Tag Archives: Linda Langerak

URBAN GALLERY CELEBRATES CANADA150 WITH STUNNING GROUP SHOW “O CANADA”

Yesterday, URBAN GALLERY (400 Queen St East, Toronto) opened the doors to officially launch their summer group show O CANADA (runs until July 29), featuring 17 Canadian artists with diverse cultural backgrounds and artistic styles whose individual visions of Canada celebrate the country’s 150th anniversary. Come take a virtual walk with me thru the gallery….

The stunning image by Erik Chong features the lyrics to the Canadian national anthem in all three official languages and Erik posed proudly in front of his painting, “Beautiful Day” (below)20170708_141459Celebrated wildlife photographer Linda Langerak has 3 gorgeous photos of BC creatures in the show (below) – I love the bald eagles…20170708_141140Kirk Sutherland created the frame around his “Terra Nova” painting from found architectural salvage featuring maple leaf designs. How clever is that?20170708_150459Caught this cool shot and realized afterwards that it was all about the stripes….LOL!20170708_150006Pauline Langmaid (below) drove in all the way from Bracebridge to showcase her glorious abstract landscapes…or should I say “lake-scapes”? 20170708_142055Pauline’s two paintings proved very popular with gallery visitors…20170708_160719 20170708_145939Another popular image was celebrity chef & photographer Lyndon Wiebe‘s photo of a windswept view of Port Hope (below). Lyndon brought out an extended print showing more of the scene – located to the west of the town where housing development meets grassland.  20170708_144818(0) 20170708_161500Film industry professional and accomplished photographic artist Karen Silver chose a chilly winter scene of a Toronto park and a lonely bicycle. Now that’s one seat I would not like to sit on…LOL!20170708_142229Kris Bovenizer (below centre) talks with a guest about her two acrylic on canvas works…the sea-faring image on the left is now a label on bottles of a limited edition maple syrup bottled for a Canadian business leader (as Canada150 corporate gifts for his clients). How cool..and congrats to Kris. 20170708_151736And Kris posed with fellow artist Kirk Sutherland and gallery owner Calvin Hambrook (below)20170708_144136Manije Sabet Sarvestani (below) brought two oil-on-canvas works: “Canada Day in Quebec City” (on left) and “Thornhill Festival” (on right). The soft-spoken artist let her work do all the talking and these certainly announced her talent loudly!20170708_145703Kent Bridges was the first artist to score a “red dot” (a sale) for his “Life in a Northern Town”. Here he is (below left in red) with purchaser and fan David Currah of Toronto’s Fife House. Congrats to Kent who was all smiles as he celebrated the sale.20170708_140935 20170708_145308Ronald Regamey uses a technique known as “quilling” to create beautiful 3 dimensional paper & glue artwork. Here’s Ronald being snapped by Calvin in front of his latest piece titled “Alive”.20170708_145416(0) 20170708_145438…Ronald had a number of family and friends congratulating him on his gallery appearance – they were so animated and excited it was hard to get them all to stand still for a photo…LOL20170708_150035Gallery curator Allen Shugar and poet/artist Brenda Clews also met under Ronald’s work….20170708_150050…while Linda Langerak snapped away with Kirk (below)20170708_150521The delicious food was catered by Urban Source Catering and the platters were themselves works of art.20170708_141011 20170708_140959Colin Nun (below left) who recently had his own successful solo show at Urban Gallery, shares his thoughts on his work “Canada” with KJ Mullins (below R) editor of NEWZ4U.ca20170708_152712In fact, a lot of guests remarked on the uniqueness of Colin’s oil-on-canvas typographical and topographical view of the country.20170708_141116Snapd newspaper photographer Gianmarco dropped by to cover the event and got busy snapping the artists…20170708_153729 20170708_153539I managed to grab a quick pic of Joan Andal Romano with her “True North” mixed media on canvas. So many intricate details to view, it must have taken her many hours to create.20170708_15425920170708_140749Several artists were unable to attend, 3 delivered beautiful Canadian landscapes – Stacey Kinder‘s “Light” featuring a stand of trees in the fall, Christine Marin‘s “On Bear Trap Road” (2nd pic) and Grace Dam‘s snowy “Canmore” (3rd pic)….20170708_140802 20170708_145552Dam CANADIAN ICONS -CANMORE ALBERTA 48w x 60h oil on canvas..and Aisha Chiguichon was represented by this provocative acrylic on canvas titled “Stereotypes”CHIGUICHON StereotypesVictoria General attended but the shy artist preferred to let her work take centre stage and declined a photo. Victoria works in charcoal on paper – here are “We Need a Bit More Sand, I Think” (upper) and “I’ll Have to Call You Back” (lower).20170708_151807The reception drew many art lovers and more red dots should be appearing alongside these Canada150 artful tributes. I hope you get a chance to visit in person and support the talented artists at Urban Gallery.20170708_144203 20170708_150135 20170708_150423

Urban Gallery, 400 Queen St East, Toronto  www.urbangallery.ca20170708_155624

Urban Gallery is also available for rental if you wish to host your corporate or private party, reception or even a sit-down dinner with delicious food & refreshments courtesy of Urban Source Catering. Visit the website for details.

ARTIST LINDA LANGERAK INTRO’S ME TO SUPER WONDER GALLERY, TORONTO

What an unexpected pleasure to receive a last-minute invitation to join contemporary artist Linda Langerak last night at the super cool Super Wonder Gallery at 876 Bloor St West, Toronto.  The gallery was hosting a show inspired by Rorschach, featuring multiple local artists’ work incorporating the Rorschach inkblot concept and Linda was one of the participating artists (below) with three distinct pieces on show.  lankyratcreations.com20151121_203325 20151121_203916What an explosion of colour! I was blown away by the number of pieces cleverly curated by Daniel Anaka, also an artist himself…and very cuddly, too! (see below)

Photo courtesy Linda Langerak

Photo courtesy Linda Langerak

Below are a few of my fave works that really stood out, and I encourage you all to drop in to see the show yourself – Rorschach runs until Friday Nov. 27th.20151121_203042 20151121_203821 20151121_212357I must admit there were two pieces that really resonated with me….what do you think of these?

Relianece by Freya Kazemi

Relianece by Freya Kazemi

Bull Painting 1 by Thelia Shelton. Photo courtesy Linda Langerak

Bull Painting 1 by Thelia Shelton. Photo courtesy Linda Langerak

I ran into artist Kris Hamilton who has recently moved to Toronto to pursue her painting career and I loved the two pieces she showed me here..20151121_204101Linda intro’d me to several of her fellow artists whose work also hung on the walls -here’s the handsome and talented Paul Dolgov….Paul DolgovAnd below, here’s the fabulous Gaya Kairos….Gaya KairosMeet Michelle Dinelle (below) all colour coordinated with her art…Michelle DinelleAnd here’s the super suave Ricardo SilvaRicaro SilvaSo come take a virtual walk thru the gallery with me and enjoy more stunning works…20151121_204304
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20151121_212722I caught Linda snapping away, capturing some of her friends’ works….20151121_203201Big THANK YOU to gallery owners Christian Aldo (artist & event booking) and Kevin Bushman (operations/bookings) for hosting such a grand event and supporting local Canadian artists. Super Wonder Gallery is also available for event bookings (live entertainment shows, corporate events, private parties) and is fully licensed so check out their website for details. www.superwondergallery.com20151121_213343

URBAN GALLERY HOSTS OFFICIAL LAUNCH FOR “DON’T BE AFRAID OF COLOUR” BY NANCY-JANE PRICE

Tonight marked the official launch for local artist NANCY-JANE PRICE‘s latest painting series “Don’t Be Afraid of Colour” at URBAN GALLERY, 400 Queen St East, Toronto  www.urbangallery.ca

20150910_17535620150910_18313820150910_183135Nancy-Jane’s first passionate encounter with colour occurred while she was still in kindergarten. She was to fill in a single pane of a stained glass window design on a piece of brown paper. She chose the most beautiful shade of magenta her young eyes had ever seen, carefully filling in the space. But when the teacher noticed that Nancy-Jane hadn’t started at the bottom, she was summarily removed from painting duties. That memory runs deep. She continued her love affair with colour in public school and colour has stayed with her ever since, mostly through dress and home decoration.  Five years ago, after various art classes focused on traditional drawing and painting, she decided to “loosen up” her style, and signed up for an ongoing studio class where she concentrates on non-objective painting in acrylics with an emphasis on intuitive sense of colour. IMG_4402IMG_442720150910_183116Artist statement:  Colour, space, juxtaposition, design; the mystery in the way it works, the joy of being alive…

Here’s Nancy-Jane (below left) with KJ Mullins, Publisher of www.Newz4U.net20150910_175434And here’s artist Linda Langerak (below left) with Wayne Abell of UrbanSource Catering, and KJ Mullins20150910_180646

Visit www.Facebook.com/UrbanGallery to take a virtual walk thru the gallery (video)

DON’T BE AFRAID OF COLOUR

Paintings by Nancy-Jane Price.  Show runs until Sat. September 26, 2015UG-Letterhead-BC

 

 

URBAN GALLERY’S LATEST SHOW “EVOKE” CERTAINLY DOES PROVOKE!

Last night I attended the opening reception for EVOKE, Urban Gallery‘s current show featuring painter LINDA LANGERAK and sculptor SANDRA BILAWICH.

20150409_174721It’s the perfect antidote to the grey miserable unseasonal weather we’ve been experiencing here in Toronto – the bright colours explode off the canvasses and the tactile sculptures engage and amaze gallery visitors.

1. Burst From Within II_Acrylic on canvas_linda_langerak 20150409_173617Linda (below) showed off a riot of colour and movement in her latest work and it was fun to stand in front of each piece and look for hidden images.

20150409_173423 3. Harness the Energy_Acrylic on canvas_linda_langerak 12. A Certain Something_Acrylic on canvas_linda_langerakJournalists from Novella arts/lifestyle magazine (www.novellamag.com) also enjoyed the artwork and here they are, Tanya and Bojana, with Linda (below)

20150409_185855Sandra also enjoyed meeting the Novella ladies (below)….

20150409_182947and showing her work to other gallery visitors….

20150409_173449 20150409_174041Sandra’s work included metal and marble carvings of nature, some of which you could actually spin on their stands…

20150409_173945 20150409_190038 20150409_175052 20150409_175056….as well as some humorous pieces incorporating musical instruments (below)

20150409_175102 20150409_174145Internationally renowned flutist Ron Korb dropped in and was fascinated by the vintage flute inside the skeletal “judy”….

20150409_183628..and Ron also enjoyed meeting Erik Chong (below), another artist who recently showed his work at Urban Gallery, who dropped by to support Linda and Sandra.

20150409_185915I caught gallery curator, Allen Shugar (below), here proudly watching the guests stroll through the gallery, viewing all the pieces he laid out for the artists.

20150409_182122Although the rain poured down outside, the gallery was buzzing with inspired happy guests…

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20150409_173444EVOKE runs through end of April.

Please visit the gallery’s website for hours/dates: www.UrbanGallery.ca and visit each artist’s website to see their portfolio of works.

Linda Langerak   http://www.lankyratcreations.com/paintings—2014.html

Sandra Bilawich  http://elementaldesigns.org/