This past weekend I participated in the first annual Mattawa Blues and Arts Festival. I truly enjoyed meeting my fellow local artists and listening to the great blues bands.

Tent Setup at the Mattawa Blues and Arts Festival 2010

This was my first opportunity to visit Mattawa and I was stunned at just how beautiful it is. The Festival was held on Explorer’s Point where the Mattawa and Ottawa river meet. Saying it was picturesque would be an understatement.

The event was very well organized and everyone was helpful and welcoming. It seems to me that this festival in its first year proved its potential and will just get better with time. I will look forward to next year!

Dual (Pushkina), 2010

I will be exhibiting this coming weekend August 6th and 7th, 2010 at the Mattawa Blues and Arts Festival on Explorers Point in Mattawa, Ontario.

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Friday August 6th, 2010

3pm – 9pm: Art Show at Explorer’s Point
Bands begin at 7:00pm

Saturday August 7th, 2010

1pm – 9pm: Art Show at Explorer’s Point
Bands begin at 6:30pm

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Entrance to the Art Show is FREE until 6:00 pm. Wristbands are required for the Blues Festival at the cost of $10.

I hope to see you there.

I am thrilled to have been awarded an Honourable Mention in Drawing at the 49th Annual Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition. You can find a complete list of all the award winners here.

Dual (Senna), 2010

This year I exhibited a series of large-scale charcoal drawings on paper. This series, entitled “Dual” playfully contemplates ideas surrounding cohabitation and seeing ourselves mirrored in another through depictions of two-headed northern creatures. These drawings were additionally motivated by my recent relocation to Northern Ontario.

Dual (Senna), 2010 - detail

Come visit me again this year at:

The 49th Annual Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition

July 9, 10, & 11, 2010

Nathan Phillips Square

I will be located at booth number 57 in the White section (the opposite side of the square from last year).

For more information visit the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition website.

To visit their site: www.washisummit.com

Whispers, 2010, graphite and gold leaf on washi

My recent drawing, Whispers, has been chosen to be included in The Japanese Paper Place’s, Drawing on Washi: the presence of the void.

Washi is the Japanese word for the traditional papers made from the long inner fibres of three plants, wa meaning Japanese and shi meaning paper. – Japanese Paper Place

The exhibition will feature 20 drawings on beautiful Washi paper and will be on exhibition from June 4th to June 30th, 2010 at the Japanese Paper Place. This exhibition takes place in connection with the Washi Summit taking place in Toronto in June.

I am so pleased to announce that my work was chosen as Best in Show in the Art of Resistance Exhibition at the Kennedy Gallery in North Bay. The Art of Resistance was a great exhibition with many strong pieces, so I am honoured to have been recognized with this award.

Below is an image of the work installed.

Installation image of Gesture at the Kennedy Gallery, North Bay

Gesture, 2006 (detail)

I am pleased to have the opportunity to exhibit my drawing Gesture, in the Art of Resistance at the WKP Kennedy Gallery in North Bay.

[The Art of Resistance] explores art as a means for activism and political resistance in the Gallery II Main Space. Thursday, March 4 to Wednesday, March 10, at the WKP Kennedy Gallery, 150 Main St. E. Co-sponsored with the Department of Fine and Performing Arts, Near North Mobile Media Lab, WKP Kennedy Gallery, the Cultural Affairs Committee at Nipissing University and the Canada Research Chair in Environmental History.

Artists featured in this juried exhibition are:

Ingrid Bajewsky, Eric Boyer, Amanda Burk, Alex Maeve Campbell, Keith Campbell, Christine Charette, Neil Klassen, Kelly O’Neill, Magalie Han Hung Pew, Tony Taylor. WKP Kennedy Gallery

Gesture is a drawing I originally produced for an exhibition in Miami in 2006, entitled Brave New World at Diaspora Vibe Gallery, contemplating the impact of 9/11 five years after the fact. As the impacts of 9/11 and the “War on Terror” have evolved, so too have the reading and interpretation of the work.

Ultimately, Gesture is about communication and how gestures carry meaning. The meaning however, in this particular communication is unclear and open-ended. In this work, I wanted to conjure the feeling of sitting across from someone who is speaking to you. I was thinking about conversations and interrogations taking place across a table where inevitable misunderstandings occur.

This work does not pass judgment, it does not condemn, it does not glorify, but it does allow for pause and reflection. In contrast to powerful and bold statements, I believe that a quieter means and approach can have the greatest impact on personal and social change.

This is my third acceptance into the John B. Aird Annual Juried Drawing Exhibition, now in its eleventh year.

Drawing 2010 is a juried show that attracts emerging and established artists from across the Province of Ontario. The jurors for this 11th juried exhibition were Todd Tremeer, artist/educator and a recipient of the Joseph Plaskett Award (2007); Robert Malinowski, artist and 1st Prize Winner, DRAWING 2009; and Gillian Reddyhoff, Curator of the Government of Ontario’s Art Collection. John B. Aird Gallery

The work that was chosen for the show is Cognisance. I am always impressed by the caliber of the work in this exhibition. If you happen to be in Toronto, it is worth a look.

Cognisance, 2009 - charcoal, acrylic and silver leaf on paper

The exhibition runs February 2 – 26, 2010

John B. Aird Gallery
900 Bay Street (Macdonald Block)
Toronto, ON
Monday to Friday
10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

I am thrilled to announce that my work is currently on show at Graphite Galleries in New Orleans. This solo  exhibition opened January 2nd, 2010.  I am showing work from my Emergence series and have included two new drawings on paper (shown above).

Graphite Galleries is located in the French Quarter on 936 Royal Street, New Orleans, Louisiana.