Sunday, April 27, 2008

Erika Olson

Now Showing at the
Sandra Whitton Gallery
253 Ontario Street, Kingston, Ontario
613-531-0968


Come and meet this award winning artist at the gallery located above Serendipity on Ontario Street, May 11, 2008 from 2 - 5 pm. The show runs from April 30 - May 18, 2008.

Erika Olson is a professional Kingston artist. She received her BFA from Concordia University in 1997, and has had solo exhibitions here at home, as well as in Toronto and Montreal. In the years since her graduation, Erika has also participated in many group shows.

As you can see in the following two photos, Erika's works combine landscape and still life in intriguing ways, often bridging the two by means of a window.

In Easter Lily we view the distant hills, but are brought back to the present by the lily plant inside the window.

This could represent the connection between the future and the present, the open lilies also keeping us firmly in the moment.













Another look through a window presents a view of the Saint Lawrence river. The striking birds of paradise again seem to want us to stay in the moment, in the warmth of the home, and to enjoy the beauty of her surroundings, both inside and out.
These two paintings show Erika's unique combination of landscape and still life with the window connecting the two.

Relationship with the subject has become increasingly important to Erika. She has found herself painting favourite objects and areas around her studio repeatedly.

"In effect I am painting my life and the things I love."

The following paintings will show that working from life is a key to her experience as a painter, although she does change and abstract certain elements of what she sees.
















Erika usually makes drawings or small scale paintings while travelling out in the field, but also works en plein air at home.

Come down to the gallery between now and May 18, 2008, and enjoy these warm and inviting paintings.

Friday, April 4, 2008

Artistic Assemblage

CAROL LEE RILEY at the Sandra Whitton Gallery 
253 Ontario Street, Kingston, Ontario  (613) 531-0968



Meet the Artist ~ April 12, 2008 from 5 - 8pm
























Carol Lee is an accomplished artist whose
works delight the senses.


Each work when studied closely reveals a marvelous
sense of humor and delight in the world.


























Carol Lee is a multi media artist living off the beaten
path in the woods near Westport, Ontario. Her muse
hangs around the used and broken goods of local garage
sales and dumps. These are the fertile playgrounds
of her imagination. Looking beyond their colours,
shapes, textures and symbolic messages, expanding
the possibilities. Everyday objects get transformed
into new animation in her assemblages, constructions
and collages. Carol Lee allows herself the freedom of
continuously experimenting with traditional and
non-traditional techniques, setting new challenges
and keeping each work of art innovative and exciting.