The Portrait Art Exhibit – Jan. 5 – 30

Heidi Schaefer

• JAM
• 8”x8”
• digital print

When the pandemic arrived in early 2020, like many artists, it was hard to continue with my pre-Coronavirus work.  And like many artists, my process took a shift.  These portraits are a part of a series that grew out of this change. They represent my desire to document the precious encounters with the world outside over the duration of numerous lockdowns.

Heidi Schaefer

• KE
• 8”x8”
• digital print

Portraiture has a long tradition and is reinvented and updated to each era.  These images, taken from online meetings with friends and colleagues, represent not only my relationships to the subjects, but are also a reflection of the nature of my encounters at different times over this pandemic.

The images are created on an iPad and printed digitally on photo paper 8”x8”.

• https://www.heidischaefer.net/

Ardea Thurston-Shaine

• “Marci“
• 22x16cm
• oil on wood panel

The spaces that my subjects inhabit are abstracted to portray how their minds are organized. In my art, I play with inverting outside environments, placing them both inside and outside the boundaries of bodies. Identity is formed from the individual’s agency in arranging and absorbing their environment. I visualize double surroundings. My mind extends to surround the other. My body surrounds everything I see, with its boundaries at the corners of my eyes. Images of what I see are stored and remixed inside me. My art shows bodies encircling outside spaces. But the world also surrounds bodies. I know that bodies are small.

Ardea Thurston-Shaine

• “Oliver“
• 16x20cm
• oil on wood panel

Whenever people are gone, bits of them linger in my mind. I have collected the pieces that seem most important and added them to the portraits. Marci is my mother who died several years ago after a long mental illness. The pieces of her that I chose to use include dirt, growing things, and a strong muscular body. I recreated her compassionate smile for the self-indulgence of wanting her love again. Doris is my grandmother. She was a weaver and loved the color blue. She highlighted the beauty of small things through poetry, gardening, and collecting elegant objects. For the portrait of Oliver, my husband, I combined his love of abstract webs of ideas with colors that show his passion for figuring out how the world is put together.

Tania Hillion

• “Grace”
• 6×8 inches
• oil on mounted wood panel

«At the source of my work, there is a fascination with faces and their capacity to convey emotion. I use oil painting to explore themes that dwell within me, with at the heart of the reflection, storytelling, human. My models offer me a story, they choose to reveal or conceal some parts of it. From the painter to the spectator, it is up to everyone to make it their own interpretation. There is a versatility in this medium that allows to play on its translucency or, conversely, to bring consistency. The superimpositions of layers of paint are reminiscent of nuances found in the transparency of the skin but above all, they echo the different stratums of experiences that shape the human being.

Tania Hillion

• “Sophie”
• 6×8 inches
• oil on mounted wood panel

The texture takes an integral part in the narration, a dialogue takes place that I approach in co-creation with the material. In my paintings, concrete images of the memory expressed in detail with a gaze or a hand, are juxtaposed to the more abstract notion of the ephemeral represented by unfinished lines or more organic shapes. This results in a collage impression which seems to emerge from the medium and crystallize the imprint of memory. This notion of temporality is underlyingly embedded in my practice. I evoke the paradox between the stealth of a memory and the indelible place it occupies in memory. I aspire to materialize the representation of a moment, aware that it can only be a arbitrary adaptation. I suggest the intangible and the trace of memories.»

• www.taniahillion.com

Jaromir Jerabek

• “Proverb 2”

These are my loose interpretation of 12 proverbs of Peter Bruegel the elder. (All of the 12 portraits/proverbs could be seen on my website jj senex.com.) 

• https://jj-senex.com/

Jaromir Jerabek

• “Proverb 4”

I am self-taught “artist,” and when it comes to education only have an absolutely useless degree in philosophy.  

• https://jj-senex.com/

Chris Siems

• “Macron Water”
• 2019
• 20″ x 24″
• Acrylic on Canvas

These three can also be considered a tryptic called Climate Change – representing the erosion of global considerations in light of nationalistic tendencies and its ultimate impact to our both our physical and humanistic climate.

Chris Siems

• “Trudeau Land”
• 2019
• 20″ x 24″
• Acrylic on Canvas

I have had the opportunity to paint under the guidance of Catherine Shea for the last three years. While I have been painting since 2018, I have a long history with art and design having previously taken foundational studies through OCAD, as well as focused woodworking through Passion for Wood. I have worked with multiple media including wire, resin, wood, plaster and most recently acrylic on canvas. Principally, I paint in abstract where colour is primary feature. Although I do occasionally paint figuratively, many viewers identify figures, and in particular faces, in my abstract work which have emerged purely at a subconscious level. Regardless of figurative or abstract, my paintings are expressions of my emotions.

Chris Siems

• “Merkel Air”
• 2019
• 20″ x 24″
• Acrylic on Canvas

I am a Toronto based artist working with acrylic on canvas. I am moved by colour and it has a tremendous impact on my sense of wellbeing.

• Website: www.chrissiems.com
• Instagram: @chris.siems

Pam Patterson

• “Donna”
• Framed size: 32 “ high x 24” wide
• Print (photo-xeroxed, collage)

Feminism, as embodied ideology, is deeply embedded in my teaching, curating, and making. My practice has been developed and enriched over time and is hence time-dependent. I speak of my work as performative or time-based for time is ever-present, built into the making and/or the presentation of the work. In a series of print works, which uses colour xeroxing, intentional colour shifts, and collage, I record the faces of the four founding women of the Bay Area Artists for Women’s Art. Not only was I interested in capturing the complexity and depth of each woman’s personality in portraiture but also how they as individuals continue to grow and change over time.”Donna” is a portrait of one of these women.

Rick Palidwor

• “Mister Two-Face”
• acrylic on canvas
• 19.5 x 15.5 inches

I was drawn to painting by a deep revulsion to hyper-realism, especially in wildlife (e.g. Bateman). I feel that wildlife should be more wild, chaotic, irreverent and mysterious. While my subject matter may be expanding my overall outlook remains the same.

Rick Palidwor

• “Grandpa”
• acrylic on canvas
• 20 x 16 inches

Samuel Hayes

• “Fingers In Mouth”
• 7×5 inches
• Oil on Canvas

For this show I would like to submit a few portrait paintings. They explore what a painting requires for to be a portrait. This is a philosophical undertaking.These are fictional portraits. Made-up Characters, not representations of real people. Are they still portraits then? Maybe. The human eye is drawn to familiar faces and the features. All representations of portraits and characters meet certain requirements to be recognizable as human faces, but what exactly sets one face apart from another? There are many ways to depict the face within a portrait. One can place the features directly in the centre of the frame, or off to the side. One can even depict several faces within a work. A portrait ceases to be a portrait once the narrative or environment takes precedence. However so, a character is attached to their narrative. Painting is a series of symbols. A character is created by their narrative.

Samuel Hayes

• “Fingers In Mouth”
• 7×5 inches
• Oil on Canvas

A character depicted in a painting is created by their story. A narrative portrait requires a recognizable face. What sets that portrait apart from another portrait is the story being told within that painting. Emotions from the viewer watching the narrative unfold on the canvas are created through scenario. A formal portrait differs from an emotive portrait. Should the artist depict an austere character or a colourful one? Ultimately a character differs from a real life person in that they are a figment of the collective imagination. An honest depiction creates familiarity and elevates the work from the strange to the familiar.

• @ambient_notions
• https://www.ambientnotions.com

Courtney Fairweather

• “TORONTO FRIENDS”
• 16X20
• $200 

Whether in Asia, South America or at home, Courtney Fairweather delights in capturing the faces of children as they smile for her camera. Having travelled extensively, she has a vast collection of images taken in various corners of the world. These coexist with her more conceptual work, which she has shown a member of Gallery 44. 

She earned a BFA from York University in 2017. 

Courtney Fairweather

• “SMILING MAIKO”
• 16X20
• $200 

Emma Ducharme

• “Misery Bay”

My work seeks inspiration in the brighter, happier moments of life, with inspiration often presenting itself in the form of escape; from the city, from the noise, from the ever-pressing demand for quantifiable success. The work comes primarily from exploring intuition and the dreamscape as a means to step away from these “realities” of the modern world. To further stray from these money and power-hungry ideas and lifestyles, I source the vast majority of my working materials on an urban-foraging system; seeking first to find pre-owned or discarded materials (from secondhand ceramics to discarded plywood sheets) in place of immediately buying new.

Emma Ducharme

• “Hibiscus (Working Title)”

This interest in repurposed materiality over imagery is what has led over time to the multidisciplinary expansion of my artistic practice; the fluctuating availability of materials pushing the direction of the work to be more focused on a cohesive visual outcome influenced by intuitive decision making — much like the reality of life itself which my work invites us to contemplate. Looking to geometric abstraction and modernist design for inspiration, often interested in the work of Les Plasticiens, I generate a visual language rooted in the spiritual, feminist landscape. Focusing on emotional undertone and highlighting the intuitively spiritual experience of art making, my work reflects on what it means to make imperfect things in an era where obsessive perfectionism is the consumer standard.

Cheryl Daniells

• “Focus”
• Ink and Acrylic on Wood Panel
• 12 x 6 x 1.5 in
• Price C$40.00

I am inspired by natural beauty. I portray people and landscapes in paintings, drawings, and mixed media pieces. I find it challenging to capture the human form and often practice portraiture in graphite and acrylic. My work often has emotional, social, or political references in it. ‘It’s the fire inside you, let it burn’, and ‘Focus’ are emotional and uplifting. My current work is exploring expression in portraiture in an often abstract way. I enjoy working with palette knives, I love the texture and expression they can create.

Cheryl Daniells

• “It’s fire inside you, let it burn”
• Acrylic on Canvas
• 20.5 x 15 in
• Price C$300.00

Currently, I am most inspired by Käthe Kollwitz and Victor Wang. I find their subject matter and techniques for portraying figures freeing, and beautiful. I am looking to get involved more in the community in street art or public spaces. I am currently painting and drawing on large wood panels. I would like the opportunity to increase the scale of my work, learn new techniques for outdoor work, and be involved in community public art projects.