerate our soul and culture to challenge our minds. My work is inspired by objects of utility and beauty.
“The Ceramic Obelisk” is made from stacked ceramic pieces made from stoneware and glazes.
cgoldnau@gmail.com
catharinagoldnauceramics.ca
instagram.com/catharinagoldnauceramics
linkedin.com/in/catharina-goldnau
JOSIE GRECO
Cardinals
Acrylic on stretched canvas
10” x 10” x 1.5”
$400
Cardinals are beautiful birds associated with passion and unconditional love not only for the male’s red colour, but also because they predominantly mate for life. Many believe that when you spot a cardinal, you are receiving a heavenly message of love.
KATE GREENWAY
Don’t Worry, Bee Happy
Watercolour
11″ x 14″ unframed / 14” x 18″ framed
$300
So many plants rely on bees as pollinators. They are essential to our planet and a healthy ecosystem, but their population is rapidly decreasing. Providing a variety of bee-friendly plants is important. Spring lupins, with their bubble gum colours and tasty nectar, attract bees, and this bright pastel watercolour celebrates their union.
Four Seasons
Fused glass on wood
26 “x 14”
$600
This piece showcases a representative flora from each of the four seasons in a variety of warm glass techniques: for early spring, crocuses emerging from the snow; for summer, coneflowers in full bloom; for fall, maple keys and leaves turning colour; and for winter, the silhouetted stalks of Queen Anne’s Lace. The glass has been fused at a lower temperature to give the piece a three-dimensional aspect, and is fixed to a walnut stained base.
PIA ISRAELSSON
Sunflower/moonflower 2
Handmade watercolour with lightfast pigments on paper
10″ x 13″
NFS
Sunflowers from the Universe
Pencil on paper
6″ x 6″
NFS
I am a passionate gardener, and nature walker and I wonder about the connectivity of our visible natural world to the invisible one. What is the Earth made of? “Sunflower/moonflower 2” was painted with handmade watercolour paint made by Beam Paints on Manitoulin Island, with honey, tree sap, and hand-gathered, washed and sifted stone, and lightfast pigment. Each paint stone is wrapped in beeswaxed canvas. “Sunflowers from the Universe” was inspired by time spent under the stars, on a tiny island, on a big lake in northern Ontario.
TAI KIM
Metta in I and I
Acrylic on canvas
20” x 30”
$1250
Infinite Hope
Acrylics and mixed media on Jokjah (Silk scroll paper format)
18” x 21”
$350
One cold winter day, I ate a Mandarin orange and buried the seeds in a flowerpot. The unexpected little seed became a tree. Metta- The great love spoken of in Buddhism. I have everything in me and this is an instant connection to the world. We are all connected. Every day is a new day. I live in an endless hope. We have to be in one great mercy. One love! 2021
URSULA QUEENY KRUBNIK
“The Message”
Acrylic and epoxy
5’ x 4’
$5500
ADRIANA LEE
Cosmos 1
Oil pastel and crayon on paper
48” x 48”
$1500
‘Cosmos’ series shows the transformation of an abstract flower shape into starry form, as I see them as individuals. Each life form is like a pile of past, and its’ entanglement is revealed from a close view. The existence of standing as a whole, while being each others’ background, came to show the complexity and vulnerability to me, in response to this isolating era. I describe the balance and movement by painting abstract forms on the square surface, and use the canvas as a door for another world. I intend to express the flow of time by creating a form of a growing star, and use crayons before applying watercolour to make opaque marks, to show the relationship of coexisting elements. The Cosmos makes me realize how small my confusion, emotion or life of mine is.
DORION LIEBGOTT
Morning Glory
Batik on silk stitched to cotton background
40” x 41”
$1200
I went through a time frame of my work focused on batik on silk, the process using beeswax resisting various dyes and high-end dense silk. I became concerned about the use of the dyes, health-wise and have since moved my medium to acrylics. Nature, the sun, flowers and the shapes and movement in leaves and water were the inspiration for my batiks.
L’OR
Call girl
Mixed media on terraskin
26” x 20”
$1500
“It is the medium, or the specific configuration of the medium, that we call a work of art that brings a sense of being,” said Robert Motherwell. Related to this feeling, contemporary artist L’OR uses a variety of mediums to create his radiant abstract painting that draws on feelings buried deep within the mind. Like the early cubist works of Braque and Picasso, L’OR explores simultaneous perspective to achieve mesmerizing visual effects. L’OR often renders bold lines cut through the myriad shapes and lines like a jet through the atmosphere, forming the intriguing shape of a torso in the background. Thanks to L’OR’s use of mixed media techniques his artworks possess a unique genre, and enticing texture like that of an ancient excavated artifact, having both rough and smooth surfaces. An open door to mystery to reming the viewer of all that remains unexplored in his psyche.
MERIKE LUGUS
Islands
Acrylic on wood panel
36” x 36”
$4000
I am continuing to experiment with carving into layers of paint in order to add a third dimension. The process involves many surprises. Sometimes I feel like I’m jumping off a cliff and am not sure where I will land. It is often in the middle of a painting that I determine which way things will go.
SHARON MACLENNAN
View From a Window
Acrylic on canvas
24” x 24”
$400
City
Acrylic on canvas
28” x 30”
$700
“The view from my window has been the focus for many of my photos, sketches and paintings. The changing seasons, light, and mood are profound. l often find l’ve painted into a place l’ve never been. I have no map but it can be a place of discovery.”
JUDITH MASON
With Gratitude to Bill Evans
Acrylic on canvas board
70cm X 100cm
$2000
A Glimpse of Possibility
Acrylic on canvas board
70cm X 100cm
$2000
These two paintings are from a series of twelve created for CAI -> YYZ: Arrivals and Departures, an exhibition at Atelier Ludmila in Peterborough this summer.
This work addresses my thoughts, feelings and ideas about ‘home’.
Where is home? What is home? What does a person need to create a home? And most compelling for me, is home still important after family is raised, partners are loved and lost and I find myself on my own? Living in the Middle East raises many questions. I created these paintings last year while working in Cairo, an experience that continues to transform and shift my perceptions and ideas of home. Like a conspicuous black crow, I collect and consume everything I see, hear, taste, smell and feel in this land and allow this to synthesize with CBC radio, youtube reports, readings, social interactions and jazz, into a cacophony of experience. This is reimagined as painted images, not as a representation of, or an illusion to, but as vital and living connections between objects, places, animals, landforms, people, weather, memories and dreams as well as a myriad of cultural and religious practices that enrich, nurture and expand my being.
LANA MATSKIV
To Queen at Bay
Oil on canvas
48″ x 48″
$2500
JOANNE NELSON
South Side 2
Acrylic on canvas
24″ x 24″
$700
“South Side 2” is an interpretation of my view from my studio during Covid-19 lockdown. During that time I experimented and explored with a different style of work, using both cognitive and intuitive methods. This work reflects time well spent.
joannenelsonart@gmail.com
joannenelsonartist.com
instagram.com/joanne_nelson_artist
facebook.com/Joanne Torch Nelson
LEIGH NELSON
Lost in Space
Digital media
40” X 40”
$800
With a vivacious drive to perfect her illustrations with bold lines and neon shading, her shapes emulate continuity, order and flow, giving balance to her compositions.
mismatched88@gmail.com
leighnelsonart@gmail.com
instagram.com/leighnelsonart/
facebook.com/LeighNelsonArt
ELVA PALO
Navigating Solitude
Acrylic on canvas
24″ x 18″
$350
In noticing the ripple effect of change, there is a sense one can have that everyone travels their own path. They must go it alone. Working from intuitive collage in response to life-altering change, my next step was creating a painting from the collage image.
LITSA PARKER
Reflection
Acrylic on canvas
30″ x 24″
$1100
Calming Waves
Acrylic on canvas
24″ x 30″
$1100
My work is mostly landscapes and some portraits. I have taken various painting courses in the past five years and I intend to learn any time I have the chance. In August 2021, I decided to join WAAC. I am excited about it and I look forward to meeting other artists.
JANICE PICH
Autumn Birches
Acrylic on canvas
10″ x 12″
$575
Winter Silence
Oil on canvas
24” x 36”
$1275
I work primarily in oil and acrylic. I also create using oil pastel, conte pencil and charcoal. I am inspired by the world around me; it’s beauty, shadows, colour and light. Painting is a record of my experiences in life and the feelings that they evoke. My first juried show was at the age of 17 after discovering oil paint. I am self-taught. My first sale was in 2006 and I have completed commissions for repeat clients and have pieces in private collections. The Women’s Art Association of Canada has made me push myself to become more prolific and I have met many wonderful artists that inspire me to keep creating.
JANET READ
Arctic Seas
Oil on linen
26″ x 26″
$1500
In the Night
Oil on canvas
26″ x 26″
$1500
Janet Read is a painter, musician and poet, whose childhood was spent near the shores of Lake Simcoe. The artist has sought the waters’ 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.
janetread3@gmail.com
janet-read.com
instagram.com/janetreadvisualartist
linkedin.com/in/janet-read-26689b2b/
JOAN SOLOMON
Tree of Life
Acrylic and collage
10″ x 13″
$35
For the “Connections: New Members Show”, I chose to create a Tree of Life, as this evokes and celebrates diversity and inclusion. I’ve used turquoise paint for the background. I applied the paint with a brayer and found this created a mysterious background. The colour turquoise can symbolize calmness and communication. The yellow flowers are for optimism, inspiration and conversation. I hope this creative endeavour of circles and colours connects with others.
CATHARINE SOMERVILLE
The Orchard
Oil on canvas
24″ x 48″
$1500
I paint considering the natural world. I look to my experience of the shifting landscape, wild and nurtured to respond to my inner emotions and imaginings. My work is personal and I constantly consider the “shades of grey” or the contradictions between the solidity of a real and ephemeral moment. Colour is my main focus linking to the emotional idea that the feeling music might create. My experiences of living in both Canada and the United Kingdom contribute to my kaleidoscopic relationship with identity and what the effect of being in a particular place might mean to the creation of a body of work. This work was completed Plein Air in the cherry orchards of Niagara, Ontario.
catharinesomerville@outlook.com
catharinesomerville.com
instagram.com/catharinesomervillewilson_art
ANDREW CHEDDIE SOOKRAH
Epic Ice: Convergence
Acrylic on canvas
40″ x 48″
$5280
All of my work is the result of an intense interview between my existence and that of my subjects. I would hope that the result be informed more by knowledge rather than mere belief.
TRIVENI SRIKARAN
Burn
Watercolour on illustration board
40” x 30”
$2000
I have been working on this figure study since my undergraduate years, which, for whatever reason, I could not bring to completion. This work deviates from my distinctive style of work. It studies human anatomy, sexuality and vulnerability. I painted this figure on an illustration board using watercolours (a deviation from my conventional medium) and kept adding washes over the years, building the figure from the inside out. To find a balance between the erotic and the exotic, I tried to capture my sitters’ authenticity in the emotion emanating from her raw sexuality, discomfort and anxiety. As the radical Viennese nude painter Egon Schiele once commented, “Bodies have their own light which they consume to live: they burn, they are not lit from the outside.” I think my figure is now finally ready to reveal her light.
BARB SYMONS
Vessel Series: Hats off Magritte
Monoprint on paper
17″ x 17.5″
$400
This piece is from a body of monoprints and large scale charcoal/chalk pastel works entitled “The Vessel Series”, which draws on imagery reflecting, among other things, a primal squat, clay vessels and always, water – the vessel that holds us all. I have used this theme to carry my ideas through many mediums in which the narrative leads to the female gender in all of it’s roles. A more comprehensive survey of this theme will be presented here later in the year.
barbsymons@gmail.com
instagram.com/symons.barb
facebook.com/BarbSymonsArt
SALLY THURLOW
Intersection Maple Tree and Granny’s Sofa…1895 – 2021
Rosewood, damask woven cotton, Maple tree branches, steel
8’ x 3’ x 1’ plus steel base – 4’ x 1’ x 1/4”
NFS
How do our early childhood memories influence our future paths? My family visited my Granny sporadically throughout my childhood. I always loved going there, sitting in her beautifully decorated living room with its fine old carved and curvy hardwood furniture, all covered in sumptuous damask weaves. This is definitely where my love for fabrics and design started. I also admired the fabulous clothes she had made for my Mom. We eventually inherited her furnishings. I got the sofa, a couple chairs and extra fabrics. They have remained with me, all eventually needing re-upholstering! The chairs came out looking exquisitely modern! But the sofa would cost too much… I opted buying an “antique” sixties mod sofa. Granny’s went to my garden where I stripped it of all upholstering, leaving just the fine curved lines which I stained “Eggplant” and the springs had flowers growing up through them. It looked fabulous!
And then… my ninety year old maple tree came thundering down in a wild storm, just missing my house, but smashing everything else in its path! Granny’s sofa was in splinters! Everywhere a mess! When all was cleaned up, I gathered the sofa pieces stowing them away, until now. Time to renew its life, honour the very old hardwood, the craftsmanship, and my Granny, for all her creativity. So this is my Artemis, the Greek goddess, protector of wild animals, the hunt, vegetation, and of chastity and childbirth. For my Granny, an artist and avid gardener like me.
sallythurlow1@gmail.com
sallythurlow.com
redheadgallery.org
theirisgroup.ca
DULCE VANASSE
Untitled Moment 1
Charcoal and graphite on paper
18” x 22” Framed
NFS
Untitled Moment 2
Charcoal and graphite on paper
18” x 22” Framed
NFS
I seek to capture an emotional response to a moment the viewer must imagine just happened. I live in a world of introspection; sitting with an emotion and translating it into a figurative pose or gesture. I want to invoke feeling, good or bad, and trigger your imagination to create a story. I give you a moment in a medium and you fill in the blanks, create your own narrative, interpret the crises and let yourself fill up with that emotion.
WENDY WALLACE
Forest 2 Plasticity 2020
Archival print
30” x 36”
$600
I create constructions on-site connecting traditional, natural, textural, and everyday materials that are symbolic of the narrative. Currently, I am working with light, shadows, and reflections integrating materials and documenting with photography. My work responds to my interaction in local landscape, travels and short residencies throughout Canadian urban/rural/suburban environments. I am exploring the carbon footprint local to unfamiliar, they are landscapes centred on the impact of the narrative, “identifying landscapes as cultural symbols”.
The series of photographs “Submerged” is based on my family’s land and forest, installation of laminated tree photographs suspended and submerged in moving water with, light, shadows, and reflections. I am interested in the possibilities of reflecting what is now versus what was, reflecting the interconnectedness of the forest, rocks and water along the Muskoka River, flooded by hydro dams in the 1950s.
wendy.wallace@ddsb.ca
wendywallace.ca
theirisgroup.ca/wendy-wallace-images.html
KAREN ZAVITZ
Phoenix
Carving on scorched wood
12″ x 72″
$1500
Our bodies are a mystery to us. We go through our days unable to see or control the inner workings of what keeps us alive. At the same time, the study of anatomy has made us all familiar with the rudimentary shapes of what lies beneath the skin. Sized at human scale, this artwork provides the experience of mystery inherent in our miraculous bodies.
