Charles Spratt Solo Exhibition of Paintings: Changing Seasons

Tay River Gallery is pleased to present a major solo exhibition of new paintings by Charles Spratt, accomplished Canadian landscape painter from June 1 - 15th, 2009.
Artist Reception will be held on Sunday June 7th from 2 - 4 p.m. at Tay River Gallery, premier fine art gallery in Perth at 28 Wilson St West. Call Lisa Brown at 613-264-5448 for more information about the show. Note: Tay River Gallery will be open daily during this solo exhibition.

" Charles Spratt's paint-handling virtuousity weaves its magic in these exquisite new landscapes. This new body of work portrays all the seasons of the well loved Canadian landscape with a master painter's skill, and appealing artistic interpretation in Spratt's highly recognizable style. "

Charles Spratt is one of Canada's finest landscape artists with over 25 major solo exhibitions to his credit. He has been painting seriously for over 30 years, and has taught landscape and portrait painting in numerous colleges . Spratt is past president of the Manotick art association, and the Ottawa Watercolour Society and co-founder of the original Ottawa Art Festival. He was elected to the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour in 1996 (CSPWC). His work is exhibited in notable fine art galleries across Canada and hangs in many private and corporate collections in Canada and abroad.

Accepting Artist Submissions for "Summer Sizzle" July 2009

We like it hot! Bring on the hot weather and art work with sizzle factor!
No shrinking violets here please, We are looking for drama, impact and hot times in the summer... glorious beach scenes we crave, people at play, magical colour, joy, emotion, energy, movement, nature wild and dreamy, let's pump up the volume, the fun factor, the heat and excitement of summertime. Art endures, keep the passion flowing.

Interested Artists please submit by email to lbrown@tayrivergallery.com before June 1,a biography, artist statement, and images of recent works not previously exhibited that you feel meet the above criteria.

Urban Landscapes Show: The Artists and Their Paintings

A glimpse at the current Urban Landscapes show at Tay River Gallery with photos of a few of the featured artists with their works. The show with its bountiful works in glorious colour continues until the end of May. Pictured below in the order that photos are displayed are: Paulette Marie Sauve of Vercheres, Quebec with a selection of urban paintings of old Montreal; Carla Miedema of Cloyne, ON with a few of her abstract urban paintings; Shirley Mancino of Westport with one of her abstract cityscape paintings; John Shea of Newboro with his architectural watercolours of local heritage buildings; Stuart Davison of Chaffey's Lock with his whimsical abstracted cityscapes. Two weeks left to catch the show... which also features some Montreal and Provence urban scenes by Martha Markowsky, European townscapes (France, Scotland and England) by John Alexander Day, detailed watercolours of Holland and Athens, Greece in high realism by Rosemary Randall of Kanata, Keith Burnett with oil paintings of English townscapes (Castlecomb) and architecture (Salisbury Cathedral) and a close up of a grocery shop window; mini paintings in acrylic and ink of industrial Vancouver by Roberta Smith of Vancouver BC. and watercolour and mixed media paintings by Karen Phillips Curran.

2009 Sobey Art Award Shortlist Announced

Last week on Friday May 1st, the Curatorial Panel of the 2009 Sobey Art Award announced the names of the five exceptional Canadian artists selected for the 2009 Sobey Art Award Shortlist: For the West Coast and Yukon: Luanne Martineau; the Prairies and The North: Marcel Dzama; Ontario: Shary Boyle; Québec: David Altmejd; and the Atlantic region : Graeme Patterson. To learn more about the shortlisted artists, check out the Sobey Art Award Page on the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia website .

"Faced with the benefit of a uniformly strong selection of candidates,the jury came to a unanimous consensus on this year's shortlist.Addressing both the local and the global, these artists make works that encapsulate materiality and conception, scale and complexity,
representation and irrationality. Each artist shares a depth of commitment to their creation and exploration of idiosyncratic worlds that are real, imagined, and fantastical.”
2009 Curatorial Panel

Selected work from the shortlisted artists will be exhibited by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia from September 5 to November 5 of 2009. The winner of the 2009 Sobey Art Award will be announced October 15, 2009.

Members of the Sobey Art Award Curatorial Panel include Liz Wylie, Curator, Kelowna Art Gallery; Kitty Scott, Director, Visual Arts - The Banff Centre; Ivan Jurakic, Curator, Cambridge Galleries; Louise Déry, Director, Galerie de l'UQAM; and Terry Graff, Curator & Deputy Director; Beaverbrook Art Gallery.

The Sobey Art Award, created in 2002 by the Sobey Art Foundation is an annual prize given to an artist under 40 who has exhibited in a public or commercial art gallery. A total
of $70,000 in prize money is awarded : $50,000 to the winner and $5,000 to each of the other four finalists. The Sobey Art Award and accompanying exhibition have been organized and administered by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.

I hope to make it out to see the exhibition this fall. Nova Scotia was already in our travel plans for this year, and hopefully we can tweak the timing of our trip to get to this show.

Gallery Update

A quick update on Gallery News and Upcoming Events
Tay River Gallery in Perth Spring hours are currently: Wednesday, Thursday Friday and Saturday from 10 - 5 p.m. during the month of May. Our feature show is Urban Landscapes with paintings by featured artists Keith Burnett, Karen PHillips Curran, Stuart Davison, Carla Miedema, Paulette Marie Sauve, and Roberta Smith. An urban flavor of paintings from gallery artists John Alexander Day, Martha Markowsky, Shirley Mancino, Rosemary Randell and John Shea adds to the mix. Catch the show before May 30th.

Coming June, "Changing Seasons", the "much anticipated" solo exhibition of new acrylic landscape paintings by Charles Spratt, celebrated Ottawa area artist from June 1 - June 15th.
Meet Charles Spratt at the Vernissage on Sunday June 7th between 2 and 4 p.m. at Tay River Gallery , 28 Wilson St. West in Perth. Gallery will be open daily during this solo exhibition. More detailed information to follow later this month.

Tay River Gallery Art Consultation and Sales Office , located at 136 Bridge Street in downtown Carleton Place will open on Monday May 11th. The office will be open Mondays during the day, as well as evenings by appointment between 6 and 8 p.m. (Tues - Thursday) providing free consultations for all your art and framing needs. Consultations are personalized to your specific requirements. A full range of art services will be available to customers in the Ottawa, Carleton Place , Almonte and Perth area. Call to arrange a viewing of paintings in our Carleton Place office by evening appointment, just one of our many art services. Call 613-257-7195 for more information or to schedule an appointment. We will be posting more information about the unique features of our Carleton Place office shortly. Personalized service at hours convenient to you!

John Alexander Day Featured on Regional Contact

John Alexander Day will be the very talented feature artist spotlighted on CTV Ottawa's Regional Contact Show airing this Saturday May 2nd at 6:30 p.m. Joel Haslam and Kathie Donovan produce and host this award-winning, television show that has aired for more than three decades.
This week's segment is the perfect opportunity to hear from and learn more about this extraordinary Canadian landscape painter living in Ottawa. John Alexander Day is a prolific and highly collected artist proudly represented by Tay River Gallery . View a selection of works by John Day on our website on his featured artist page

On another somewhat related note: A little birdie happened to tell me that the airing of this show happens to be on John's "Happy Birthday" day. I couldn't resist letting this out of the bag.
So please do join me everyone (who happens to see John in the next few days), in wishing him a "Happy Birthday" this Saturday! And tune in Regional Contact this Saturday at 6:30 p.m. on CTV to watch this fabulous show.
Happy B-Day John!

Painting Workshops with Shirley Mancino

Magical Watercolour - Endless Possibilities

May 21- 22, (Thursday- Friday), 2009, 9 – 4 pm

This exciting workshop will help developing artists break free and explore new directions in watercolour. You will loosen up and explore the interesting effects and textures created by combining watercolour with various mixed media, e.g. water-soluble crayons, soft or oil pastels. Discover ways to resurrect unsuccessful watercolour paintings with black ink, coloured pencil, gesso and gouache. Participants may choose their own subject matter. The workshop will include various ways to approach painting figures, landscapes and the figure in the landscape. You will be inspired to move beyond pure representation to personal expression and abstraction. Composition and design is a fundamental part of the session. Creativity, fun, and individual uniqueness will be emphasized. Shirley will demonstrate using watercolour.

Experimental Extravaganza: Fluid Acrylics

June 20 - 21, 2009, 9 – 4 pm

Learn to use fluid acrylics boldly and loosely as a vehicle for self-expression.

This exciting workshop will help developing artists break free and explore new directions in acrylics and mixed media. By pouring, dripping, splattering, texturizing and layering, you will create stunning abstractions that you can then reincarnate into gorgeous representational works. Composition and design is an integral part of the session. Relax, play, and reconnect with your joyful creative self. Shirley will demonstrate using fluid acrylics and other media. You may use watercolour if you prefer.

People-scapes/Landscapes With Panache

Aug 8- 9, 2009, 9 – 4 pm
This workshop will include the bold and free exploratory techniques, and will include on simplified approaches to painting figures and/or landscapes as well as figures in the landscape. Starting with textural and abstract underpaintings, participants will learn how to superimpose representational subjects on top while still maintaining the essential mystery. Participants have the choice to capture the illusion or build the image to further quasi-representational detail. Work in the medium of your choice.

Fluid Acrylics: Experimental Extravaganza

Sept 12-13, 2009, 9 – 4 pm
Learn to use wet and wild acrylics and/or watercolour as a vehicle for self-expression. By dripping, splattering, texturizing and incorporating other mixed media techniques, you will create stunning abstractions that you can then reincarnate into gorgeous representational works. Composition and design is an integral part of the session. Relax, play, and reconnect with your joyful creative self.

Experimental Extravaganza: Collage

Oct 17-18, 2009, 9 – 4 pm

This exciting workshop will help artists break free and explore new directions in mixed watermedia. You will loosen up and explore the interesting effects and textures created by combining watercolour or acrylic with various other media, e.g. water-soluble crayons, soft pastels, acrylics. Discover ways to resurrect your unsuccessful watermedia paintings using collage and/or black ink, coloured pencil, gesso or gouache. You will be inspired to move from nature towards abstraction. Composition and design is a fundamental part of the session. Creativity, fun, and individual uniqueness will be emphasized. Shirley will demonstrate using both watercolour and acrylics. You may use the media of your choice.

For more information on these workshops, which will be held in Westport Ontario at Shirley's lakeside studio, check out the website at www.shirleymancino.ca