ASP Gallery

The Artist Studio Program is a unique venture that invites local and regional established and emerging artists within 150 km of Ottawa to apply. An innovative approach towards supporting local artistic development in a variety of settings ideal for inspiring creativity. Support for practicing artists to develop artwork to be seen in Ottawa and around the world.

The ASP gallery is open to the public by appointment only. This exhibition space is used by selected artists involved in the Artist Studio Program for formal or in-process exhibition of artwork.

This is us now

September 26 to November 26, 2023

Reception: Friday, September 29, 6 to 9 pm

Artists: Elisabeth Arbuckle, Marie Arsenault, Barbara Cuerden, Peter Cunningham, Louis Denis, Joanne Dero, Denise Lachance, Don Monet, Ralph Nevins, Amelia Schembri, Luminita Serbanescu, Sue Shuker, Kerri Weller, Carmel Whittle, Shirley Yik

This is us now celebrates local and regional established and emerging artists currently active in the Artist Studio Program. The Artist Studio Program offers an innovative approach towards supporting local artistic development in a variety of settings ideal for inspiring creativity. These settings include the Gamman House in Vanier, the Gardener's House in Britannia Beach and Stafford Studios in Bells Corners. Though these artists work in many different styles and media, they hold much respect for each other's work.

Biographies

Elisabeth Arbuckle is a graphic designer by training, an art teacher by experience and a forever artist by practice. Born in Wales, she attended art schools in the U.K. gaining a B.A. in graphic arts and a teaching diploma. She maintains a studio at Stafford Studios (Nepean Creative Arts Centre) and has exhibited her work with a number of groups around Ottawa. She is currently serving as President of Ottawa Mixed Media Artists. Her work can also be found at the Foyer Gallery. 

Marie Arsenault is an artist who over the years has worked in watercolour, oils, and acrylics. She has studied with the following artists: Morton Baslaw (Ottawa School of Art) and Shawn McNevin. In 2011, she was selected by the City of Ottawa to work and create from their Stafford Studios at the Nepean Creative Arts Centre and is still there to this day. Arsenault has been an executive of the Nepean Fine Arts League for over 10 year she is currently the president of the club.

Barbara Cuerden is a multi-media artist who creates work that reflects the allure of the local, in this case in her studio at Britannia Bay Gardener’s House studios, located by the Ottawa River and the Mud Lake conservation area. 

Peter Cunningham was born in Birmingham in 1951, in the industrial midlands of England. By 1963 his family had moved from the city to the Staffordshire countryside. Experiencing these two contrasting environments (industrial and rural), proved to be an influential factor in the ongoing development of his art and his choice of subject. Peter trained at Stafford College of Art and Design and completed a vocational course in Fine Art Painting at the Byam Shaw School of Drawing and Painting, in London. He is currently represented by galleries in Ottawa and Saint John, NB and is included in many corporate and private collections.

Louis Denes and Amelia Schembri are an artist duo working out of Gardener’s House. They are currently creating a body of work entitled Generica, which details groups of people in various colour schematics.

Joanne Dero has acquired diplomas in Graphic Arts, Visual and Creative Arts, with a concentration in Integrated Media Studies, and has pursued independent studies in drawing and painting, mosaic, and stained glass. An intuitive exploration of concept and material, her work uses symbols, texture, and dynamic compositions to document her examination of issues such as identity, belonging, and memory.

Denise Lachance is an experimental printmaker who revisits themes of social justice in her work. She is a member of the Ottawa-Gatineau Printmakers Connective and Arteast. 

Don Monet at the Gardener’s House focuses his practice on landscape, photo-collage, and acrylic painting on birch plywood. Through photo-collage and acrylic paint, he creates sequences of fractured photos which are then unified through paint and traditional landscape techniques. Co-Founder and director of Cube Gallery, Ottawa (2005-present), Don has organized dozens of thematic group exhibitions and solo shows and provided a venue for hundreds of artists. 

Ralph Nevins is an experimental photographer, digital sculptor, and has been showing locally and internationally for 17 years.

Luminita Serbanescu was born in Transylvania and has been involved in art since her early years. A life-changing relocation to Canada with a degree in architecture followed, in search of freedom. Raising a son, working to make a small business successful, she still finds time for art. She is a member many art associations including the West Carleton Arts Society and currently has a studio at Stafford Studios in Nepean. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally.

Sue Shuker works out of the Stafford Studios in Bells Corners, West Ottawa. She is the current President of West Carleton Arts Society, Past President of Ottawa Mixed Media Artists, and a member of Arts Carleton Place.  

Kerri Weller’s paintings have been published in Fine Art Connoisseur magazine, displayed at the Canadian Museum of Nature, and juried into international exhibitions and the Art Renewal Centre Salons. She has designed commemorative coins for the Royal Canadian Mint.   

Carmel Whittle, Mi'kmaw/Irish 2S cultural community artist, activist, independent film maker and musician/songwriter. Director-Curator for No Borders Art Festival, and Coordinator for the Thunderbird Sisters Collective. Recent films include Carrying Each Other Finding Ourselves. 

Shirley Yik’s works explore human-created systems in the context of the Anthropocene, and the effect they have on our relations with each other and with nature. Yik holds a Diploma of Fine Arts from the Ottawa School of Art and graduate degrees in business and information systems science from Carleton University. Her works are found in the City of Ottawa Art Collection. 

Nepean Creative Arts Centre, Unit 1
35 Stafford Road, Bells Corners
613-596-5783

By appointment only