March Show At Tay Gallery Kanata: City Slick

City Slick at Tay Gallery Kanata features paintings from three artists with a passion for city : vibrant urban vignettes from Martha Markowsky, abstract mixed media cityscapes with textile from Karen Goetzinger, and painterly figures in bright palette from newcomer, Claudia Urbach.


Still more winter blasts and dropping temperatures.... come in from the chill and tour the city show... some of our favourite cities portrayed through the artist's eye.

Cities with sophistication - slick & polished - reaching skyscrapers, busy streets gleaming with street lights reflected on slick pavement, charming back streets with children at play, crowds mulling, pedestrians strolling, pulsing traffic - all those things we may love and hate about city... and more. Over 20 cityscapes on display. Drop in and see the show!

Tay Gallery Kanata is a cosy, ambient and friendly gallery space at 471 Hazeldean Rd., corner of Castlefrank Rd. The gallery is open Monday through Saturday from 10 - 5 :30 p.m. Quality conservation art framing is offered on site.

Anywhere from 20 to 40 paintings are on exhibit at any one time depending on the show. Exhibitions change monthly and a significant amount of additional artwork is always available to view and purchase, although paintings may not be currently on exhibition. View digital display of other paintings available.

We offer an interest free layaway plan to purchase artwork and provide 48 hour home trial period if needed.

Martha Markowsky in the News

Martha Markowsky recently won 2nd Grand Prize for Figurative Reality at the 26th International Gala Contest of Visual Arts, given by le Cercle des Artistes Peintres et Sculpteurs du Quebec on Sunday, November 15th, 2009. The prize was awarded for her painting titled, "Performers on Stage". Pictured above is Martha with her award certificate.

Martha Markowsky is an accomplished artist well known for her impressionistic paintings of orchestral musical ensembles with tuxeoded musicians. Other popular painting subjects include her nostalgic cityscapes of children at play in old Quebec neighbourhoods. Pictured below are a few examples of orchestral paintings in oil by Martha Markowsky. See Tay River Gallery's website for paintings by Martha currently on exhibit at the gallery.

"Urban Landscapes" Art Show Opens at Tay River Gallery

"Urban Landscapes" opens Wednesday April 8th at Tay River Gallery featuring paintings that portray architectural masterpieces, historical sites, and everyday settings. These paintings capture the charm, character, and beauty of the manmade environment in locales near and far.

Paintings of buildings document powerful symbols of our time and culture and reveal as much about the artist's inner vision as they record visually a place in time and memory. Buildings portrayed reveal much about our heritage, aspirations and dreams, and tell wonderful stories about the inhabitants of these structures, both past and present. Old storefronts, dwellings and landmarks largely go unnoticed as we go about our busy lives, but our urban environment is changing daily. These urban paintings freeze a moment in time for our reflection and enjoyment. The show provides artistic interpretations using very personal imagery and techniques from feature artists Keith Burnett, Paulette Sauve, Stuart Davison, Carla Miedema, Karen Phillips Curran, and Roberta Smith. The varied selection provides intriguing viewing. The settings portrayed include compositions of ordinary, everyday places, as well as very memorable places created with a perspective that encourages the viewer's interest and sparks the imagination. See views of Perth, Carleton Place and Killaloe, old Montreal, Quebec, Vancouver, Toronto, and destinations as far as Britain,Holland, France Italy, Greece. Some of the buildings depicted are constructs of the artist's mind and exist only in the artist's imagination.

Gallery artists John Alexander Day, Martha Markowsky, Mario Beaudoin, Rosemary Randell, Shirley Mancino, Stephen Rothwell, Deborah Czernecky, Antal Serences, Ernie Labelle and John Shea add a selection of paintings on the urban theme to the mix. All in all, there is a wide variety for many tastes in styles and subject matter during this two month show.

The public is invited to meet the artists at the opening reception on Saturday April 11 between 2 and 4 p.m. The "Urban Landscapes" show will run from April 8 until May 30^th.

Tay River Gallery is a fine art gallery located in Perth at 28 Wilson St. The gallery represents many accomplished Canadian artists from Eastern Ontario and Quebec with over 200 works on exhibit. The Gallery is open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 10a.m.-5 p.m. For more information contact Lisa Brown at (613) 264-5448 or visit the website at www.tayrivergallery.com

Winter Painting: Martha Markowsky comments

Snow and winter, my favourite season and reason for painting. In winter the leaves
have left the trees thus exposing the hidden treasures which cannot be seen during summer. Houses with balconies, laundry outdoors, staircases. Also, the "whites" of winter add high contrasts that cannot usually see in summer. Although most people relate to snow as white, as an artist I see a complete rainbow of colours in the snow.....gentle yellows, soft peach, lovely mauves and blues and then there are the shadows leading the eye throughout a painting, patterns dancing over the mounds of
snow.

Painting outdoors does present the challenge, working quickly before the fingers freeze, capturing nature without getting too complicated....a spontaneous happening, not much time for playing in the paint. This will happen later in the studio.

And the studio. Winter keeps me indoors painting when I am not doing plein air. The song "lazy days of summer" ..... and that's what it is and I will find any and every excuse to go outside, but winter keeps me at the easel, finishing paintings started outdoors. There is the rush to capture as much as possible before the snow melts and the whites turn to browns.

Martha Markowsky,
January 2009
Bottom right photo - Martha sketching on her paper placemat while dining in a restaurant. Photo at left is new winter painting, "Down the Lane."



Martha Markowsky is an accomplished artist well known for her impressionistic paintings of orchestral musical ensembles with brightly coloured depictions of tuxeoded musicians. Other painting subjects include her vibrant nostalgic cityscapes of children at play in old Quebec neighbourhoods, and introspective bar room scenes. She teaches classes in oils and acrylics and conducts workshops in the Charlevoix region. Martha Markowsky recently received the Award of Excellence in the Arts for 2008 from the City of Lachine in recognition of her achievements in art. Martha Markowsky is a highly respected and highly collected Canadian artist and elected member of the Society of Canadian artists (SCA), with works in many prominent private and corporate collections across Canada.

Martha Markowsky receives Award of Excellence in the Arts from City of Lachine, Quebec

Martha Markowsky was selected by the City of Lachine for the award of excellence in the arts for 2008. This honour was bestowed on Martha before an audience of over 300 people at the Centre St. Anne in Lachine on Sunday November 23, 2008. This award was in recognition of Martha Markowsky's achievements in art as well as within the arts community of Lachine and across Canada.
Pictured in the photo above is Mayor Claude Dauphin, with Martha accepting the award "Le fil de l'excellence 2008", and on the right, Councillor Jean-Francois Cloutier.

The city of Lachine has selected for their Christmas cards this year, the image from her original painting "Backyard Nostalgic Hockey" currently on display and available for sale during December at Tay River Gallery in Perth.



Martha Markowsky, accomplished and highly respected Canadian artist is an elected member of the Society of Canadian artists, with works in many prominent personal, corporate and government collections across Canada.

Martha Markowsky is represented by Tay River Gallery in Perth and featured in the current festive holiday show at Tay River Gallery. Paintings by Markowsky on a festive theme with many small works perfect for gift giving are on exhibit ( musicians, bar scenes, children at play, Montreal backyard scenes) See Martha's featured artist page on the gallery website for currently available paintings.

Plein Air Painting in France with Martha Markowsky

Martha Markowsky and Elaine Archambault left for France not knowing what to expect or where the village Limoux, where they would be spending two weeks was even located. All they knew was they would spend four days on their own in Paris, sightseeing and sketching and then fly on to Toulouse to then travel on to the village of Limoux. They arrived at their lodging well pleased - Le Monastere, owned and operated by Chris and Fabienne, was a wonderful setting, pleasant and very homey.




Martha recounts "This was our routine, breakfast at about 7:30 a.m., then off in the van to visit a small town some where the sun was shining and we would hear the story of the areas we passed and where we would be painting. In addition, it was not just to drop us off somewhere in some medieval town, but there would be a walk about, explained good locations to paint, where the washrooms were, if they were one holers, bring your own paper or modern. Also, where we could leave our equipment as we would walk later, where the cafes were, as well as if we would like to shop. All in all, it was very thorough.....we never felt lost or deserted and there was always plenty to paint or sketch.
Here are some photos of Limoux and various other little villages which we visited and painted."
"Above is a picture of Elaine and myself painting on the terrace which is enclosed and filled with various plants and flowers, from an olive tree, to jasmine, to lime tree, plus plus. As you can see from the warm colours, it was one of those days where the temperature was about 35 C but who was complaining?This was paradise. And after a hot day at the easel, our hosts set up the supper table on that same terrace where we feasted on wines from the region, fresh vegetables along with various meats and not to mention the desserts.



At RENNE AU CHATEAU. Getting ready to paint in the heat of the day, but first we must have some libation to cool off. In another photo, sketching again by the vineyards, under the shade of a tree. BUGARASH suppers always consisted of wine tasting to refresh the palate as well as the "windy" road to get there, just one sample photo of how we travelled to get there. It was carved out of rock. ROQUETAILLADE with its vineyards, rolling hills and village. No easy feat plein air painting when we have this landscape in front of us. Again we are under a tree shaded from the temperature which would be about 36 Celsius.
LAGRASSE, an old village dating back with its narrow streets and houses of stone. Finding some shade against one of the town's buildings we find Elaine sketching and beside her is one of my watercolour sketches of that street. While Elaine worked, I looked for new subjects to sketch and this was very easy to do, as every turn had another painting waiting to be done. Having enough time was the problem." Martha recounts.





A most enjoyable trip for the artists and from the looks of things, a very productive one as well with plenty of paintings.

Martha Markowsky, distinguished Canadian artist and elected member of the Society of Canadian Artists , is well known for her Montreal streetscapes, and paintings of orchestral ensembles. Martha has had more than 20 solo exhibitions, is recipient of numerous awards and commissions from both public institutions and private collectors. Her work can be viewed at many galleries across Canada and her works are in collections in Canada, US and Europe.. See works by Martha Markowsky at Tay River Gallery in Perth or on the website at www.tayrivergallery.com