2018 exhibitions

Judith Parker, curatorial collaborator

November 8, 2018 to January 9, 2019

Catalogue excerpt

LifeCycle Conversations is inspired by the theme of memento mori – a reminder of human fragility, mortality and the inevitability of death. In traditional Western painting it is represented symbolically by flowers, fruit and other objects, but here memento mori has been transposed into immersive installations created collaboratively by Barbara Brown and Cynthia O’Brien.

This is the first time that Barbara Brown (photography) and Cynthia O’Brien (clay sculpture) have chosen to work in a collaborative manner – their new works are the fruit of their combined artistic vision. Though the artists work in different media, both employ the changing beauty and delicacy of plants and flowers as a commemorative act and as an observance of transience, loss, memory, decline and rejuvenation in all living things. Brown and O’Brien’s installations also reflect the emotional impact that working as artists in a long-term care residence, where they befriend individuals who are near the end of their lives, has had. Their work reveals profound insights gained from this experience.

-Judith Parker

Biographies

Barbara Brown’s recent exhibitions include Red Oak Labyrinth, an outdoor installation in Beyond the Edge: Artists’ Gardens, Experimental Farm, Ottawa, 2014 (Canadensis Botanical Garden Society), and Desire for Acadia, a solo exhibition at David Kaye Gallery, Toronto, 2018 (Contact Photography Festival). Residencies include Kingsbrae International Residence for the Arts, Saint Andrews, NB, 2017; the Art Collaborative Residency, Jaipur, India, 2017; and Alchemy: An Artist-Led Residency, Hillier, ON, 2018. Recent grants include support from the Ontario Arts Council.

Cynthia O’Brien’s clay sculpture is collected by the Taipei County Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan, the Canada Council Art Bank and the City of Ottawa. O’Brien’s recent grants include the Explore and Create Program, Canada Council for the Arts, 2018 and Arts Funding, City of Ottawa, 2015. Residencies include Tanks Arts Centre, Australia, 2012; Watershed, USA, 2013; Ayatana Artists’ Research Program and CPAWS-OV Dumoine River Art Camp, Quebec, 2017; and MASS MoCA, USA, 2018.

Judith Parker is a curator and art historian. Exhibitions include: co-curator, Beyond the Edge: Artists’ Gardens, Experimental Farm, Ottawa, 2014 (Canadensis Botanical Garden Society); two artist-in-residence exhibitions at the Bytown Museum, Michèle Provost – Rebranding Bytown, 2012, and Cindy Stelmackowich – Dearly Departed, 2011; and Freedom of Association: Dennis Tourbin and Other Artists, Ottawa Art Gallery, 2012. Residencies include Elsewhere – Living Museum, North Carolina, USA, 2014. The Ontario Arts Council has supported her work.

September 13 to October 31, 2018
Opening: Thursday, September 13, 5:30 to 7:30 pm
Artist talk: Sunday, October 21, 2 pm

Catalogue excerpt

Adrienne Scott’s way of collecting hints at a deeper understanding of the significance and potential contentiousness of imposing rigid codifications on—and claiming authority over—the world and its knowledge, an approach traditionally adopted by museums and archival institutions. As the artist gathers her ephemeral inventory, she “underscores the nature of all archival materials as found yet constructed, factual yet fictive.” [Hal Foster, “An Archival Impulse”, October, Volume 110 (Fall 2004), The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, page 5] It’s as though her fluid taxonomies support obscure fantasies tinged with a personal nostalgia for unspoiled ecosystems. In this sense, Magpie Landscapes can be read as an abstract catalogue of the world’s impermanent textures.

Biography

Adrienne Scott is an artist currently working in Toronto, ON. She is a graduate of the Bachelor of Fine Arts program at the University of Ottawa (2016) and a recipient of the Edmund and Isobel Ryan Scholarship in photography. She has also participated in interdisciplinary projects through programs such as the 2017 Montreal Contemporary Music Lab. She has participated in exhibitions throughout Ontario, including at Voix Visuelle (Ottawa, Ontario), the Gladstone Hotel (Toronto, Ontario) and Idea Exchange (Cambridge, Ontario).

July 12 to September 4, 2018

Documentation - drone video

Reacting to the never-ending controversial development plans in Ottawa, satiric artist René Price has built a model utopian city, “OTTOWA” that will be presented on the floor, sprawling out from the middle of the gallery, giving the viewer an overview of it all, zoning and OMB permitting. Profit, growth, gentrification, human foibles and luck, all play a part in mapping out our collective future.

Catalogue excerpt

The Art of City Building is a modelled city, not a model city. Instead of a speculative representation of carefully planned and rationally managed development, it presents us with haphazard hoarded collections of juxtaposed, manipulated, and hacked objects that resemble and parody the city we know. But what city do we know?

-Sarah Gelbard

Biography

René Price is an Ideaguy/inventor, Quirky Mockartist, Scribbler, Rascal, Non-smoking cyber Luddite and Grand Amateur. He has shown his art stuff from Sainte-Foy (Quebec) to Montreal, Ottawa, Cornwall, Toronto, Hamilton, London (Ontario), Sault Ste. Marie, Winnipeg (twice) and Calgary. He has been reviewed in Border Crossings, Art Papers (U.S.A), Espace, Artichoke and various newspapers. His artworks are in the odd collection. He wants to create MORCA (Museum of René’s Contemporary Art) in the Ottawa area, sometime soon!

René Price gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ontario Arts Council.

April 26 to July 4, 2018
Opening: Thursday, April 26, 5:30 to 7:30 pm
Artist talk: Sunday, May 6, 2 pm

Catalogue excerpt

Jennifer Anne Norman’s graphite and mixed-media drawings depict the assemblages she creates by repurposing post-consumer waste to repair and redress fragile tree branches. Norman carefully wraps the knotted limbs of broken branches with pieces of local debris, a tender gesture that invites us to consider our responsibility towards the natural world.

-Isabelle Lynch

Biography

Jennifer Anne Norman is a multidisciplinary artist with ecological motivations. She hails proudly from Northern Ontario and is currently based in Toronto. She received her BFA from OCAD University, and her MFA from the University of Ottawa. Norman has received multiple grants from the Ontario Arts Council for the production of her work and has participated in numerous national and international artist residencies. She has exhibited in Canada, Scotland, Italy, Korea and the USA, and her work is included in numerous private and public collections including the National Art Bank of Canada.

Jennifer Anne Norman gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ontario Arts Council.

February 8 to April 18, 2018

Catalogue excerpt

Andrew Ooi has chosen an unpretentious material to work with, even if his paper is Japanese gampi, made by hand from the inner bark of a bush. He cuts it into strips, then into small rectangles before drawing and painting it; after that comes the folding, gluing, and assembling. This is patient work, the gradual building occurring over many hours, and there is, I imagine, a playful element here, something of the concentrating child sitting cross-legged on the floor. This painting and folding seems a simple practice, but what Ooi produces isn’t simple at all. This is the first of the many contradictions in his work.

-Cary Fagan

Biography

Self-taught in matters of art and origami, Andrew Ooi made his debut in the interior design community who quickly took notice of his radiant objects. The works were published in Illuminate: Contemporary Craft Lighting (Bloomsbury Publishing) and 1,000 Product Designs: Form, Function, and Technology from Around the World (Rockport Publishers), after touring at events and exhibits in Ontario, Canada and Jyväskylä, Finland. Exhibiting in galleries introduced him to the potential freedom of pursuing a visual art practice, which has led him to explore paint and paper; colour, and especially pattern. Andrew Ooi’s artworks have been exhibited in group and solo shows in the US and in Canada where he is currently based. His work is represented by L.A. Pai Gallery in Ottawa, ON and by BoxHeart Gallery in Pittsburgh, PA.

Andrew Ooi gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ontario Arts Council.