"VivaCity" mixed media textiles by Karen Goetzinger

New work by Karen Goetzinger shows her fascination with the light and colours of cities and towns. "VivaCity"- mixed media textiles opens this Sunday, 21st March with a Reception from 2.00 pm to 5.00 pm.

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin has a B.A. in Fashion Design and Fine Art and since 2004 has taught at the Ottawa School of Art. Karen is widely known for her finely detailed mixed media textile works that are influenced by traditional quilt making, couture construction and vintage Japanese textiles and design.

"In a world increasingly enthralled with high speed technology and quantity over quality production goals, I find artistic inspiration in using time honoured traditions. These traditions allow me to experiment and to compose new, fresh objects from what might be considered old. I employ techniques that compel me to savour the process of creating; from the exhilaration of selecting colours and textures to the rhythmic lullaby of stitching by hand."

These pieces show us our metropolitan landscape in unusual perspectives: shapes, angles, daylight, nightlight, colours and the not-colours.

Karen will give a brief talk at 3.00 pm, so come out and explore the city through the fibre of these reflective viewpoints.

New images for "Deborah Arnold: Selected Works"

Opening of "Deborah Arnold: Selected Works", this Sunday, 7th February 2010, 2.00 pm to 5.00 pm at Snapdragon Gallery.

Deborah's works are a culmination of studies in fine art and sculpture (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and in Ottawa), dance and music (Bennington College, Vermont), theatre direction and production (Case Western Reserve University, Ohio), studio programme (Cleveland Institute of Art, Ohio) and multiple studio residences in Pietrasanta, Italy.

Arnold is a member of the "Sculpture Society of Canada" and the "International Sculpture Center", Washington, D.C. Commissioned sculptures are located throughout Canada and the U.S.

Deborah Arnold has led a life dedicated to expressing herself in the arts; articulate in discussing her work. "I investigate essences of our natural world, creating abstract objects of observation. Stone carving is a physical yet contemplative process and in this way I pay loving homage to the Earth. It is my intention that viewers of my sculptures participate with me in a growing awareness of how we belong in our world's system. Perhaps viewers may feel ancient resonances, rememberings...as if looking at newly uncovered artefacts".

Artefact - art that is made, or is it art that is uncovered? The making is in the taking away. Deborah Arnold reveals/creates smooth, polished, sensuous surfaces that seem to be alive, or to contain life. At the same time, Deborah leaves/reveals the original, rough, elemental rock. Nature flow seamlessly through, unifying the contrasts.

"Each stone has a presence for me to discover. I create a dialogue between my material, myself, with viewers completing the process".

Deborah Arnold will give a short talk at 3.00 pm and will be glad to meet you and answer questions. Hot mulled wine and refreshments will be served during the opening,
from 2.00pm to 5.00 pm this Sunday, 7th February 2010.

Deborah Arnold: Selected Works

Deborah Arnold is an established sculptor working in Carrara marble,Bronze, Italian Alabaster, Pyrotholite (Wonderstone), Mariash Limestone, Venus marble, Chlorite, Italian Chrystolino, wood and steel.
"Selected Works" will run from 4th to 28th February 2010. The grand Opening and Reception will be held in the Upstairs Gallery on Sunday, 7th February from 2.00pm to 5.00pm. We are planning some interesting refreshments, suitable for a cold winter's afternoon.
More images will follow, along with more information.

Matthieu Raikem- Blown Glass Light Sculptures

Matthieu Raikem is from France and is now living and working in Chicoutimi.
It is a huge change, from near Paris to the north of Quebec and we are lucky that Matthieu has brought his daring sense of shape, light and colour.
Each light sculpture is made of sections that have been meticulously mouth-blown, hand cut and connected one to the other. Matthieu also creates the neon light source, which is guaranteed to last for twenty years.
These are no reading lamps or "accent pieces"; they are sculptures of light that create a presence of warmth, beauty and colour, (especially in subdued or minimal light conditions).

"A Beautiful Destruction"

Opening and Reception for Louis Helbig and "A Beautiful Destruction": Thursday 10th December, 6.00pm to 8.00pm in the Upstairs Gallery.

A solo exhibition and sale of large format aerial photographs.

Last year, Louis and his partner Kristin Reimer hop-scotched across Canada in a 1946 Luscombe single propeller aeroplane.
The goal and destination was fort McMurray and the Alberta Tar Sands.

The title of this show echoes W.B.Yeats' phrase: "A terrible beauty is born", when writing of the 1916 Easter Uprising in Dublin. What Louis and Kristin discovered, from on high, were views that were almost unbelievable and overwhelming in their intensity.

As Louis writes, "The Alberta tar Sands are a place of superlatives, a place of awesome beauty and destruction, where exaggeration of scale seems almost impossible. Leaving aside the politics that surround them or their technical specifics, the Tar sands are simply awe-inspiring. With every twis and turn of the airplane another incredible scene presents itself, followed by another. It's a linear kaleidoscope of contrasts, colours and patterns garnished by the movement of machinery below."

This collection is an important artistic statement that is captivating, stunning and edgy. This will be moving to larger venues, so come and support your neighbour (Louis and Kristin live in Ottawa) and a show that has national and even global significance. Up until 6th January 2010.

Soft Petals and Steaming Steel: which is a dream and which is real?

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Opening and Reception on Friday, 27th November 2009, 5.00 pm to 8.30 pm for Peter Cunningham's "Soft Petals and Steaming Steel: which is a dream and which is real?" works in oil and acrylic.
Peter will give a talk at 7.00 pm, with question and answer period to follow.

"A knowledge, understanding and love for the subject is evident in the interplay of light and colour across his beautiful landscapes and gardens, while his hauntingly evocative railway and industrial scenes transcend the merely pictorial and enter a realm of mystery and imagination."

Peter Cunningham was born in Birmingham, England, in 1951. At the age of thirteen his family moved from the industrial Midlands to rural Staffordshire, where he discovered a love for the surrounding countryside and the English landscape painting tradition.

After completing high school, Peter studied at the Stafford College of Art and then continued at the Byam Shaw School of Art in London, England. Armed with a solid, formal education Peter, with his wife Gail, set up a studio in their first home, a converted canal boat. Peter, Gail and their two daughters moved to Canada in 1984. The professional studio is in Ottawa, where Peter and family live and is on land. Cunningham's work is represented by galleries in Calgary, Ottawa, Montreal and Saint John and is in many private collections in Canada, England and the United States.

Some of Peter Cunningham's corporate clients include KPMG Peat Marwick and Thorne, Mead Johnson, The Royal Bank, OMERS, Scotia Bank Place, Metropolitan Life, Midland Walwyn, Merrill Lynch, Human Resources Development Canada, Sirius Consulting Group, Pan Canadian Group and the Toronto Stock Exchange.

For prices and dimensions please visit (or contact) Snapdragon Gallery.
For a really good time, come to the opening on Friday, 5 to 8.30pm

Lynette Deir: "Serendipity", acrylic on canvas

Opening on Friday 13th (yes, a lucky day),
Lynette Deir presents "Serendipity", a collection
of new abstracts.
Come and meet the artist, 7.00pm to 10.00pm,