Lori Dunn at the Algonquin Arts Centre
SONSI member Lori Dunn has been juried into the Algonquin Arts Centre 2012 Exhibit. The theme this year is Water and will focus on the rivers and watersheds in and around Algonquin Park. Lori will be submitting a work done in scratchboard. Anyone who has seen Lori’s exquisite scratchboard art will be looking forward to see what she creates for this exhibit.
The show will be held from June until mid-October, 2012 at the Algonquin Art Centre, km 20 in Algonquin Provincial Park.
- Trish
Polar bear coin designed by Emily Damstra
This week the Royal Canadian Mint released a new $20 pure silver commemorative coin featuring Emily’s illustration of a swimming polar bear. You can see it at the Mint’s website. The card that comes with the coin includes a sketch of the bear, also by Emily.
The part of the bear above the water line is shiny, and the sky has a different finish than the water. I like the different finishes. – Emily
Ghillie brogue workshop, January 21
There exists a great wealth of fascinating images and artifacts for anyone who takes an interest in the history of footwear. You might think of the exotic and elegant thongs worn by the ancient Egyptians, or the slippers worn for centuries over the bound feet of Chinese women, or the beautifully crafted hide Muklucks worn by the Arctic aboriginal people or maybe the dainty silk confections worn in court during the eighteenth century. On the minds of SONSI members who attended the last event were Ghillie Brogues, not the shiny formalized version worn today but a much older version worn by the Celtic highlanders of Scotland.
Member Hall Train was gracious enough not only to let SONSI members back to his studio but also to teach everyone how to make these fascinating shoes. Using his skills as a designer, illustrator, model-maker, and creative master of materials, Hall was able to recreate a museum quality replica from reference images of an artifact that was pulled out of a bog in Scotland. Using this new expertise in ancient shoe making Hall was able to guide each member through the process of custom designing the footwear to each foot. This process is certainly accurate; using the lines and angles of the foot to create each interwoven flap, allowing the single piece of leather (though the paper and foam stages must come first for perfecting the shape) to form perfectly, without gaps or creases, over the foot. When spread out the pattern looks like a sort of monster or squashed animal, but folded and laced in to place the look is quite elegant. Read more…
Newly discovered Burgess shale creature
Again, the CBC has an article on the Burgess Shale fossils. A stalked tulip-like creature has been newly described by University of Toronto and ROM researchers. It is evocatively illustrated by SONSI member Marianne Collins.
Charles Weiss in Toronto exhibit
Charles Weiss, SONSI’s newest member, is the featured artist in an exhibit at Wesburn Manor Art Gallery, 400 The West Mall at Burnamthorp Road. Charles has 12 paintings and wood carvings in the exhibit, which runs from January 18th until April 13.
The reception is Wednesday, January 18, 6 to 8 pm. Usual gallery hours are 10 am to 7 pm, everyday.
Karen Reczuch exhibits landscape at VAM
SONSI member Karen Reczuch, fresh from the success of her acclaimed children’s book, Loon, is also flourishing in a different genre. A landscape in pastels by Karen has been accepted into the 34th Annual Visual Arts Mississauga Juried Exhibition. This is a well-regarded show and the competition is stiff – congratulations to Karen! The show runs until February 25 at the Art Gallery of Mississauga.
Solo exhibit features orchids
An exhibit of botanical drawings by SONSI member Trish Murphy is showing at Richview LIbrary in Toronto. Some friends, including SONSI members Kathryn Chorney and Hall Train, gathered on Saturday to launch the show. Twenty-five drawings of cultivated orchids will be on display until January 30.
Foraminifera Sculpture Park in Zhongshan, China
The Smithsonian on-line magazine has a tantalizing but frustrating blurb about a park in Zhongshan, China, that features sculpture inspired by the forms of fossil and extant foraminifera. I wish the blurb was accompanied by more than just the one picture of what is a wonderful idea. Even more, I wish urban parks in southern Ontario could do something just as nifty with a science-based theme.
- Trish
Tropical Orchids of Toronto Exhibit
SONSI member Trish Murphy invites you to a reception for her art exhibit Tropical Orchids of Toronto, Richview Library Art Gallery. The reception is on Saturday, January 7th, 2012, 3:00 pm.
The exhibit runs from January 3 -30, 2012. Richview Library is located at 1806 Islington Avenue at Summitcrest Drive, Toronto. That’s just north of Eglinton Avenue. Free parking. The exhibit is open all hours the library is open: M – F 9 am – 8:30 pm, Sat 9 – 5, Sun 1:30 – 5. An illustrated catalogue of the exhibit will be posted online during January.





