Divino Mucciante, Fine Art Photography
New exhibition September 22 – October 29, 2017
Opening Reception Sunday, September 24, 2 – 4pm
Gallery Hours: Thursday – Sunday, 12n – 4:30pm
Divino Mucciante began his training as a professional photographer in 1970, spending several years working for some of the finest photographers in Canada and gaining experience in portrait, wedding, advertising, commercial and corporate photography. As a result, he earned several prestigious first-place awards as a member of the Professional Photographers of Canada (PPOC) and more than a dozen of his award-winning prints were part of a PPOC display that toured Canada. His prints are now in the National Archives of Canada permanent collection.
He retired in 2008, after 32 years as Brock University’s official photographer. During his university career he has photographed such personalities as James Cameron, Anne Murray, Barbara Frum and the Royal Canadian Air Farce, as well as politicians, philanthropists, Supreme Court judges and many community business leaders. He was also responsible for photographing major publication projects, such as the university annual reports, recruitment books, posters, pamphlets, brochures and official portraits of chancellors and presidents. Divino captured the laughter, joy and tears, the triumph and relief of every convocation ceremony. The science faculty especially provided a challenge wanting photographs of specimens and experiment setups.
Divino now focuses on Fine Art Photography, ranging from Abstract and Surreal to Portraits and Landscapes. He produces his limited edition prints on Giclee canvas and art paper with archival matting and custom framing. Divino and his wife Anna, with their two sons, live in rural Fenwick, where he often finds choice subjects and scenes for some of his landscapes images.
Divino sums up his inspiration with photography in these words: “The camera has been my passport to many events and ceremonies, in meeting interesting people and it has taught me to see and appreciate all that is around me, it has given me such a rewarding life.”
New Exhibition: Tim Francis
BOTH SIDES OF TIM FRANCIS
August 4 – September 17
Meet Tim at Arts Place, Saturday, August 12, 12n – 4:30p
Find out more about Tim at
https://www.niagarathisweek.com/community-story/7492770-a-story-in-egg-tempera/
Bravo for 25 Anniversary Exhibition
“Bravo for 25” is a collection of work of the founding members of the Gallery, together with past and present members of Arts Place celebrating the Gallery’s 25th Anniversary. The display of artwork by notable artists will span the Gallery’s entire history to present day and the exhibition is on through July 30th.
To provide a brief history, it was in March 1992, eleven area artists took a leap of faith and opened Arts Place Gallery, a contemporary fine arts and crafts collective for the promotion of the arts and a window to their studios, at its present location, 714 King St., Port Colborne. Arts Place Gallery’s mandate provides ongoing exhibition space for its members and monthly solo exhibitions of area artists in all genres. Cultural excellence over the years has provided support for developing artists and various community initiatives such as workshops, musical and visual events and awards for continuing art education, while encouraging the appreciation and understanding for the art experience.
We cordially invite you to join the artists, loyal volunteers, friends and patrons to commemorate the anniversary of one of the creatively committed cultural institutions of Port Colborne. Please visit us on Sunday, July 9th, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the Gallery, 714 King Street, Port Colborne, and celebrate with those who have helped make the Arts Place Gallery experience possible for the past 25 years by generously supporting its programs, exhibits and the artists. Refreshments and cake will be provided and your presence would be much appreciated.
Gallery Hours: 12n – 4:30pm, Thursday through Sunday.
Below: Installing the exhibition. Tim Francis, Diana Hinman, Jane Marshall, Joyce Honsberger, Derek Richards (Doug Carter not shown)
Artist captures nature on the canvas
Greg Davies exhibit “Bestiary” at arts place gallery will feature renditions of extinct and endangered animals over the next month at Arts Place Gallery. – Steve Henschel/Metroland
PORT COLBORNE — Greg Davies hopes that those who take in his paintings might be spurred into action, to perhaps do their part to save another species from going the way of the dodo.
A painting of a dodo can be found amongst the images being presented by the Thorold painter for his upcoming exhibit at Arts Place Gallery entitled “Bestiary.” The exhibit features a selection of works from two series Davies has been working on since 2015. All of the images, be they in pastel, graphite, watercolour, oils or silverpoint, depict animals that are extinct or on their way with endangered or at-risk status.
“I grew up in a household very oriented toward nature conservancy,” said 52-year-old Davies, who works as an arts administrator at the Dundas Valley Carnegie Gallery. He’s been painting and drawing since he was 10, although there have been some sizeable hiatuses in his life due to the pressures of family and work.
He taught for many years at the University of Toronto and McMaster University. Upon leaving teaching he picked back up where he left off.
“I was able to pick up the brush again,” said Davies, who soon found himself painting animals, both extinct and present, drawing on his life-long affair with nature conservancy.
“It’s something I grew up with,” he said, adding that creatures of the wild just attract him as subjects.
“I just find them fascinating,” he said. Davies went on to explain he hopes the exhibit will encourage viewers to protect the environment with its images of manatees, sea turtles, pigmy three toed sloth and more.
“There are less than 100 of these little guys left,” said Davies, referring to the sloth in his painting.
The exhibit runs from May 7 to June 18 at the King Street gallery, Thursday through Sunday, 12n – 4:30PM
Greg Davie’s “Bestiary”
Sunday, May 7 – Sunday, June 18
Opening Reception Sunday, May 7, 2 – 4 pm
Bestiary is an exhibition of select paintings and drawings from two series of works by the Niagara-based artist, Greg Davies. Silverpoint, watercolour and pastel paintings and drawings from his Sanibel series (2015) – depicting animal subjects native to the Florida Gulf Coast island identified in the title – draw upon the 19th-century visual style of John James Audubon and Martin Johnson Heade, as well as first-hand observation.
Oil paintings from the artist’s Memento Mori series (2015 – present) add a counterpoint, taking inspiration largely from the art of the Baroque and Romantic periods. The animals depicted in these paintings represent threatened, endangered or extinct species: victims of environmental damage, poaching, hunting, finning and whaling. The works exhibit traces of 17th-century tenebrist painting and the influence of 18th– and 19th-century compositions by Francisco Goya and John Singleton Copley, amongst others. In this respect, they recall works which were contrived to move the viewer to reflect upon matters both spiritual and sublime. As the title declares they are ‘reminders of death’: not only reminders of the passing of those species we threaten, but of our own mortality and the loss we inflict upon ourselves through our troubled relationship with the natural world.
About the Artist
Greg Davies is figurative artist who works with oil on canvas, watercolours, graphite, silverpoint, pastels and mixed media on paper. He produces works in series in order to explore subjects thematically and stylistically:
“In my work I draw upon historic styles and past modes of representation as a means of presenting and interpreting contemporary subject matter. This impulse stems, in part, from a belief in the sustainability of old styles. The visual references in my paintings and drawings are equally informed by my background in the field of art history.”
Currently the administrator of the Carnegie Gallery in Dundas, Ontario, Greg Davies holds an MA in art history from the University of Toronto where he has also taught courses in Renaissance and Baroque art. From 2002 – 2014 he taught art history at McMaster University as both a lecturer and assistant professor. His past courses have also included Renaissance and Baroque classes conducted in Florence, Venice, Siena and Rome.
New Exhibition: “Let There Be Light”
Oil Paintings by Sharon Macsai
March 4 – April 16
Meet the Artist Sunday, March 5, 2 – 4 pm
gallery hours: Thursday – Sunday, 12n – 4:30pm
Sharon has always had the need express her feelings through art. As a self taught artist she has her own unique way of putting thoughts to canvas. She is mesmerized by the play of light on water, the spray of sunshine on nature and also the effects of street lights illuminating the darkness. With the use of oils, bringing that light to canvas has a special appeal for her. She brings a feeling of warmth to her work with the use of colour and the layering of paint to achieve the desired effect of light and shadow which draws the viewer into her creations. There is a serene yet whimsical approach to her work with a story to unfold.
Born and raised in Welland in a time when children spent most of their time playing outdoors, Sharon was observing the wonderful splendor nature has to offer. The need to put those findings to paper or canvas came at an early age. She also expresses herself through gardening and decorating. An empty flowerbed is a canvas waiting to be filled and nurtured to fruition.
This past year Sharon has exhibited at the Welland Rose Festival Show at the arena, Day in the Park and the Rose Festival Art Show at the Seaway Mall in which she was awarded 2nd place for the People’s Choice Award. In 2015 Sharon placed first in Welland Rose Festival People’s Choice Award and has also displayed her work at the Welland Civic Centre’s Wall of Art. In 2015 she participated in the SPARC revitalization program working with students to create a mural for Fitch Street School which took first place in the People’s Choice Award.
Read Niagara This Week’s Steve Henschel’s interview with Sharon.http://www.niagarathisweek.com/whatson-story/7168792-back-into-the-light/
See more of Sharon’s work at
https://artsplacegallery.com/members-2017/sharon-macsai/
New Exhibition: France Duff
Decor Style: A Portfolio of Classic Interior Designs
January 20 – February 22, 2017
Meet the Artist Sunday, January 22, 2 – 4pm
The work that will be featured is from the course requirements for an interior designer, done by France when she was a student at Niagara College, which gave her skills that she used throughout her career as a local designer. In those days, before computers and CAD, all drawings were done by hand, relying on tools like rulers and French curves. Proposals for customers were drawn and presented by the designer, and included both perspective and elevation drawings, as well as samples and vignettes. Frequently, the customer purchased the drawings as well as the furniture, accessories and decor services being presented.
The portfolio of work being presented shows the depth and breadth of this approach, rendered in different decor styles, such as Louis XIV, Queen Anne, and Modern, in a variety of colours and media. The exhibit shows the technical and creative skills necessary in the interior design profession, and also harks back to a day when computers were not so omnipresent in our lives.
Gallery Winter Hours: Saturday & Sunday, 12n – 4pm
http://www.niagarathisweek.com/community-story/7075188-design-in-the-details-for-welland-artist/
