Art Builds – June 23 – July 25

Elizabeth Greisman

• ‘Avast Ye-‘
• 36 x 36 inches
• oil on canvas
• $2,000

I work in an organic manner, starting from perceptual sketches of nature to tap into the transcendent beauty of the landscape. I paint in minutiae and in vast expanse, notating nature in reference to climactic change. Artworks reach for the concept of “thin places”, a term meaning a space on earth where the distance between the world as we know it and the supernatural world are poised to merge. Working rapidly and directly from nature to capture the fleeting light and weather, small sketches are done using water-based oils on canvas. These sketches become the foundation for large works on unstretched canvas and mylar that are completed in the studio. No power tools or toxic materials or solvents.

Gerda R. Wekerle

• ‘Suspended Crane’
• 12 x 16 inches
• acrylic (framed)

Currently, Toronto has the most construction cranes of any North American city. With so much exposure, they become invisible. When growth and development are rampant, artists reinterpret the frenzy of new construction and its impacts.

Gerda R. Wekerle

• ‘Cranescape in Red’
• 12 x 16 inches
• acrylic (framed)

My series on construction cranes highlights the technologies of urban development through contrast, colour, form and simplification. It challenges viewers to ask critical questions about urban change and growth.

Blair White

• ‘Set the Scene’
• 30 x 24 inches
• oil on canvas

This piece was based on theatre sets that I was looking at. Although I’m not entirely happy with the final result, I guess it could be considered a take on urban planning or development or a suggestion of what building facades might look like.

Natalia Tcherniak

• ‘Red Tape’
•  Mixed media on cyanotype
•  24”x19” (28.5”x20.5” framed)
•  2021
•  $250

We are not alone; we are not in a vacuum. We exist in a network of relationships, visible and invisible, conscious and unconscious. We connect directly and indirectly to other people, things, concepts, events, places, and everything around us. Overarching theme in my work is a search for orientation with these connections. I am interested in conceptual, site-specific and alternative ways of depicting history, perception, and communication that would enable multiple readings of the work. Tracing, erasing, and redrawing connections between places and people is a way of searching for new emergent patterns that have been created out of complexity of interactions.

I seek inspiration in the built environment, abandoned, and incidental spaces, systems of orientation, and an ongoing process of self-discovery. I map new paths of intersection between architecture and psyche as I explore my own psychological construction assembly and the dystopian environment I call home.

Brenda Bornstein

• ‘Rhythm of the North’
• 30 X 30  X 1.75
• Mixed Media & Collage on canvas 

Shape, colour, texture and line are design elements that are embedded in me. These elements define how I see and feel and are the cornerstone of how I interpret and paint. My primary objective is to express my feelings and impressions of the beauty around me.

Brenda Bornstein

• ‘Let’s Make Connections’
• 36 X 36  X 1.75
• Mixed Media & Collage on canvas 

My new body of work is based upon finding connections in the every day rhythms of life using collage of hand-made papers that have been painted, splashed and drawn upon and a series of lines that have rhythmically been incised into the substrate and later painted, scratched or drawn upon with mixed media.

Sandra Franke

• ‘Dedicated to The 215’
• 20 x 20
• Mixed Media

How I love the elusive spaces of Gallery 1313, off the beaten path, through a gated courtyard, to gallery walls of many sizes and high ceilings. This is the challenge for the architect: to capture these elusive qualities once again and to avoid bland homogenous gentrification. A storefront it is not.

Ian McLean

• ‘Out Of Body’
• 48” x 48”
• oil on canvas
• $4,900

I like to present otherworldly depictions of imagined residential environments in my paintings.  Implied narratives in the settings are intended to suggest notions of control, order, and disruption in utopian pursuits. 

• Instagram: @ian_mclean_
• website: www.ianmclean.ca

Ian McLean

• ‘Implication’
• 16″ x 20″
• oil on canvas
• $1,300

I like to present otherworldly depictions of imagined residential environments in my paintings.  Implied narratives in the settings are intended to suggest notions of control, order, and disruption in utopian pursuits. 

• Instagram: @ian_mclean_
• website: www.ianmclean.ca

Jamie McCallan

• ‘IMG_E0805’
• 16 x 9 in
• digital photograph
• 2021

 As a designer, I’m fascinated by environments that frame physical space and human experience. I use the camera as medium to explore unfolding relationships between places, people, and ideas. My process is guided by a background in art, architecture, research, and design thinking.

“Urban Minimalism” is a series of digital photos I’ve been making while displaced by the COVID pandemic. After living across Canada for the last twenty years, I’m back in my hometown of Montréal and am finding its feel and fabric noticeably different.

Jamie McCallan

• ‘IMG_0530’
• 16 x 9 in
• digital photograph
• 2021

While the city is rooted in development and transition, there’s a new presence driving change that seems increasingly disconnected and uncertain – amplified by the commodification of housing, growing social concerns, the rise of crypto-currencies, surveillance, and so on. When it comes to urban planning and policy I find myself at a crossroads asking: what is its purpose, who does it serve, and where are we going?

Scott Anderson

• ‘Building Up’
• 11 x 17 in
• digital print
• 2021

As Toronto continues to build new condos the lack of social housing becomes even more evident. Even affordable housing has a hard time to gain visibility.

Scott Anderson

• ‘Parkdale Social’
• 11 x 17 in
• digital print
• 2021

In Parkdale people made a statement re the old LCBO lot purchased  by the City from the Province just for the purpose to build social housing. The 11,ooo ft lot sits empty after 4 years. Hopefully soon it will be turn into much needed social housing.