media  releases


For immediate release


 HEART TO HEART             to bid online, click HERE

AUCTION OF ART

 

 

Silent Auction with portion of proceeds to benefit the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario.

Opening reception and preview: Sunday, February 7, 2~4PM


Participate in this exciting opportunity to bid on valuable art for the month of February!

Jordan Art Gallery artists and owners Janny Fraser, Joyce Honsberger, George Langbroek, Mori McCrae, Michelle Teitsma, Jan Yates, Sandy Middleton and Robyn Kennedy have created works from their hearts and artistic souls for this worthy event. The aptly titled show and silent auction: ‘Heart to Heart', pays homage to love and generosity of spirit represented by Valentines Day.

A portion of sales from the artful auction will be going to the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario is a non profit charitable organization that has been tirelessly fighting to eliminate heart disease and stroke to improve the quality of life for thousands of Canadians. There is an estimated 70,000 heart attacks each year in Canada. That's one heart attack every seven minutes. About 40,000 Canadians experience cardiac arrest every year. That's one cardiac arrest every twelve minutes. Over 17,000 Canadians die each year as the result of a heart attack. Most of these deaths occur out of hospital.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario encourages Canadians to make heart-healthy choices. Just as important, they campaign government as well as the public and private sector to develop policies and programs to support healthy communities and reduce inequalities that negatively affect the health and well being of Canadians. A labour of love, indeed.

The opening for this event will take place Sunday, February 7, from 2~4PM and everyone is welcome.
For the month of February, visitors to the Jordan Art Gallery are welcome to bid on any of the works available for auction. The value of the artwork will be listed and all of the artists have agreed to reduce the price of their work to encourage sales. Patrons will be able to bid and counter bid for the duration of the show. Each bidder will be assigned a number, to be used upon bidding. If another wishes to bid on the same artwork, the bid will then go up, which adds to the excitement of the show! At the end of the month, all bidders will be contacted to get a 'last chance' to place their bid. Closing bids will be called at 5 PM Sunday, Feb 28.

The winners will go home with a great deal on a valuable painting, mixed media work, photograph or jewelry made with love by a local Niagara artist.They will also know that they have contributed to the betterment of the lives of those who's hearts are in need by contributing to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario
 

To bid online, click HERE
 

 

 

 

 

 

SANDY MIDDLETON

 ‘On beauty'

 JANUARY 2~30

PHOTOGRAPHS ON ALUMINUM

 
LAUNCH OPENING WITH THE ARTIST:

SATURDAY
JANUARY 16

2~4PM

EVERYONE IS WELCOME!



ABOUT

Sandy Middleton has worked as a photographer in many diverse forms for over twenty years. After graduating from Ryerson Polytechnic University with a BAA in still photography in 1991 she lived in Toronto for 17 years, working  as both a commercial and fine art photographer. Not quite finding her true niche, Sandy left the field to pursue other artistic endeavors such as interior design and mixed media.

While living in Niagara for the past eight years Middleton has finally found the inspiration and balance she was searching for. She works in both designer craft by making her photography as functional pieces, as well as fine art by creating several ongoing image based series.

In 2009 Sandy had her first public art work purchased by the City of St. Catharines. Currently, she is working on a ‘Transformation Series' which involves documenting the optimistic revival of the city of St. Catharines.

Sandy Middletoin has recently accepted an invitation to join the Jordan Art Gallery owners and they welcome her in January, 2010, as a new partner.




STATEMENT


On beauty
 
 
The images in this series are a juxtaposition of the beauty of the natural world and the beauty in the industrial elements we live amongst every day. The natural landscape for many of us is no longer in our own backyards- we must travel to get beyond the city limits to find it. 

In that respect one must learn to adapt to the beauty in the not so natural landscape. I have found this awesome quality seldom recognized in towering bridges, billboard stands and ferry ports mixed with the true elegance of trees, rolling hills and birds in flight.

These images can be seen as metaphors of the dilemma of unconscious beauty in our modern existence.

I have printed this series in black and white on aluminum panels giving a dimensional experience to the work.
 

Sandy Middleton

BAA

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Sunday, December 6

Holiday Opening 2009

Come celebrate the holidays this Sunday, December 6, at the Jordan Art Gallery! Bring your friends and family and join us for a festive opening exhibition.

A selection of small works by Niagara artist members of the Parkway Artist Guild and St. Catharines Art Association are featured and the artists themselves will be joining us between 2 & 4PM.

Selected works are by: Linda Crabtree, Jody Edwards, Rose Finnigan, Margaret Feaver, Lianne Fishee, Gloria Kingma, J.Lalonde, Helen Michlik, Jared Robinson, Rolf Stecher & Beverly Sneath.

We are also excited to feature a LIVE MUSIC PERFORMANCE BY LINDSEY MILLS!

Lindsey Mills was born and raised in the U.S and later moved to Canada. Mills' exposure to a wide variety of music has earned her a reputation of being an eclectic musician and songwriter. She has studied since the age of four and holds many degrees in music. Lindsey writes, records teaches, and directs music in the beautiful region of Niagara, Ontario. She has released several CD recordings featuring original compositions and is currently working on her new CD "JOURNEY." Performing extensively throughout Canada and the United States, Lindsey Mills continues to share her journeys and stories through music.

Our guest artists have also brought in new blown glass sculptures, solar lights, kaleidoscopes and paperweights; turned wood pieces include hand carved wine glass stems and stoppers, holiday ornaments and vessels made of burl and lilac root; new raku, jewelry and scarves as well as ‘paintings in steel' by Floyd Elzinga. Introducing book series by Eva Tihanyi and CDs by St. Catharines musicians 'Barnhouse Static'.
We welcome guests to tour and view the extraordinary work that has been created this season.

The Jordan Art Gallery would like to thank our devoted, local patrons who maintain their support for our Niagara Artists as well as clients from far and abroad who continuously revisit the gallery to experience the growth of our amazing artists and their work.

*Don't miss this special event - we look forward to seeing you at JAG!

Happy Holidays!

JORDAN ART GALLERY

Lillian Aylesworth, Janny Fraser, Joyce Honsberger, George Langbroek, Mori McCrae, Michelle Teitsma, Jan Yates

 

 

 

 

 

  ‘Citified'

urban pastels

 by

Gordon Leverton, SCA

November 2-30

Launch reception
 with the Artist:

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8

  2-4 PM

EVERYONE WELCOME



Gordon Leverton  SCA

artist statement

I see beauty in our aging urban strata. In Hamilton, Ontario, where I reside, the effects of nature over time have eroded the buildings and infrastructure, transforming them greatly. I look too at the banal and mundane - tract housing, parking lots, apartment blocks - and find challenge in exploring the traditional and narrow view of what is beautiful.

Geometry features prominently in my work; I endeavor to keep the composition orderly, relying on layered areas of complex colour to complement the simple lines. Although people rarely appear in my paintings, I'm always conscious of the impact that these places have over the individual. I let the buildings take centre stage and allow the "presence" of man to be felt via the architecture. These buildings, hence, are personified and in effect the paintings become "building portraits".

I use dry media (pastels, pencils, charcoal, conte), then create a 'wash' by brushing over the paper surface with solvent or distilled water. My colour palette is vivid and earthy like the subjects I paint - using very few colours to achieve the results I am after.  Influences are drawn from colourists like Henri Matisse and Richard Diebenkorn who, aside from their genius for composition, shape and colour, both straddled the line between realism and abstract.

Lately I have been particularly drawn to alleyways, both in the Hamilton core and parts of Toronto. The solitude I find here enables me to more closely dissect these scenes into forms, striving to capture the stillness of the alleys in an uneasy, voyeuristic sense. 

Gordon Leverton  SCA

Bio

When not outside looking for inspiration in back alleys, factory grounds and industrial spaces, Gordon Leverton finds time to pursue his art career and enjoy family life. A self-taught artist, Gordon's previous incarnations - as picture framer, writer, retailer and entrepreneur - have helped form his art direction; that of urban decay and architectural design. Born in Chatham, Ontario, his formative years spent in the rural southwest farm belt gives him a unique perspective on the body of this work.

Gordon is a member of several guilds and artist groups including: Burlington Art Centre, Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton Artists Inc., Sunrise Gallery (Hamilton), and is an elected member of The Society of Canadian Artists. His artwork has shown in the Art Gallery of Hamilton, Todmorden Mills Museum in Toronto, Montreal's Ogilvy Hall and the Tom Thomson Memorial Gallery. Many various private and corporate collections are home to his work, including the City of Toronto fine art collection in St. Lawrence Market.

The year 2008 has been a successful one for Gordon, having taken first place awards in the Junction Juried Art Exhibition and the Riverdale Art Walk in Toronto. He makes his home in Hamilton, Ontario with his wife Nancy and two children.




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 Present In Three Places

 

Andrew Cheddie Sookrah  

 

Landscape Paintings in Oil from the Arctic, Nova Scotia and Georgian Bay, Ontario

October 1~ 30

 

Andrew Cheddie Sookrah strives to find a connection with the common spirit present in all places. It is the essence he believes to be the connection between him, that place and everyone and thing having been present and having an effect on the existence of that place.
This search for connection is expressed through his exploration of the different styles presented here. He works from sketches or his own photographs taken on painting visits to these locations.
The Arctic paintings are part of a body of work created as a result of a painting expedition to that region in 2006. Other work featured in the show is from various trips to Georgian Bay and Nova Scotia.

Andrew Cheddie Sookrah is an elected member of the Society of Canadian Artists, the Ontario Society of Artists and the Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario.

Launch Reception:

Saturday, October 10

2~4PM

everyone is welcome

Andrew Cheddie Sookrah was born in 1956 in Guyana, South America and attended Queen's College where he won the school Art Prize in 1971. At age 16 he took employment as a designer/illustrator/art director at Ace Advertisers in Georgetown until he immigrated to Canada in 1974. Here he attended The Ontario College of Art, George Brown College and Ryerson University in their part-time continuing education programs.

An active member of the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto, Andrew Cheddie Sookrah has served several terms on their Art Committee. He is currently the convenor of the Sunday Figurative Painting Sessions at the Club, and Chair of Exhibitions for the Society Of Canadian Artists.

Andrew Cheddie Sookrah has displayed his work at the Outdoor Art Show at City Hall, Distillery District Art Shows, and group shows with the Arts And Letters Club of Toronto. In 2004 he staged his first solo show of figurative work at the Club - Interviews From The Third Floor - Various Positions. His work has been included in three juried shows put on by the SCA, the 38th Annual in Montreal, the Spring Show at the Art Gallery of Northumberland in Coburg and the 41st Open Juried Show in Toronto in 2009. In 2005, his second solo show, Parallel States Of Being, was staged at The Lodge on Amherst Island. In 2006 Andrew participated in the Annual Queen West Art Crawl at the Gladstone Hotel as well as Arctic Quest 06 group shows at the Win Henstock Gallery, the Georgina Art Gallery, the Gallery on the Grand in Waterloo Ontario, and the Linkway Gallery at the TD Centre in Toronto. 2006 also included two solo exhibitions, the Lawless Gallery in Grafton and the Engine Room Creative Gallery. In 2007 he participated in Nuit Blanche 07 with his presentation of "IN FEAR WE TRUST" in collaboration with The Arts & Letters Club Of Toronto. In 2008, a part of the Club's centenary celebrations he presented three installations as part of Spillage!, on Elm Street. His work was shown in two galleries as part of the OSA Summer 09 - The Win Henstock Gallery in Oakville and the Pentimento Gallery in Toronto.

He is currently the owner and creative director of Engine Room Creative, a creative and design development studio in Toronto. His work is currently in Corporate and Private Collections in Canada and the US.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Americo Del Col

Tibor Nyilasi

 

September

1~30

MUSIC & ART

RECEPTION:

Sunday

SEPTEMBER 13

FEATURING LIVE MUSIC BY

BARNHOUSE STATIC

www.myspace.com/barnhousestatic

2~4PM

everyone welcome

'Music moves people to cry, to laugh, to cheer, to shout, to applaud. It moves me to paint and translate my emotional response to it.'  Americo Del Col

 

 

Americo Del Col

Americo Del Col received his formal art training at Central Technical School when it was staffedby such illustrious instructors as Charles Goldhamer, Virginia Luz , Doris McCarthy and Robert Ross. After graduating in the early fifties Del Col spent the ensuing years as a graphic artist and art director, but always maintained his passion for painting. By 1972 fine art had become a much more focussed pursuit.

In 1980 Americo presented his first solo exhibition and was encouraged by the audience's response. It wasn't long after, that he gave up his job to concentrate on painting and teaching full time.This led to instructing adult watercolour classes with the North York Board of Educationand selected private organizations. In 1995, he founded ‘Three Valleys Watercolour Workshops', teaching dynamic and inspiring workshops year round. He paints with watercolour but also with acrylic and mixed media. Del Col has participated in numerous solo and invitational exhibitions including the acclaimed CSPWC. His work is collected both nationally and abroad and can be found in private as well as corporate collections including Imperial Oil, First Canadian Capital Zurich Insurance and the Ontario Medical Association. He lives in Toronto with his wife, Mary.

Tibor Nyilasi

Tibor Nyilasi's aim and objective has always been to solve figurative challenges of everyday life. He deals with the human form as an isolated study or in-group compositions, and has a particular interest in drawing in locations where there are people in action. Of particular interest to him is making line drawings while at the theatre. Nyilasi turns the rhythm and movement of the performance into a lively, continuous line. From these drawings he creates his major watercolour, oil, mixed media and mosaic compositions. The free and fluid colours charge these compositions with a lyrical quality. Nyilasi is always willing to explore all the possibilities of each medium he uses.

Nyilasi is a respected teacher and educator who taught art in secondary schools for over thirty years. Nyilasi is now retired from teaching. Tibor is known for his figurative work in drawings, watercolours, and mosaics. After winning the Medal for Proficiency in Drawing and Painting from the Government of France in 1964, he has exhibited both in Ontario and throughout Europe. His commissions include a mosaic in Nagano, Japan and he is represented in such notable collections as the Royal Collection of Drawings and Watercolours in Windsor Castle, England. He has participated in international exhibitions and completed large commissions. His work is held in collections of corporations and also 12 municipal, provincial, and national art galleries. Tibor's work is included in public and private collections throughout Canada and Europe, Australia, and Japan and well as The Royal Collection of Drawings and Watercolours in Windsor Castle, U. K. Nyilasi is a member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour, the Paris Montmartre Artists' Association, and the Danubian Artists Association of Slovakia. Currently he teaches at the Dundas Valley School of Art in addition to his activities as a practising artist.

 

Barnhouse Static

Indie folk duo Barnhouse Static owes its sound to the synergy that happens when a former punk-cowboy and a folk songwriter unite at the microphone. Peter Duffin was the drummer and founding member of Toronto punk-band "L'Etranger", the "Andrew Cash Band" and 3 time JUNO nominees "Grievous Angels". The Toronto raised Duffin played countless big stages across the country but met his musical counterpart singing folk songs in a small water-draft type club in a Niagara suburb. St. Catharine's native Kathy Evans is an accomplished singer and guitarist; still it is her infectious song writing that will leave you wanting more. Evans picturesque lyrics have a blue collar, hopeful and funny edge. Together, Duffin and Evans lay out a warm, gutsy, acoustic driven, accordion tainted sound all their own. "Hardly a person has not now heard the snarl of "Barnhouse static" on his home receiver. The radiations are affected by sunspots and variations in the ionosphere." -Kurt Vonnegut. Jr. "Report on the Barnhouse Effect"

 

 

 

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FEATURE ARTIST

 

 

Linda Kemp, CSPWC, OSA, SCA

 

 

July 1 ~ 30, 2009

Launch opening with artist in attendance
SATURDAY,  JULY 4
2~4pm
everyone welcome        refreshments served

 

 

Statement

There is nothing like an intriguing puzzle to get the brain working and few things more satisfying than finding a solution to a perplexing problem. So while some people take pleasure in working on the newspaper's daily crossword puzzle I can't resist sorting through and arranging shapes and colours. In particular, the interwoven forms and layers of patterns I find while investigating tangled woodlands, meandering streams, open fields, roadside ditches and marshes. Appreciating my discoveries is easy; figuring out how to interpret my finds and then portray that essence two-dimensionally with paint on paper is the real challenge! It is this desire to decipher, understand and organize what I see that motivates me to paint.

When it comes to solving perplexing brain-teaser and riddles sometimes it's necessary to approach the problem from a different angle, or think outside of the box, so to speak. In my attempt to understand how "it" all fits together and works I have learned to play a visual game in the search to unravel nature's elusive mysteries. My strategy relies on two things, simplifying the complicated and taking an alternative negative, or subtractive, approach



Bio

A full time artist, Linda Kemp frequently instructs and lectures at national symposiums and watercolour workshops throughout Canada, The United States and The United Kingdom. She was the recipient of the 2005 Woman of Distinction Award for Arts and Culture and in 2008 received the AJ Casson Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Watercolour, the top award for The Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour national Juried Exhibition.

Linda is internationally recognized for her unique contemporary style and innovative use of negative painting. She is the author of Watercolor Painting Outside the Lines - A Positive Approach to Negative Painting (North Light pub.) and the accompanying video (Teaching Art Videos) by the same title. Her paintings and articles have been featured in 6 other books and numerous art publications including American Artist Magazine, Watercolor Magic and International Artist. Kemp is an elected member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour, The Ontario Society of Artists and The Society of Canadian Artists and is an honorary member of the Society for all Artists (UK). This artist is profiled in Canadian Who's Who, Who's Who of Canadian Women, The Dictionary of International Biography, The 20th Anniversary Edition of Trivial Pursuit and 2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of the 21st Century. Her award winning paintings are in private, public, and corporate collections around the world, including The Royal Collection, Windsor Castle, U.K. and the private collection of HRH The Prince of Wales.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 JUNE 1~30, 2009

Coalesce

new work by Amanda Burk

      
Launch opening with artist in attendance:

Sunday,  June 7

2~4pm

everyone welcome        refreshments served

 


Statement

Amanda Burk's studio practice is situated in drawing. Recently, she has been focusing on a body of work that captures the human subject in a moment away. This moment she has defined as a slip or departure from consciousness - a single instant where the subject loses an awareness of self and surroundings. Burk is fascinated by the very nature of this away moment, when the subject is neither absent nor present but suspended exactly in between the two.

Currently, as an extension and departure from this work, she is exploring a series of drawings on panel   contemplating pattern as a possible trigger or reflection of a meditative state.



Bio

Amanda Burk received her MFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, 2003 and her Honours BA Fine Arts Specialization from the University of Waterloo, 2001. Burk's recent exhibitions include; Next 2009 (Chicago), Drawing 2009, John B. Aird Gallery (Toronto), Une Partie de 7, Gallerie St. Ambroise (Montreal), The Drawing Show, Peter Buckland Gallery (St. John), Drawing On, *new* Gallery (Toronto), and Draw In, 00130 Gallery (Helsinki).  Amanda is currently living and working in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.


 

 

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MAY 1-30 2009

 

Magdalena Titian

'ECSTACY IN THE GARDEN'


 ABOUT

Magdalena Titian is a regional artist who works in   watercolour to express her response to nature, finding its sensitivity and immediacy appealing to her own nature.
She masterfully controls the movement of this luminous and fluid medium, yet it's versatility frees her to convey quiet sensitivity or colourful passion into her new series of paintings that focus primarily on garden florals.

Magdalena's paintings are held in numerous collections and she is a well-known instructor both regionally and beyond. She has a long exhibition history, with selected works featured in many shows.
 

STATEMENT

  By studying nature first hand, my feelings are more intense and in tune and through the use of light, form, and colour, my attempt is to create enhanced imagery that one could miss if merely observing with the naked eye.
 
Paintings transcend us to a deeper level of experience and emotion and I feel there is no other significant reason for creating than to open a new awareness for both the painter and the viewer.

 

 

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