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Now more than ever, art can help lift our spirits and support our well-being. Stay connected with the Public Art Centre at home with our online activities, exhibitions and explore your local artists. Visit our Access to Art online art education page for great programs and activities.
An Interior Life
Johnnene Maddison
Gallery One & Two
May 1 to June 12, 2021
An archive of the pandemic period using the universal language of art.
Robin's Preserves
Robin Grindley
Gallery Three
May 1 to June 12, 2021
The late, great jazz singer Blossum Dearie referred to her music recordings as “my jams and jellies”. That pretty much sums up how I view my work; not only homemade (and hopefully sweet), they are also colourful, and made from the heart. ~ Robin Grindley
To view Robin's work online visit here...
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June 19 to August 1, 2021
Gallery One & Two
Memory and history inform how we conceive of times to come. We exist double-faced, imagining futures that can deliver us from the past, even-or especially if- the past acquires the burden of a deceptively golden glow. Discovery implies a certain amount of recollection or recognition, "What has been" channels the possibilities of "what will be." Yet the past, as someone has said, is a foreign country, inaccessible and glimpsed only darkly in traces that time leaves in its wake. Many of these traces , which are in all that surrounds us, whether we go, appear as ruins or debris. Like spring with birdsong, they attest to a irrevocable loss. Moving with hope into the future requires a careful reconnaissance of places and legacies so as to be aware of what is absent in the meshwork of our everyday lives." ~ Andrés Villar
June 19 to August 1, , 2021
Gallery Three
Cathy Horvath Buchanan
Jane Atkinson White
Alice Price Vermeulen
Heather Keating
The St. Thomas Elgin Public Art Centre is pleased to present, Collective Chemistry, a group exhibition featuring four local artists working with various media such as painting and collage. Focusing on their most recent works, the exhibition runs from June 19 to August 1, 2021 and will explore the relationship between the forms, themes, and techniques of this diverse range of contemporary artists.
Jane Atkinson White is a portrait artist creating colourful, representational works of art. She graduated from the University of Western Ontario with her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1983. After graduating, her focus was on painting. She became known for her large acrylic portraits and exhibited her work in numerous juried and solo art shows throughout Southwestern Ontario.
Jane lives in Belmont, Ontario, with her husband and daughter. Her work is in private art collections throughout Ontario and the United States.Alice Price-Vermeulen "I have always done art in some form or another. More recently, since relocating to St. Thomas, I have been exploring Mixed Media, using mediums to provide texture and certain affects in my paintings, whether oil or acrylic. As well, I have been exploring the medium of Collage, which is helpfully nurtured through the London group I belong to "Collage Collective''.
My style is my own and often I have a canvas or panel before me with no idea what I am about to paint, but it is a fascinating process of intuitive exploration that makes my work uniquely my own, and often a happy surprise! I love colour and some of my work is more colourful than others, but colour always weaves it's spirited way throughout my work." ~ Alice Price-Vermeulen
Cathy Horvath-Buchanan is a Canadian artist living in the charming town of Port Stanley, Ontario, on the shores of Lake Erie, along with her husband Shawn & dog Patches.
The art she creates is the product of her years at art school, practical experimentation and quiet observation. Over time her art has evolved to become a unique amalgamation of colorful folk art as seen through the lens of a graphic, realistic style. Having started with landscape painting, she has been expanding her subject matter to encompass art themes suitable for licensing.
Cathy is always amazed how putting color to canvas can absorb and convey a lifetime spent looking. To her, a beautifully rendered colorful image is a joy to create and even more joyful to share. She takes great pride in creating artworks filled with bright happy colors to cheer your heart and home.
Preservation : Caring for a Collection
Recent Acquisitions
November 21 to December 19, 2020
Gallery One and Two
In over 50 years of its existence the St. Thomas-Elgin Public art Centre has amassed one of the most significant collections of local and regional artworks of paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and photographs. From the beginning with the purchase of Clark McDougall’s, Talbot Street 1964, the collection has grown to more than 2000 works today.
During the lockdown brought on by the pandemic, the duty to protect our important collection has occurred behind the scenes. These works are vulnerable to pests, changes in temperature and exposure to light all of which demands constant vigilance. This preservation has been happening in large and small galleries and museums all around the world, in our own community and at the Public Art Centre.
Part of our commitment to preserving a community collection, Preservation : Caring for a Collection, Recent Acquisitions, will feature new works of art included in the permanent collection from 2019-20. The art works, all of which are donations, accentuate the continued importance of collectors and the preservation, in the development of the permanent collection.
Merle "Ting" Tingley was born in Montreal in 1921 and is recognized as one of southwestern Ontario’s most influential cartoonists. He joined the Army Signals Corps in 1942, and in 1943 became staff cartoonist for The Khaki, the Canadian army’s official bilingual magazine.
In 1947 he bought a used motorcycle and toured the country showing his portfolio to numerous editors, before, out of desperation, he took a job retouching photographs at the London Free Press. Ting's fortunes improved when an editor on that paper noticed a cartoon Ting had drawn of the mayor during the municipal election. The editor was impressed with the drawing and Ting become the resident editorial cartoonist at the London Free Press until his retirement in 1986.
The Public Art Centre has more than 100 works by Ting in our permanent collection. These works document an extraordinary career and the political and societal events (locally, nationally and internationally) from the 1940’s to the 1990’s.
UNMASKED: Portraits from the Collection
August 15 to September 26, 2020
Drawing from a collection of over 1900 works of art, UNMASKED: Portraits from the Public Art Centre’s collection, features portrait works that explore how artists have chosen to portray themselves and their subjects. Created in all media, from plaster sculpture to oil painting, the works in this exhibition can inspire ourselves to see others with empathy and understanding.
As we are confronted each day with mandatory mask regulations and social distancing rules many find it difficult to connect with others. So, we think this is an opportune time to reassess the significance of self-portraiture and portrait art in relation to our current time in history.
The exhibition contains examples of self-portraits, with Dorothy Stevens’, Untitled Self Portrait, c. 1940, that is rarely seen. It also includes works by Mackie Cryderman, Clark McDougall, Bob Bozak, Marion Long, Greg Curnoe, Kathleen Daly, Gerald Pedros, Robert Reginald Whale, Norval Morrisseau and many more.
UNMASKED is curated by Laura Woermke, curator and Sherri Howard, program director at the Public Art Centre. The exhibition will also include self directed educational prompts to further develop your experience and exploration into the world of portraits.
With an evolving collection of more than 1900 works of art, we invite art lovers to browse our online exhibitions. Many of the selected works are by artists that have been featured in our exhibitions and some works have never been seen yet.
Visit online exhibitions
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This juried exhibition seeks original two dimensional works of art that celebrates the artist behind the work, what the artist sees and creates, "in their view", real or imagined. This means anything goes.
Works of art must NOT exceed 48" x 48" and must be suitably framed and properly and firmly wired. The official exhibit label must be attached to the back of each piece entered. Copies are acceptable.
Due to the pandemic, an opening of the exhibition will be limited to visitors during operating hours.
Completed applications includes:
. Signed application . Artist Bio . CV or Resume . Artwork with label attached to back . Fee
ELIGIBILITY
Any artist over 18 years who resides in Southwestern Ontario.
Works entered must be an original composition created by the entrant.
Submitted artwork must have been created within the past three years and not previously shown at the St. Thomas-Elgin Public Art Centre. All mediums are acceptable. No copies from other artists, from published material or supervised work will be considered.
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It is the mandate of STEPAC to advance knowledge and understanding of the visual arts within St. Thomas and Elgin County through exhibitions, acquisitions, lectures, public programs, education programs, traveling exhibitions, and adherence to standard museum practices. STEPAC seeks to present and facilitate a broad range of visual art practices and to reflect excellence through all aspects of its programs.
STEPAC’s exhibition program is invitational, and the also accepts exhibition proposals on an ongoing basis from artists and curators. The exhibitions are booked at least two years in advance.
Submission Guidelines:
In the event that the proposed artworks have not yet been produced, please provide a detailed description of the intent in addition to support material featuring past work.
The Art Centre is not responsible for lost or damaged submissions. Please do not submit original slides, artwork or master DVDs. If you want to have your support materials returned, you must include a self-addressed envelope with the required postage. Please remember to contact the Art Centre if you have a change of address and/or telephone number.
Please note, the Art Centre will only reply to proposals in which it is interested.
Submit applications to:
St. Thomas-Elgin Public Art Centre
Attention: Curator
301 Talbot Street, St. Thomas, ON. N5P 1B5