Another great opening reception for Urban Gallery‘s monthly show and sale of art, this time featuring local artists Mary Lynne Atkinson and Pauline Bradshaw. The artists investigate their relationships to wood in nature and manufactured surfaces in their joint exhibition Into the Woods. Their mutual love of colour, light and form are expressed in this series of representations of both urban and rural landscapes. The show runs throughout the month of November – please visit Urban Gallery’s website for hours (see web addresses at end of blog)
Mary Lynne Atkinson (above) is a professional artist living near Barrie, Ontario. Her love of colour is evident in her diverse art practice. Atkinson holds a B.A. from Wilfrid Laurier University and a graduate diploma in Studio Process Advancement [Cum Laude] from the Haliburton School of the Arts. Her work has been exhibited widely in Europe, notably in the Carousel du Louvre, Paris, 2012 and 2013. She was awarded a Bronze Medal, Paris by the Sociéte des Arts, Lettres, Sciences. Her paintings were exhibited in numerous curated shows including the Miami Art Basel and S Space Gallery, New York, NY.
Pauline Bradshaw (below) dedicated many years to the intensive study of old masters drawings and paintings. As a student, she was granted rare access to HRH Queen Elizabeth II’s private library at Windsor Castle to research and copy selected old masters drawings. Pauline passes along her extensive knowledge of academic techniques in private studio classes, lectures and workshops frequently held at the National Gallery of Canada, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection and the MacLaren Art Centre Barrie. She has also been invited, for the third year, to exhibit at the prestigious Louvre Museum in Paris as part of the Société National des Beaux Arts annual international exhibition.
Mary Lynne’s large format “forest-scapes” attracted a lot of attention and I particularly liked the piece hung near the gallery entrance – see how the rays of sunlight hit the trees (pic 2)….
Pauline’s pieces included some smaller paintings (below) that created intimate views of trees, as well as larger still-lifes such as the antique Chinese porcelain set that included a rustic wooden handle. Just gorgeous and my favourite piece of her art.
Below, Pauline poses with gallery goddess Kaspara (left) while curator Allen Shugar snaps a quick pic.
Fellow artist Erik Chong (below) dropped in with his wife – they were celebrating their wedding anniversary and chose to share the day with us. Congrats, you two!
Other fun guests included KJ Mullins (below centre) publisher of www.newz4u.net, a great Toronto-centric news website and generous media supporter of Urban Gallery.
For more information on each artist, visit their websites
Pauline Bradshaw http://paulinebradshaw.com/
Mary Lynne Atkinson http://www.atkinsonartworks.com/
Urban Gallery, 400 Queen St East, Toronto: http://www.urbangallery.ca/