2019 exhibitions

February 7 to April 10, 2019
Opening: Thursday, February 7, 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm
Artist talk: Sunday, April 7, 2 pm

Catalogue excerpt

Nathalie Quagliotto’s practice transforms gallery spaces through play, both physical and imaginary. How we perceive relationships through play is inseparable from its cycles of tension and resolution, as well as its negotiations of contact and distance, of caution and risk. Quagliotto isolates these tensions within objects - lollypops, warning signs, swings - and locates them in the gallery space. Using safety yellow, she mirrors, duplicates and fuses elements, while challenging us to push and pull.

- Natalia Lebedinskaia

Biography

Nathalie Quagliotto is a conceptual artist. She has a MFA in sculpture from the University of Waterloo and a BFA from Concordia University. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, namely at the Museum of Design Atlanta. Her work is included in collections across North America, such as at the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, in Michigan, and in the Collection Majudia, in Montreal. She has received grants from the Toronto Arts Council and the Ontario Arts Council. She has upcoming exhibitions across Canada and in the USA.

May 2 to June 26, 2019

Through immersive drawings, sculptures and encased miniature worlds, I Came Back and Things Were Different seeks to (re)create reflections of nature with synthetic and organic materials encountered in urban environments. By transposing wilderness into a human environment, these works frame nature as a figment of our own desires. Ceaselessly evolving, nature reminds us that no place is fixed.

Catalogue excerpt

For some, [this exhibition] may evoke a feeling of loss of control or even vulnerability. But in this environment, Avila-Yiptong, Gray and Hamilton embrace the unknown and even the decay induced by their efforts. They both exert and relinquish control over their works’ ephemeral appearances, focusing on ongoing processes and interactions rather than the end result.

-Rose Ekins

Biographies

Gabriela Avila-Yiptong’s practice primarily focuses on painting and abstraction to depict her visual, emotional and psychological experiences through art objects. She has a special interest in the traditional subjects of landscapes, nature and still lifes. Her work aims to distort the viewer’s perspective by abstracting her visual impressions of time, space and light. All in all, her practice aims to encourage viewers to challenge notions of traditional art in a contemporary context. Avila-Yiptong received her BFA from the University of Ottawa in 2015 and continues to live and develop her practice in Ottawa.

Rachel Gray’s interdisciplinary practice is rooted in an interest in drawing. She is moved by drawing’s capacity to facilitate communication outside of written or spoken language. Her work stems from memory, and is often an attempt to retrospectively close the gap between herself and her subject. Gray is based in Ottawa. She holds a BA in English Literature from King’s College and a BFA from the University of Ottawa. In 2017, she launched the first section of her graphic novel Jess, and is continuing this project as an artist in residence at the Ottawa School of Art.

Lea Hamilton’s artworks speak to visual perception and materiality. Seeing herself primarily as a painter, she focuses her practice on the manipulation of surfaces and conceptualized image making. Nevertheless, she is also heavily concerned with materiality, and her practice often resolves itself sculpturally. Hamilton seeks to explore the relationship between the viewer and the viewed, as well as the roles that ritual and time play in the creation of an artwork. Hamilton received her BFA from the University of Ottawa in 2014, and currently lives and practices in Ottawa.

Gabriela Avila-Yiptong, Rachel Gray and Lea Hamilton gratefully acknowledge the support of the Ontario Arts Council.

July 18 to September 29, 2019

By the bee is an evolving project by collaborating artists Annette Hegel and Deborah Margo. Bringing together scent, sound, light and three-dimensional elements, it is a representation of bumble bee culture. Variations in the size of the sculptures in the installation, shifts in the volume of sound, emerging scent, changing light conditions, and the tactile nature of the plant components, make this work an immersive experience.

Biographies

In addition to having their individual practices, Annette Hegel and Deborah Margo are collaborating, multidisciplinary visual artists and urban gardeners. Both live in Ottawa. Annette and Deborah work together because of their shared interest in the confluence of art, nature and science. Their practice is also an expression of their strong conviction that artists serve as catalysts for questioning current environmental and technological issues.

Annette and Deborah have worked as an artist team on installations since 2015. They combine contemporary sculpture practices with sound and light technologies as well as living plant matter. Focusing on the plight of pollinators today, their interventions have occupied diverse rural and urban spaces, such as a derelict schoolyard, a meadow, a hotel’s green roof and its interior staircase.

Annette Hegel and Deborah Margo gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the City of Ottawa and the Ontario Arts Council.

October 10 to December 3, 2019

Concerned with the state of the environment and ecological destruction, Jakobson, King and Lewis-Smith explore how we can reconnect with nature and other living beings through sympoiesis, or ‘becoming-with’ the organic world. The artists will build a site-specific, interactive installation involving painting, photography and sound that functions as a laboratory and research space centred around multiple plant chambers.

Catalogue excerpt

[The artists] frame this exhibition as a triptych, divided into three layers based on geologic time and layers of the earth. When we look at the stratification of earth, of geologic time, the layers operate as separate and distinct while, of course, in intimate relation to one another—inextricably bound by the forces of compaction. In working together, Jakobson, King and Lewis-Smith embrace the entanglement of their processes as a way of being in the world and being in relation—learning new techniques from one another (cyanotype, liquid tinting) and supporting the material exchange between their works through working with plants they have cultivated and cared for. They have extended the invitation to collaborate not just to one another, but also to their plant and vegetal others.

-Katie Lawson

Biographies

Helga Jakobson is an artist based on Treaty One Territory in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She received an MFA from AKV St. Joost (The Netherlands), completed in conjunction with courses in the Transdisciplinary New Media program at the Paris College of Art (France), in 2017. Helga has exhibited her work and participated in residencies across Canada, the United States and Europe. She received the 2019 Emerging Excellence Award from the Manitoba Arts Council, and was a finalist for the Salt Spring National Art Prize, in 2017.

Gillian King is an artist from Winnipeg, Manitoba and an MFA graduate from the University of Ottawa. She is the winner of the 2017 RBC Emerging Artist Award, the recipient of the 2017 Nancy Petry Award, and has shown her work in galleries nationally and internationally. In 2016, Gillian exhibited at a solo show at the Ottawa Art Gallery and in 2017, she was chosen as the Ontario representative in the Robert McLaughlin Gallery's 50th Anniversary Exhibition featuring five emerging abstract painters from across Canada. Gillian King is represented by Galerie Nicolas Robert.

Whitney Lewis-Smith is an artist based in Ottawa, Canada and Mexico City, Mexico. She studied studio arts at Concordia University, in Montreal, and completed her photographic education at the School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa. Whitney’s work has been acquired by collectors in Canada and abroad, including Global Affairs Canada, Sophie and Justin Trudeau, SUMMA Art Fair Madrid, and the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. She was a 2018 finalist for the RBC Emerging Artist Award and is a college instructor at School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa. Whitney is represented by Galerie St-Laurent + Hill and Subject Art NYC.

Helga Jakobson gratefully acknowledges the support of the Manitoba Arts Council and the Ottawa School of Art.

Whitney Lewis-Smith gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Ontario Arts Council.

2019 Exhibitions Peer assessment committee members: Lisa Creskey, Manon Labrosse, Barry Pottle

December 12, 2019 to January 29, 2020

Signal: 2019 Additions to the City of Ottawa Art Collection showcases momentous commissions alongside substantial acquisitions from donations and purchase. A signal is a basic but important communication tool that carries timely messages and can be subtle or overt. The artists featured in this exhibition convey information to us, the viewer, through their gestures, actions, expressions and imagery. Observable changes in the environment, the city and the places we inhabit are presented as cues, if we are open to receiving them.

We are constantly receiving signals from our environment and responding, either consciously or subconsciously. When viewing artworks, we can look to the theories of semiotics to ask questions about how meaning is created and how it is communicated to the viewer. For example, Caroline Monnet’s self-portrait uses geometric patterns that are based on traditional Anishinabe motifs to express complex notions of time, quantum physics and nanotechnology. Sculptures from Marisa Gallemit’s series Translating Twice (listening for the echo) use disparate materials to convey the tension that exists within “third culture” experience. The use of traditional Filipino weaving materials alongside upcycled bicycle tubes gives a physical form to complicated ideas of cultural identity.

The artworks on display in City Hall Art Gallery were acquired by the City of Ottawa in 2019 through Direct Purchase, a peer-assessed program. These artworks are now included in the City of Ottawa Art Collection and when the exhibition concludes, they will be installed in a variety of public spaces and municipal buildings to be viewed and enjoyed by residents and visitors. The City of Ottawa and its various municipal predecessors have been actively collecting artwork by professional artists for over 30 years. As a result, the City of Ottawa Art Collection has grown to include more than 2,900 artworks by more than 800 artists. The artists featured in this exhibition are but a small fragment of a much larger visual arts community that comprises an abundance of artistic talent in the region.

See more recent additions at Karsh-Masson Gallery from November 22, 2019, to January 12, 2020.

List of recent additions to the City of Ottawa Art Collection

Purchase

Annie Pootoogook, Late Night Snack, n.d., coloured pencil and ink on paper, 22 x 28 cm, 2019-0001

Gordon Stranks, unknown, c. 1940, watercolour on paper, 46 x 60 cm, 2019-0002

Adam Alorut, Spirit, 2018, whalebone, antler, ivory and stone, 64 x 31 x 13 cm, 2019-0009

Judith Berry, The Lives We’re Making, 2018, oil on wood panel, 68 x 168 cm, 2019-0010

Natalie Bruvels, Hopping Croakers, 2016, oil on canvas, 183 cm x 244 cm, 2019-0011

Kyle Bustin, Hive Mind, 2015, acrylic and spray paint on panel, variable dimensions, 2019-0012

Kristina Corre, On and On and…, 2018, mixed media on paper, 61 x 46 cm, 2019-0013

Laurence Finet, Mane-Crinière, 2018, cyanotype on paper, 22 x 32 cm, 2019-0014

Tony Fouhse, Untitled (snow), 2017, digital print on paper, 34 x 51 cm, 2019-0015

Gary Franks, Meredith and Hollis, 2018, digital print on paper, 33 x 41 cm, 2019-0016

Gary Franks, Self-Portrait, 2018, digital print on paper, 33 x 41 cm, 2019-0017

Gary Franks, Pippa, 2018, digital print on paper, 33 x 58 cm, 2019-0018

Daniel Effah, Blend Mask, 2018, digital print on paper, 41 x 51 cm, 2019-0019

Anna Frlan, Jet Clean, 2017, steel, 94 x 66 x 61 cm, 2019-0020

Marisa Gallemit, Vulcanized 1, 2018, bicycle tubes and pandanus leaves, 27 x 64 x 8 cm, 2019-0021

Marisa Gallemit, Vulcanized 2, 2018, bicycle tubes and pandanus leaves, 18 x 64 x 10 cm, 2019-0022

Marisa Gallemit, Vulcanized 4, 2018, bicycle tubes and pandanus leaves, 18 x 58 x 10 cm 2019-0023

Adrian Göllner, All the Birds I Saw Last Year: May 2018, 2018, digital print on paper, 92 x 29 cm, 2019-0024

Abigail Gossage, Barrymore’s Music Hall, 2019, digital print on paper, 71 x 102 cm, 2019-0025

Abigail Gossage, Somerset House, 2019, digital print on paper, 71 x 102 cm, 2019-0026

Nathalie Grice, Raccoon Kit, 2014, mixed media, 33 x 20 x 24 cm, 2019-0027

Nathalie Grice, Raccoon, 2014, mixed media, 56 x 41 x 31 cm, 2019-0028

Michael Harrington, Three Figures, 2019, gouache on paper, 23 x 30 cm, 2019-0029

Clara Kim, Frog & Rooster No. 3, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 61 x 91 cm, 2019-0030

Donald Kwan, Invisible Identities (Vest), 2019, mixed media, 66 x 46 x 5 cm, 2019-0031

Charlynne Lafontaine, No More Tears, 2018, glass and found object, 34 x 22 x 15 cm, 2019-0032

David Lidbetter, Spring Flood, 2018, oil on canvas, 76 x 102 cm, 2019-0033

Jim Logan, He Stole Three Boxes of Kraft Dinner, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 61 x 76 cm, 2019-0034

Blazej Marczak, Ice Blasting, 2018, digital print on paper, 112 x 161 cm, 2019-0035

Meryl McMaster, Caitlin, 2010, digital print on paper, 91 x 91 cm, 2019-0037

Maria Moldovan, Keeping It, 2018, porcelain, 33 x 28 x 13 cm, 2019-0037

Maria Moldovan, Carrier, 2018, porcelain and painted wood, 43 x 38 x 15 cm, 2019-0038

Caroline Monnet, Caroline, 2019, digital print on paper, 61 x 61 cm, 2019-0039

Paula Murray, Passage II, 2017, porcelain, 52 x 10 x 12 cm, 2019-0040

Mélanie Myers, Sans-titre (laitues défraîchies), 2019, colour pencil on paper, 158 x 152 cm, 2019-0041

Nadia Myre, Respite 03, 2017, digital print and plexiglas, 122 x 122 cm, 2019-0042

Rajeev Nath, Measuring Wheel, 2019, digital print on paper, 76 x 61 cm, 2019-0043

Rajeev Nath, Multi-Angle Palette Knife, 2019, digital print on paper, 76 x 61 cm, 2019-0044

Mat O’Hara, Casting a Line to Alain Brosseau, 2019, digital print on paper, 102 x 76 cm, 2019-0045

Cheryl Pagurek, Bodies of Water, 2013, digital video, 7 mins 22 sec, 2019-0046

Neeko Paluzzi, HIS/HIS, 2018, digital print on paper, 100 x 152 cm (each), 2019-0047

Bozica Radjenovic, Ne me quitte pas, 2017, linen and wax, 110 x 13 x 7 cm, 2019-0048

Mike Steinhauer, Vanier, 2019, digital print on paper, 132 x 66 cm, 2019-0049

Cindy Stelmackowich, Bleached Plasticity, 2019, digital print on paper, 84 x 112 cm, 2019-0050

Norman Takeuchi, Equilateral No. 9 (East Lillooet), 2018, acrylic on canvas, 122 x 91 cm, 2019-0051

Katherine Takpannie, Our Women and Girls are Sacred, 2018, digital print on paper, 61 x 91 cm, 2019-0052

Katherine Takpannie, Battling Addiction, 2018, digital print on paper, 61 x 91 cm, 2019-0053

Katherine Takpannie, Every Now and Then I Get a Feeling That I’ve Left Something Behind Me, 2018, digital print on paper, 61 x 91 cm, 2019-0054

Jeff Thomas, Terra Nullius, 2019, digital print on paper, 52 x 126 cm, 2019-0055

Sharon VanStarkenburg, It’s So Easy, 2016, oil on paper, 76 x 56 cm, 2019-0056

Colin White, Boushey’s (Façade), 2016, ink on paper, 28 x 36 cm, 2019-0057

Anna Williams, Déjeuner Sur L’Herbe, 2019, linocut on paper, 29 x 39 cm, 2019-0058

Shirley Yik, Anthrop-o-scene 1, 2016, ink on paper, 107 x 152 cm, 2019-0059

Jinny Yu, From Left to Right, 2017, oil on aluminum, 2019-0060

Kathryn Drysdale, Burnside #4, 1993, charcoal on paper, 76 x 56 cm, 2019-0061

2019 Direct Purchase Peer Assessment Committee members; Andrew Fay, Julie Hodgson, Melinda Mollineaux, Danielle Printup, Ramona Ramlochand

Donations

Karl Ciesluk, Seed Pod A, 2015, granite and stone, 69 x 46 x 160 cm, 2018-0068

Karl Ciesluk, Seed Pod C, 2015, granite and stone, 46 x 92 x 132 cm, 2019-0109

Christos Pantieras, Stephana (Crowns), 2000, found objects, wax and oil paint, 66 x 33 cm, 2019-0003

Christos Pantieras, ALL THE BEST, 2015, ink on paper, 76 x 56 cm, 2019-0004

Christos Pantieras, Untitled 1, 2015, digital print on paper, 111 x 85 cm, 2019-0005

Christos Pantieras, Untitled 11, 2015, digital print on paper, 111 x 85 cm, 2019-0006

Christos Pantieras, Untitled 12, 2015, digital print on paper, 111 x 85 cm, 2019-0007

Bruce Garner, Untitled (Dialog Series), n.d., bronze, 76 x 50 x 13 cm, 2019-0008

Jeff Thomas, White Corn, 2019, digital print on paper, 52 x 136 cm, 2019-0062

Jeff Thomas, Turtle Island, 2019, digital print on paper, 51 x 106 cm, 2019-0063

Mathieu Trudel, Vieux-Hull, 2014, silkscreen on paper, 61 x 46 cm, 2019-0064

Mathieu Trudel, The Dirtbombs, 2005, silkscreen on paper, 43 x 28 cm, 2019-0065

Mathieu Trudel, Holly Golightly, 2004, silkscreen on paper, 43 x 28 cm, 2019-0066

Mathieu Trudel, Le Nombre, 2003, silkscreen on paper, 28 x 43 cm, 2019-0067

Mathieu Trudel, L’allumière Canada Limited, 2014, digital print on paper, 31 x 46 cm, 2019-0068

Mathieu Trudel, Louis’ Pizza, 2015, digital print on paper, 31 x 46 cm, 2019-0069

Mathieu Trudel, Shanghai Restaurant, 2014, digital print on paper, 31 x 46 cm, 2019-0070

Mathieu Trudel, Bobby’s Table, 2015, digital print on paper, 31 x 46 cm, 2019-0071

Mathieu Trudel, Épicerie Claire Lepage, 2014, digital print on paper, 31 x 46 cm, 2019-0072

Mathieu Trudel, Vanier, 2015, digital print on paper, 31 x 46 cm, 2019-0073

Mathieu Trudel, Salon de Barbier Mantha, Majeau, 2014, digital print on paper, 46 x 31 cm, 2019-0074

Mathieu Trudel, Bar Jaguar, 2016, digital print on paper, 31 x 46 cm, 2019-0075

Mathieu Trudel, Dumouchel, 2015, digital print on paper, 31 x 46 cm, 2019-0076

Mathieu Trudel, Houle Sports, 2015, digital print on paper, 31 x 46 cm, 2019-0077

Mathieu Trudel, Steinbergs, 2015, digital print on paper, 31 x 46 cm, 2019-0078

Mathieu Trudel, Raw Sugar, 2014, digital print on paper, 46 x 31 cm, 2019-0079

Mathieu Trudel, Chez Taffy, 2015, digital print on paper, 31 x 46 cm, 2019-0080

Mathieu Trudel, Vive le vélo libre (Dec. 4, 2015), 2015, mixed media on cardboard, 31 x 46 cm, 2019-0081

Mathieu Trudel, Idle Hand, 2014, watercolour on paper, 61 x 46 cm, 2019-0082

Mathieu Trudel, Sans titre (July 8, 2015), 2015, ink and graphite on paper, 23 x 32 cm, 2019-0083

Mathieu Trudel, Mellos (November 3, 2015), 2015, ink and graphite on paper, 23 x 32 cm, 2019-0084

Mathieu Trudel, Maxwells (June 22, 2015), 2015, ink and graphite on paper, 23 x 32 cm, 2019-0085

Mathieu Trudel, Butler Motor Hotel, 2015, digital print on paper, 31 x 46 cm, 2019-0086

Mathieu Trudel, Épicerie, 2014, digital print on paper, 23 x 32 cm, 2019-0087

Mathieu Trudel, Patate Doré, n.d., digital print on paper, 31 x 46 cm, 2019-0088

2019 Donation Review Committee; Neven Lochhead, Annie Thibault, Melanie Yugo

Commissions

Brandon Vickerd, Dwell, 2018, weathering steel, 2018-0067, commissioned for Greenbank Road Widening

Jill Anholt, Coordinated Movement, 2018, painted aluminum, 2019-0089, commissioned for O-Train Confederation Line Hurdman Station

Derek Besant, Train of Thought, 2018, lenticular images, 2019-0090, commissioned for O-Train Confederation Line uOttawa Station

Simon Brascoupé, Algonquin Moose, 2018, painted steel, 2019-0091, commissioned for O-Train Confederation Line Pimisi Station

Simon Brascoupé (Lead Artist), Emily Brascoupé-Hoefler, Doreen Stevens, Sylvia Tennisco, Sherry-Ann Rodgers, Algonquin Canoe, 2018, acrylic paint, pine paddles and steel canoe / peinture acrylique, pagaies en pin et canoë en acier, 2019-0092, commissioned for O-Train Confederation Line Pimisi Station

Simon Brascoupé, Claire Brascoupé and Mairi Brascoupé, Algonquin Birch Bark Biting Window Art, 2018, window film, 2019-0093, commissioned for O-Train Confederation Line Pimisi Station

Geneviève Cadieux, FLOW / FLOTS, 2019, ceramic frit on glass, 2019-0094, commissioned for O-Train Confederation Line Rideau Station

Douglas Coupland, Lone Pine Sunset, 2019, powder coated steel, 2019-0095, commissioned for O-Train Confederation Line Parliament Station

Kenneth Emig, Sphere Field, 2019, mixed media, 2019-0096, commissioned for O-Train Confederation Line uOttawa Station

cj fleury and Catherine Widgery, Lightscape, 2019, dichroic glass and stainless steel, 2019-0097, commissioned for O-Train Confederation Line Blair Station

Adrian Göllner, As the Crow Flies, 2018, weathering steel, 2019-0098, commissioned for O-Train Confederation Line Bayview Station

Jyhling Lee, National Garden, 2019, mirrored finished stainless steel, 2019-0099, commissioned for O-Train Confederation Line Tremblay Station

Don Maynard, Stand of Birch, 2018, stainless steel, 2019-0100, commissioned for O-Train Confederation Line Cyrville Station

Geoff McFetridge, This Image Relies on Positive Thinking, 2019, paint on concrete, 2019-0101, commissioned for O-Train Confederation Line Lyon Station

Nadia Myre, untitled (Pimisi/Eel; woven basket; birch forest fence), 2018, mixed media, 2019-0102, commissioned for O-Train Confederation Line Pimisi Station

PLANT, With Words as their Actions, 2019, stainless steel, 2019-0103, commissioned for O-Train Confederation Line Lyon Station

Pierre Poussin, Cascades, 2019, painted aluminum, 2019-0104, commissioned for O-Train Confederation Line Bayview Station

Derek Root, Gradient Space, 2019, coloured glass and glass tile, 2019-0105, commissioned for O-Train Confederation Line Tunney’s Pasture Station

Jennifer Stead, Trails: home and away, 2019, powder coated steel, 2019-0106, commissioned for O-Train Confederation Line Parliament Station

Amy Thompson, Transparent Passage, 2019, powder coated aluminum and ink on glass, 2019-0107, commissioned for O-Train Confederation Line Lees Station

Jim Verburg, The shape this takes to get to that, 2017, porcelain and stainless steel, 2019-0108, commissioned for O-Train Confederation Line Rideau Station

Andrew Morrow, untitled, 2019, digital print on vinyl, 2019-0109, commissioned for O-Train Confederation Line St-Laurent Station