Tag Art

THE FURTIVE FOX
Acrylic on birch panel, 2021
24″ x 24″

ARTIST PROFILE – MIRANDA JONES

Despite her claims that red desert sand still runs deep in her veins, Australian born artist, Miranda Jones has grown to love  Saskatchewan’s wide open skies and abundant wildlife.  Miranda’s art reflects her delight at glimpsing a tiny Goldfinch amongst the leaves, the surprise and joy of spotting a jackrabbit or fox hiding in the shadows or the haunting mystery of owls and coyotes calling at dusk.  She pays homage, and in some cases reverence, to these creatures, many of which were spotted along the Meewasin trail, where she spends many happy hours exploring on her beloved bicycle!

Best known for her signature use of colour and metallic leaf, Miranda moves with ease from tiny iconic paintings to large canvases, art jewelry and even welded steel installations. Her art can shift from realistic to symbolic as she strives to capture the essence of her subject matter. Her work is loved and collected in Canada and abroad and she is widely represented in public, private and corporate collections.

Miranda holds an MFA with great distinction from the  University of Saskatchewan. She is a member of the Studio on 20. Artist Collective in Saskatoon and teaches art and design through the University of Saskatchewan Community Arts Program.

Instagram (mirandajonesart)
Facebook (Miranda Jones or Studio on 20th)
Black Spruce Gallery www.blacksprucegallery.ca
Nouveau Gallery www.nouveaugallery.com

FOR PURCHASE INQUIRIES PLEASE CONTACT: metallic_miranda@hotmail.com
Or text: 306.222.8679

HOLY HARE TRINITY
Metallic leaf and mixed media on hand-built wood icons. 2021
Each measures 5″w x 9″h x 1.5″ d

“The Seaside Meadows Collection is an escape toward bucolic oceanside summer days. This collection has been a long time coming and is inspired by a trip taken to the Maritimes to celebrate a milestone birthday. I’ve long felt connected to those eastern shores, but this trip provided new inspiration as meadows and wild beaches were explored and seen in a different light. I had planned to paint these pieces upon our return, but life took over. And then a worldwide pandemic hit. As we’ve all stayed in place over this past year, longing for travel, exploration and peaceful days has returned stronger than ever. It only felt right to attempt to paint those longings into existence. Seaside Meadows is an ode to the quiet solitude found in wildflowers and the waving natural grass beside ocean waters. My hope is that these pieces provide a gentle reprieve from the heaviness of this year and allow the mind to rest in the natural wonder of the Atlantic shores. ”

Jenni Haikonen is an impressionistic painter and botanical watercolourist working out of Saskatoon SK. She creates pieces inspired by natural landscapes, with a focus on preservation and conservation. Her artistic practice explores the relationship between human, the atmosphere and the lands that surround us. You can find more of her work at www.jennihaikonen.com or on Instagram @jennihaikonen. She can also be contacted directly through email at jenni.haikonen8@gmail.com.

Abby Holtslander is a painter, potter, and printmaker based in Saskatoon. Abby has created art her whole life but has only recently endeavored to share her paintings with the Saskatoon community. Abby has a particular love for representing the feminine form in various configurations and styles. This show features two of Abby’s contrasting styles of painting figures.

The first body of pieces represents Abby’s perception of beauty in the female form. It features calm and self-confident women with distorted body proportions and skin of all colours and shades. The pieces evoke a joyful yet calming energy through the use of vibrant, yet natural tones. Each piece is meant to inspire viewers with one word, such as “listen” or “grow” to motivate self-reflection and the acceptance of themselves and others.

In the second body of pieces, Abby combines her love for painting texture and movement with her desire to portray tranquility and intensity at once. In contrast to Abby’s other body of pieces, where the pronounced shapes and outlines tell the story of faceless women, these pieces feature striking faces that stare back at the viewer with relaxed strength. It is Abby’s hope that through her expression, she creates images that portray the power and peace she sees in femininity.

In addition to being an artist, Abby is also currently in her final year of law school at the University of Saskatchewan.

Contact: go.figure.arts.co@gmail.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/go.figure.arts.co/

Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/GoFigureArtsCo

Horns ‘n Hooves

This exhibition explores the form, beauty, strength, spirit and resilience of the domestic animals that have been central to our existence for thousands of years. These creatures have not only supplied us with food, shelter, clothing, tools and transportation but have also acted as beasts of burden for centuries and require little from us in return. These portraits are inspired by the domestic animals I have recently met through friends and family and during our travels afar.
They are close-up, immersive and often eye-to-eye in order to connect with the animal’s inner core and sometimes they contain a humorous edge in order to capture the creature’s personality. Using encaustic, oil and assorted drawing materials, I pay homage to these animalsof the horn and hoof variety in order to acknowledge their contributions to our world.

KATHY BRADSHAW is a Saskatoon-based artist who works with a range of subject matters in oil and encaustic, an ancient medium treasured for its luminosity, layering capabilities and mysterious nature. Since receiving her B.F.A. with great distinction from the U. of S. in 2005, Bradshaw has taken an array of classes from local and international artists, participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions across Canada and won several awards for her landscape work and animal portraiture.  She was also recently named a “Saskatchewan Artist to Watch in 2019”. Currently represented by galleries in Regina, Waskesiu, Calgary, Canmore and St. John, N.B., her paintings are part of collections across Canada and around the world.

Contact Information:
Website: www.kathybradshawart.com Email: kathybradshawart@gmail.com

Jesse Friesen grew up in the small town of Shell Lake and then moved to Saskatoon. After deciding the city life wasn’t for him, he moved to the town of Hepburn where he, his wife and two children now call home. He has always loved wood. The variation in colors and grain makes every piece different and unique. Lately he has been trying to save local pieces of wood by creating something out of them instead of them being turned into firewood. This will be the last year that he will be creating cutting and serving boards. In the new year his focus will be shifting to high quality wood turning and creating beautiful home décor pieces.

ROBYNN OLSON is a Saskatoon based artist and has been creating and selling works of art for seven years. Six of those years she focused on acrylic landscapes and in the last couple months she has switched over to oil landscapes. The vibrancy and slow drying time drew Robynn to explore in oil paints and once she started she could not turn back! Using large brush strokes and focusing on simple shapes, a recognizable scene comes to life. Using the full spectrum of the colour wheel is also important when she explores a landscape.

PEAKS + PRAIRIES has been the theme of the last 5 shows at Calories Restaurant because it is exactly what Robynn loves to paint. “Places I want to go and places I have been: that is what I want displayed in my home and I hope others want the same! I see beauty in the world and desire to paint it – not in the reality we see it, but in a more vibrant, hyperreal, joyful way.”

Robynn’s hope is recreate your memories and dreams using paint on canvas.

Her husband and two young boys are gracious to accommodate her studio which is set up in their living room. Robynn enjoys the challenge and freedom of painting in her home while her boys play alongside her.

Show Dates: August 3-31

ARTIST BIO
Born and raised in Saskatoon Abigail left home for the big city of Toronto where she began her career as a fashion model. She likes to call this her first life; travelling the world, living out of a suitcase and being known by her measurements! She moved west and home became a 10 acre hobby farm just outside of Vancouver, BC where she learned and practiced a more sovereign lifestyle connected to nature. Working with the rainforest climate she created her first minimalist moss gardens resembling the prairie landscape which grew into her “second life” kermodi living art. In this life she packaged plants instead of packaging herself and she found her feet as a creative business woman. In 2012 she sold kermodi to begin her next adventure aka “the third life”. The amalgamation of all she had done before and all of the influences in her life would come together in “All Things Abigail”. Her world travels, packaging and marketing glamour, many spiritual retreats, dabbling in photography and graphic design, dating a commercial photographer, living on a hobby farm, selling and growing food, landscaping, running an antique store and wearing all of the hats in a creative business with it’s heart in nature. Abigail is greatly influenced by her prairie roots and Japanese style – thus her love of wide open free space, blowing winds, elemental landscapes, subtle and tactile visual cues and minimalism. In her photographic work she prefers techniques that blur hard lines and soften colors to evoke an impressionistic or dreamlike quality. Her work has often been mistaken for paintings which seems a perfect compliment to Abigail.

For orders and inquries:
E: Abigail@allthingsabigail.com
P: 360 486 4954

The transfer process:

The photographic transfer process is such that each outcome will always be unique and subtly different from the rest. This is a fully “hands on” process with the artist constantly working the print to uncover what is hidden underneath. As if by magic and always excitement, the image takes form and reveals itself. The image takes on a lovely otherwordly quality with a slight softening and muting of colors and textures giving it the impression of something that has depth and age.

The show “The Backdrop of Forever”
These photographic works draw attention to what is ongoing “as far as the eye can see” – our prairie sky. All else stands in stark contrast and gains a grounding, a solidity against a moving flowing ever changing and eternal backdrop. I have always been attracted to our minimalist landscapes and the ever so subtle plays of cloud and color. Interestingly enough, it was only recently that I realized why I love photographing the prairie, like a “dah” moment it came to me – everything that IS is surrounded by sky!
On many a road trip as I settle in to the rhythm of a slower pace my eyes adjust and like slow moving water the scenes begin to flow over me. Many a time with camera in hand pointed out the window (thank God the roads are straight) I capture out of that moving landscape an incredible image. It is with some extra delight when I discover it later and I feel so grateful and in awe that I got that shot! Other times I walk and be with my camera, surrendering to the visual exploration, curiosity and deep immersion into the landscape. These are the times when the longer I am immersed the better the images become.

Ann Brooymans Donald has lived and taught art in
Saskatoon for over 18 years. She enjoys captivating images
in her environment. Her connections with nature is the
inspiration for her use of the elements and principles of
design. Her work celebrates the prairies. Ann has been in
numerous exhibitions throughout Canada and Holland.  She
has been teaching art in galleries, museums, high schools,
elementary schools and universities.  Ann holds degrees
related to creating and teaching art from Mount Alison
University, Concordia University, University of Western, York
University and an Art Academy in Enschede, Holland.   Ann
Donald now teaches art and graphic design at Holy Cross
High School, in Saskatoon. 
She can be reached at 306-281-4477 or
adonald@gscs.sk.ca.

Monique is a multi-disciplinary artist from Saskatoon, Canada.

Focusing on specific concepts, she undertakes extensive research prior to creating her work, often incorporating historically significant symbols and images to express her ideas. For each concept, she creates bodies of work rather than individual pieces. Only once she has exhausted a theme does she moves on to a new concept.

Every action, interaction, and observation produces an energy that vibrates within her and connects her to the people with whom she is in contact.  Sometimes a small incident, a promise only half-intended, a touch, or a casual remark, can set off a chain of events that will alter lives and change destinies. Like a pebble in a pond, the rings of energy keep moving outward from the initial touch, whether it is physical, emotional, spiritual or mental.  It is in responding to these ever-changing ripples in the connections between humans that inspires her work. Her work utilizes ever-changing concepts and images because her art is a way of exploring who she is, who she was, who she is becoming, and where she fits into the world around her.

Monique has exhibited printmaking, paintings, sculptures, installations and book works in more than 225 significant solo, invited and juried group exhibitions in 10 countries. Her works are held in more than 44 public and private collections in 10 different countries. Her printmaking works push the boundaries of standard printmaking with enormous-scale printmaking, installation-based printmaking and three-dimensional printmaking.

Monique finds that her work develops well when she is away from her regular routine in her own studio, so she often accepts invitations or seeks out positions as an artist-in-residence in other locations. She was Artist-in-Residence for Disneyland Paris, Paris, France (2013), the Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan Festival (2013), the Saskatchewan Children’s Festival (2012), Bytown Museum, Ottawa, Canada (2010), Spalding, United Kingdom (2008), Nice, France (2006), Vallauris, France (2006), Mount Vernon, USA (2004), Wynyard, Tasmania, Australia (2003) and Coaticook, QC, Canada (2001).

http://moniqueart.com/

twitter/insta:  @moniquesart
monique@moniqueart.com

Show March 23 – April 27th

ARTIST STATEMENT

“Wild Seeds”

My purpose for this photography series is to decontextualize seedheads as an enemy and to reconstruct them as beautiful, courageous, and strong subjects.   Escaping the city lifestyle is an important routine in my life. In the nature of Northern Saskatchewan, I lose myself in a sea of wild plants, observing, thinking on the cycles of life. It was then, where I realized seedheads are the most resilient plant on Earth. This is in part seen through the connection between seedheads and myself, a human being. Take dandelions, which are considered to be an enemy to us humans and not appreciated for their beauty, power, and strength. Often they get overlooked, attacked with chemical herbicides consistently used to eliminate them. Dandelions are born, they flourish, they close up in the aging process and then they die. While death might seem difficult to cope with, dandelions are similar to humans.

After they die, they are reborn and their seeds spread, burying themselves to create new life. Dandelions are not the only resilient seedhead, as there are other seedheads living on planet Earth that have similar strengths.  I witnessed two delicate plants, one being a seedhead, that formed a unique relationship to support each other despite the environmental complications they faced such as flash freezing. These seedheads managed to remain intact despite being in an open field, all throughout a fierce Saskatchewan winter season. In a way, I empathize with these seedheads and saw their strength in reproducing life. In “Wild Seeds,” I wanted to show the beauty within these plants and how they are similar to human life.

BIO Born and raised in Saskatoon, Natasha Yokoyama-Ramsay is a freelance photographer currently based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. She graduated with a Bachelor of Design specializing in Photography from Alberta College of Art + Design (ACAD) in 2013 and since then, she has pursued a career as a freelance photographer in both commercial and fine art spaces.  While in college, Natasha studied Commercial Photography with a specialization in Portraits where she participated in several group shows in Calgary, Alberta. Upon her return to Saskatoon shortly after graduation, Natasha took part in a couple of solo exhibitions. Natasha’s main specialization in photography is portraiture, where she seeks raw qualities and reveals the honest and vulnerable characteristics in her subjects. Overtime, she took her talent of capturing raw qualities in portraits and used the same techniques in nature, wildlife, and objects.