There are two things that tell us the holiday season is just around the corner: snow, for one, and Canada House Gallery’s annual celebration, JOY.
This year, JOY will bring together 20 artists from across Canada and likely about 80 pieces of art – paintings, sculptures, mixed-media and jewelry – for a celebration of all things art and the holidays.
Gallery owner Barbara Pelham said the roster of artists on hand for JOY, which opens Saturday (Nov. 23) from 1-4 p.m. will include familiar faces such as Susan Kun, Donna Jo Massie, Robert Roy and Dieter Schlatter, and a few new ones, like Steven Nederveen and Robert Lemay, both of whom are nationally-recognized artists.
“We’re so proud to welcome (Nederveen) to our gallery. He’s very established. He has an outstanding mysterious technique of combining his own photography with paint and resin on birch panel. There’s the essence of the natural wood grain showing through and they’re absolutely stunning,” Pelham said.
Lemay, meanwhile, creates large-format paintings of flowers that are just past their prime allowing him, Pelham said, to “focus on the dimension and the character, almost the personality, of the bloom.”
Esthetically, the 20 artists and their work have little in common, she added. Instead, JOY celebrates the diversity found in Canadian art and bringing a talented group of artists together for a rare opportunity to mingle as a group.
“It’s so rare that they have the opportunity to spend time with other artists because they are usually in their studios by themselves. It’s really exciting for them to be able to interact in a venue like this,” said Pelham.
As a result, JOY is as much about relationships as it is about art, and not just among artists, as it gives art lovers and collectors an opportunity to meet and build relationships with the artists, and vice versa.
“It’s just a great opportunity to come and meet so many and see so much and that is really the point of what is unique about this. Usually you’re showcasing one or two artists, maybe four, but to have 20 artists in the same gallery at the same time is virtually unheard. It just doesn’t happen,” she said.
Operating a successful gallery such as Canada House is dependent on relationships with artists and clients and JOY is an opportunity to keep those relationships alive.
“It is so rewarding to maintain those relationships, enjoy those relationships (and) celebrate those relationships,” Pelham said.
Go to www.canadahouse.com for more information.
