TOP NEWS

To make finding the latest news on the VAB blog easier, we've summarized and linked to the top stories.

• Painting Open Studio: new session, plus rescheduled
• Home assignments, 2010 youth classes
• World Art Gallery is no more; Artway expands
• Makini in the Booster, Glenn Bernabe online
• Pastel portraiture workshop with Glenn Bernabe, in April
• vablearn: Constructing a cartoon character, with Peter Emslie 
• BBOT exhibit: Jacqueline Veltri
• Photos of 2010 Youth Achievement Awards

VAB at the CNE: art on display at garden section

Keith Moreau's "Nature's Carpet"
Airbrush and coloured pencil
MORE ART

On Friday, we got the great news: Visual Arts Brampton's 24th anniversary floral art show will be on display at the Canadian National Exhibition. To be displayed as part of the CNE's Garden Show, in the Heritage Court of the Direct Energy Centre, the plan is to have most if not all of the entered works on display, for the entire duration of the iconic event.

We pitched the idea back in May, and the CNE's Garden and Agriculture Co-ordinator, and she actually came out to the City Hall atrium to look at our show this June. She thought the works were great, and the wheels went in motion from there.

Needless to say, we're extremely appreciative to the CNE for their generosity and interest in our show, and we're completely thrilled that we'll be part of the 132nd year of one of Canada's key annual events.

VAB named by CN Ticket program for Battalion

On Sunday, February 27, 2011, Visual Arts Brampton will be honoured by the CN Community Ticket Program for the second time. The group was previously named for the February 5, 2009 game.

For the 8th season in a row, CN is teaming up with the Brampton Battalion in 2010-11 continuing the CN Community Ticket Program which recognizes and offers hockey tickets to people who volunteer and work for local charities and community organizations.

We've been choosing various volunteers within our group, and offering tickets to the game versus the Eastern division rival team Niagara IceDogs, formerly of Mississauga. It should be a great game!

Paul Highgate on Rogers "daytime"

Visual Arts Brampton member artist Paul Highgate was on daytime yesterday, talking about his art and the medium of scratchboard with hosts Travis Dhanraj and Deja Gordon. Highgate is currently on display at Artway Gallery in Shoppers World, in the display In Black and White.

Mississauga artist Janice Ykema, who's set to display as part of Fin, Fur and Feather, actually appeared a few days prior on daytime, to our surprise.

VAB creates at Shoppers World: demos May 12, 14, 15, 16

Visual Arts Brampton will be at Shoppers World Brampton four days next week, drawing, painting, and exhibiting their artwork at the Staples Court. Located between Zellers, Fabricland, Staples, and Cinnabon, the area will be all ours for the multiple day span.

Many of the artists will be painting on 24 inch by 24 inch canvasses, working to a floral theme. Works don't have to be florals, persay, but at least include a flower in the image. Those works will then go on display at the Brampton City Hall Atrium Gallery in June, and at the new Artway Invitational Gallery in July.

Wednesday, May 12

The regularly scheduled Visual Arts Brampton portrait sessions will be at the mall, drawing and painting one of our newest artist members. 10 am to 2 pm.

Friday, May 14

Working on their entries will be VAB members Keith Moreau (10 am to 5 pm, coloured pencil), Anand Vaid (10 am to 2 pm, acrylic), William Band (noon to 3 pm, watercolour), Ryan C. Bennett, and Alysa Bartha (6 to 9 pm, TBA).

Keith Moreau will also be able to discuss his open studio times, William Band his Watercolour workshops, and Alysa Bartha her Pedal's Wish storybook, to be displayed in June at the Artway Invitational Gallery.

Saturday, May 15

VAB member William Band (noon to 3 pm, watercolours) will be working on his floral entry, and will be able to discuss his Watercolour workshops. Youth class instructors Paulina Su and Emily Kowalik are also expected to attend, and work on their entries. Stephanie Czolij will be painting in the morning.

VAB member Jacqueline Veltri will be guiding some of the Visual Arts Brampton teen students, who are working on 24 inch square florals, for a teen-only spin-off exhibit. 1 to 3 pm.

Sunday, May 16

Keith Moreau returns to work on his coloured pencil piece. 11 am to 5 pm.




Debra Ali have all expressed interest in painting at the mall, dates to be announced.

Workshop: Painting from Photographs, with Debra Ali

Painting from Photographs in acrylic or water-based oils
5 Sundays, from May 30 to June 27, 1:00 to 3:30 pm
$50 for VAB members, $65 for non-members
At the Visual Arts Brampton Creative Studios, 1 Bartley Bull Parkway, Suite 10, at the corner of Highway 10/Hurontario and Steeles Avenue

Do you have a favourite photograph that you’d like to paint?

This workshop is designed for anyone wishing to explore their individual sense of expression. You will learn basic image cropping, composition, drawing, perspective, colour mixing and how to work with acrylics and water based oils if needed.

Visual Arts Brampton Creative Studios are a relaxed studio environment, and Debra welcomes students of all levels to come and create.

Debra Ali is an artist and graphic designer, who has studied Fine Arts at Sheridan College. A member of Visual Arts Brampton since 2005, she won the People's Choice Award at the 2006 Art Gallery of Peel Juried Art Show.

Three more William Band watercolour workshops this year

With his current workshop ending in a few weeks, William Band has announced three upcoming watercolour workshops, in June, from September through November, and in November. Each will be held on Tuesday mornings from 9:30 am to 1:30 pm, at the Visual Arts Brampton Studio, at Highway 10/Hurontario and Steeles Avenue. [Location on Google Maps]

The classes are a friendly, welcoming community of learners, and has returned thanks to popular demand many times over the past year. Artists of any level are encouraged to join these classes, which explore various areas of the medium, primarily with still life and landscapes.

Band will be teaching the following dates:

• 4 week class, June 1, 6, 15, and 22,
• 8 week class, September 14, 21, 28, October 5, 12, 19, 26, and November 2
• 4 week class, November 9, 16, 23, 30.

Band has studied with respected Canadian artists including Alan Collier, Bill Stidworthy, and Franklin Arbuckle. After a successful career in commercial art, he returned to his first love, painting. William's art is based on his travels, from canoeing through northern Ontario lakes, to painting in Scotland.

Besides Visual Arts Brampton, William's workshop schedule includes stops across Ontario, as well as multiple times in Plain Field, Illinois.

Contact us to sign up for William's Drawing and Watercolour workshop.

William Band's work is currently on display at Artway Invitational Gallery, at Shoppers World Brampton, across the street from the studio. Artway Invitational is in the mall entrance near Zellers and Fabricland, on the southeast corner of the mall. [Location on Google Maps]

"Alysa Bartha: Petal's Wish" on display this June at Artway Invitational

We've just finalized the dates for Alysa Bartha's show at the Artway Invitational Gallery, at Shoppers World Brampton. Bartha is the author and illustrator of a picture book called Petal's Wish, about a fairy who learns a lesson in self-confidence. Her book is available for $10.99.

Alysa Bartha is a professional photographer who began writing in 2009, as another vehicle of her creativity. She was interviewed by The Brampton Guardian, for an upcoming article.

Alysa expects to be appearing at the mall in advance of the exhibit, at a soon-to-be-announced VAB event.

The new display space is located on the southeast corner of the mall, near Zellers, whereas the original Artway Gallery is still in the northwest corner of the mall.

This weekend: Brampton's Best Undiscovered Comic Artist contest at Stadium Comics' Free Comic Book Day

Think you have what it takes to impress in the world of comic art? Submit a sample of your work to us on Free Comic Book Day. The submissions will go up on Stadium Comics' Facebook page, and the public will vote on which one is the best!

The winner gets a $25 Stadium Gift Certificate, and a two-week exhibit at Visual Arts Brampton's Fridge Front Gallery. The winner gets the "three door" case to themselves, and can display whatever comic art they'd like. The winner chooses the start date for this show, which can be anytime between June and August.

For Free Comic Books Day, Stadium Comics has invited a tons of guests, including Marcio Takara and Alex Milne. Both artists exhibited at Artway Gallery this January, in an exhibit presented by VAB and Stadium Comics. New this year is Ken Lashley, whose titles include Black Panther, X-Men, and The Flash. There's also a ton of stuff on sale in store, an exclusive t-shirt offer, costume creation company Heroes in Tights, raffles, contests, and giveaways.

The most notable giveaway is the reason for the international event, free copies of select comic books. This year's lineup includes titles based on Superman, Ironman, Thor, The Simpsons, Archie, Toy Story and more. But be warned, there's only a limited supply, and they go extremely quickly.

  

Here's two pictures from last year's event, that VAB posted to Twitter.

Tons of art in Hamilton this week, at Doors Open

Door Open Hamilton is on this coming weekend, May 1 and 2. There's quite a variety of sites on the tour, all free to the public.

• Fieldcote Memorial Park & Museum: This site includes an art gallery. Last year, it featured works by local youth. This year?  Guennadi Kalinine, a landscape artist.
• Carnegie Gallery: Once a Carnegie Library, just like what we have in Brampton, it's now the Dundas Art and Craft Association's gallery and shop. Currently on display is their 30th anniversary show, plus work by local two high schools.
• Rock Chapel United Church: Some art will be on display at the church.
• Art Gallery of Hamilton: Current shows on the first floor are Posing Beauty in African American Culture, Ritual Evidence: Tim Whiten, Arctic Passion: The Inuit Art Collection, End of the American Road: Terence Byrnes, and david merritt: sham. On the second floor, Max Streicher: Architecture of Cloud, Robert Mason, Shaped By Light, and Kim Adams' Bruegel-Bosch Bus. Various art talks happen throughout the weekend, plus an art sale.
• Lincoln Alexander Centre: A former movie theatre, now an entertainment hall, an art show is on display.
• The Studios at Hotel Hamilton: Tenants of the building are putting on an art show.
• Workers Arts and Heritage Centre: The only national labour history museum, it also includes an art gallery. On display are gold paper cutouts, inspired by Chinese wallpaper, works by labour union members, and vintage songbook covers.
• McMaster Museum of Art: McMaster graduating students and selections from the permanent collection are on display.
• Engineering Technology Building, McMaster University: Inside are various permanent artworks. The new building opened in 2009.

Beyond all of the attractions directly related to art, there's tons of interesting places, from a nuclear reactor to a planetarium, Dundurn National Historic Site to a waterworks (where they film the exteriors of Murdoch Mysteries, if I'm not mistaken).

Two articles in recent Guardian

In case you missed the two articles about Visual Arts Brampton in last week's Brampton Guardian, both are available online.

First is an interview with Ryan Thompson, relating to his comic Villains of Mercy, on display at Artway's annual Laughlines exhibit. Also included in the show are works by Steve Nease, Peter Emslie, Rob Penman, and Debra Ali.

Included on the same page was a mention of additional open studio time at Visual Arts Brampton, taught by OCAD-trained artist and VAB member Jacqueline Veltri.

Annual General Meeting, April 19 at 7:30 pm

Visual Arts Brampton's Annual General Meeting will be held the evening of Monday, April 19, 2010. All current members are welcome to vote in person, or fill out a proxy. Proxies are available at the studio. As always, the AGM will feature a report of the year's past happenings, scheduled future events, and budget.

The Board of Directors is established during the meeting. Positions are open on the VAB board, and any member is welcome to seek election; you may nominate yourself the night of, but we'd prefer to be informed in advance, via an other board member. Most members serve with formal position titles, and the board meets roughly 8 times annually.

Hope to see you there!

Painting Open Studio: new times, two options

Visual Arts Brampton member and artist Jacqueline Veltri's Painting Open Studio timeslot is moving and expanding.

Jacqueline's new session times are Thursdays from 10 am to 2 pm (starting April 8), and Saturdays from 3 to 5 pm (starting April 10). Jacqueline is available to offer help and encouragement as you work in acrylic, water-based oil paints, and/or watercolours. A graduate of the Ontario College of Art, she has years of creative experience.

Sessions are $3 for members, $5 for non-members, and free for Crea8tif level members. Times are drop-in, so students don't have to commit to every week, and can stay for a while or the entire session length.

The studio will still be open Thursday evenings, with Keith Moreau at the helm; artists may use any medium in this time.

vablearn: Paulina and Emily's Arts 'n' Crafts

For over a month now, vablearn has had the first two episodes of "Paulina and Emily's Arts 'n' Crafts" available online. Taught by Paulina and Emily, our youth class instructors, the episodes will feature various art projects and crafts for roughly the 6 to 8 year old age category.

Home assignments, 2010 youth classes

Any youth class student, in Keith's classes (as opposed to Emily and Paulina's), is encouraged to participate in the year end Youth Achievement Awards. Even if they don't want to enter their works for judging, they're encouraged to try their hand at the home assignments, so Keith can see their strengths and weaknesses throughout the year, and help them develop.

For the list, which was posted a few weeks ago: http://j.mp/HA2010VAB

World Art Gallery is no more; Artway expands

In 1999, 2003 and 2004, Visual Arts Brampton had successful mail art shows; in 2001, the Art Gallery of Peel ran one as well. By 2005, VAB decided it was time to create a permanent, year-round space for postcard-sized art: the World Art Gallery was born.

But since the international mail art community has been gradually fizzling, from its previous heights, VAB is switching gears. While we still intend to have mail art shows on occasion, the Zellers corridor at Shoppers World Brampton will now host a second, as-of-yet-unnamed extension of Artway Gallery.

This new space will focus on one-person and small group shows, as well as one-off theme shows. If you're an artist wanting to have a solo or small group show, or participate in the theme shows, send in a few samples of your work. We'll be in contact with you, and hopefully have you on display.

Makini in the Booster, Glenn Bernabe online

An article about VAB student Makini Calliste-Woolard has appeared in this week's Brampton Booster, the Thursday newspaper published by the Guardian. A longer version of the article appears online.

Our upcoming workshop, taught by Glenn Bernabe, appears online and will hopefully make the print edition. Over the last few months, The Guardian has begun to publish articles online immediately, before the print edition comes out.

Pastel artwork on display at Artway wins international award

Glenn Bernabe's "The Portrait" was recently awarded an Honourable Mention from the Pastel Journal Magazine's 2010 Pastel 100 Annual Juried Competition.

In his newsletter, Glenn writes: "This Competition represents the best pastel art in North America and to be included with this select group is indeed an honour. All the winning pieces are printed in the April Issue of the Pastel Journal Magazine which is on Newstands now so pickup you copy today before they're all gone!"

"The Portrait" is currently on display at Artway Gallery, Brampton.

Pastel portraiture workshop with Glenn Bernabe, April 11 and 18

Pastel portraiture workshop with Glenn Bernabe PAC, AOCAD Two Sundays, April 11 and 18 10 am to 5 pm, with an hour for lunch $110 for Visual Arts Brampton members $125 for non-members

“Portraiture is a way of recording people. Their personality, character, status, the place and time they lived, the environment in which they live or simply showing beauty.” Designed for those with minimal drawing skills, this portraiture course focuses on applying measuring methods, proportion, and alignment when depicting the human face and figure. Using pencil, charcoal and pastel, students will work from a live, clothed model, capturing the face in simplified terms through basic structural studies of the face and skull as well as understanding the body and its form. Tuiton includes both instruction fees and the model's fee. Class size will be 6 to 12 students. Workshop to be held at the Visual Arts Brampton Creative Studios, 1 Bartley Bull Parkway, Suite 10, at the corner of Highway 10 and Steeles Avenue in Brampton. To register, contact Visual Arts Brampton at: 905-453-9142, or visualartsbrampton@gmail.com

vablearn: Constructing a cartoon character, with Peter Emslie

Peter Emslie's next two-part episode is up; demonstrates how to create characters with constructed form, building up gradually from basic shapes to the details.

Part 1 | Part 2

Two high schools booked for Fridge Front Gallery

Recently, we've had Fridge Front bookings for:

• Mayfield Secondary School Regional Arts Program, dates to be decided.
• North Peel Secondary School, March 22 to April 9, 2010.

BBOT exhibit: Jacqueline Veltri

Last week, Visual Arts Brampton member Jacqueline Veltri installed her artwork at the Brampton Board of Trade offices. Jacqueline's artwork will be on display for the next few months, returning in the BBOT's unannounced new location. (The block their building is currently will be levelled for the expansion of City Hall.)

Previous solo exhibits at the BBOT include Bridget Aubé, William Band, Marguerite Finlayson, Paul Highgate, Conrad Mieschke, and Keith Moreau.

BBOT is located at 33 Queen Street West, on the 2nd Floor.

Video of John Knox shows

New video (in 1080p, no less) on YouTube of select art from the current and previous John Knox Christian School exhibitions.

John Knox returns with another show

John Knox Christian School's Christmas-themed exhibit has been so popular, we've invited them back for January. On Friday afternoon, staff from the school will be switching over from one set of art to another.

Fridge Front Gallery is open to any school in the GTA: any grade, public or private, can exhibit any art projects they choose, for a two-week period. Fridge Front also features artwork by Visual Arts Brampton's youth class students, with theming based on Artway Gallery's schedule of exhibitions.

Following the John Knox exhibit are shows by Mayfield's Regional Arts Program and of Canada's Paralympic athletes.

Jack Reid's passing makes year in review

The passing of Art Gallery of Peel curator David Somers and watercolourist Jack Reid are both mentioned in Ashley Goodfellow's year in review, for the arts. Published in the most recent issue of The Brampton Guardian, the article looks at various happenings in the City's entertainment scene.