Gabriel Lalonde is a multi-disciplinary artist from Quebec City. Self taught, Gabriel has dedicated almost 30 years entirely to his relationship with Art. Visual artist, author and poet, he weaves words and visual art to evoke form, line and image. He has exhibited in Canada, USA, France, Germany and England and frequently participates in readings throughout Canada and Europe. He engages with a variety of media to offer an eclectic expression which conveys a richness in surface texture.

http://www.gabriellalonde.blogspot.com/

http://www.lloydgallery.com/lai/lai.htm                                    From 2007:

Painting in what could be described as an “Old Masters”, almost Renaissance style, Dongmin Lai demonstrates a mastery of brushwork that is both direct and spontaneous. Many of his works depicting a rural lifestyle in China make it appear almost medieval in its apparent lack of modernization.

Born in China in 1957, Dongmin received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Beijing Teacher’s University and studied at China’s Academy of Fine Arts. In 1986 he became a member of the Chinese Fine Art Association and proceeded to hold several shows in the National Gallery and the Capitol Museum in Beijing. Two of his paintings were chosen for the Museum’s permanent collection. In October of 1991 he was awarded China’s prestigious Silver Medal for oil painting.

Dongmin Lai paints in very deep, rich colours and as well as his scenes of country life, he paints Chinese landscape including the canals of Suchow. He also paints exquisite, finely detailed portraits.

He has been painting professionally for about 20 years, the last 14 of which have been spent in British Columbia. His work may be found in private and corporate collections in China, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, the United States and Canada.

Contributing Artist in These Exhibits

Floyd Kuptana worked in stone for decades and later in his career moved to include paint and collage. A prolific artist, he sold many pieces within hours of finishing them.

He often visited Gallery Arcturus and collaborated, challenged and inspired other artists. Curator deborah harris and her assistant Sae Kimura created three books on his works that have been displayed at the gallery;

The gallery currently has several pieces in its permanent collection including sculptures known as ‘Sedna’ and ‘Shaman’. Many more works are on loan to the gallery and can be seen throughout the exhibit spaces. See Arcturus Books

In 2021 Floyd Kuptana passed away and in 2023 a site dedicated to his work was launched:  floydkuptana.ca

Please see videos created at the gallery in this YouTube playlist and more details on the artist are at Wikipedia

Writing about the artist workshop and exhibit t h r o u g h and t h r o u g h Part Two :

There is a miracle of encountering other artists, of how they are similar and different. Magic of colors and lines.
Looking at this show I can see deborah, Vivian and me and how we talk without words.
I think that can be seen by everyone who visits, not just we three. In the work of this exhibit you can see our communication.

For me Gallery Arcturus is the place
for study without getting bored,
for play very very seriously,
for adventure to unknown world
and for discovering myself deeply.

Her web site:  http://esalalamu.jimdo.com/

Contributing Artist in These Exhibits

http://www.olenakassian.com/                                              From 2008:

I was born outside of Munich, Germany, of Ukrainian parentage, in 1947. I arrived at Pier 21 in Halifax in 1954, with my parents and a bundle of goods stuffed into a tin washtub. I had a small suitcase. And my teddy bear.

My studies have included Drawing and Painting at the Ontario College of Art, and Fine Art and Philosophy at the University of Guelph.

My work as an illustrator encompasses the worlds of animation, publishing, and advertising – I joke that Loblaws is one of my art galleries, with labels for Del Monte, President’s Choice, McCain, and many others on the shelves. I have painted highly realistic billboards that have appeared from Hong Kong Harbour to the walls of tall buildings in Toronto. I have published 17 children’s books and have an ongoing relationship with a new book about a dog – that resists completion!

I began to draw with mylar and graphite as a result of the need to articulate the emotional and existential fallout resulting from a profound loss. I needed a form that reflected my inner life in a way that my illustration practice could not. Because the nature of the work was very intimate, I had no desire to exhibit. Apart from a one-man show at the Canadian Sculpture Gallery (at the invitation of the director) and a couple of small group shows, I have kept a low profile. Now, at a time of life when many people would retire, I have made my personal work a primary focus.

Contributing Artist in These Exhibits

Randy Hryhorczuk is a Canadian visual artist born in Vancouver, British Columbia. He grew up in the rural countryside and later lived in the City of Vancouver before moving to Toronto in order to focus on painting.

Randy is a self-taught oil painter. He has been showing publicly since 2000 in Canada, the United States and Germany. His artwork has been collected privately in Canada, the United States, Great Britain and Guatemala. Randy currently paints full time.

http://www.hryhorczuk.com/

Contributing Artist in These Exhibits

Born in the Czech Republic, Lenka Holubec studied at the Film and Video Department of York University in Toronto. She worked as an independent filmmaker developing feature and documentary projects. Still photography always held a strong appeal to her as a tool of powerful visual expression so she has increasingly devoted herself to this field.

A strong bond with nature inspires and nourishes her photography work to a great extent. This relationship has become even stronger after her arrival to Canada, thirty years ago, when she traveled along the Great Lakes for the first time. The lakes’ powerful magic touched her deeply. It was a feeling of being at home at the place where she has never been before.

Photographing the various elements of nature remains a very intense and revealing experience to her as it involves a process of achieving a unity and harmony between the surrounding environment and oneself. The images then echo her pursuit to capture and preserve the meaning of what she sees and experiences. Perhaps traces of this meaning can be found embedded in the details of rocks, the world of reflections, water images, landscapes or still life.

http://photosharedvisions.com/

Contributing Artist in These Exhibits

http://dellaheywood.com/?page_id=19                  From 1997:

Born in Vancouver, Della’s primary interest from early childhood was art.  She attended the Emily Carr School of Art and Capilano College where she studied a variety of artistic mediums.  In her development as an artist, Della was influenced by the Impressionists, Post-Impressionists and the Surrealists.  This is revealed in her love of light, intensity of colour and appreciation for dream-like realities.  Her paintings document her quest to strip away habitual cognition and enter into the magical world behind and within ordinary perception.  Della currently lives in California and has become one of the most accomplished members of the School of Reductionism.

SCHOOL OF REDUCTIONISM

Conceived in 1987 by E.J. Gold, a prominent American artist, and other members of the Grass Valley Graphics Group, an artist’s community in northern California.  The School consists of more than 20 American and Canadian painters and sculptors who have worked with Gold to reformulate the aims and principles of contemporary visual art.

Reductionism embodies both a philosophy of art and certain practical principles which infuse its works with recognizable qualities.

The philosophy of Reductionism places utmost value on the creative act which originates as an aesthetic perception and a corresponding state or condition of being.  It is then the artist’s task to capture or express this perception in a work of art which enables the viewer to have the same experience.  Reductionist art is therefore objective in nature and not an exploration of the subjective states of the artist.

Artists of the School include: E.J. Gold, Della Heywood, Kelly Rivera, Heather Valencia, Stephanie Boyd, Menlo Macfarlane, Robbert Trice, Tom X., Claude Needham, Zoe Alowan, Richard Hart, Mark Einert, Douglass-Truth, Yanesh, Lidy Nova, Joe Alowan, Tim Elston, David Christie and more.

Although Reductionism in practice is broadly inclusive, experimental and evolving, its art is nonetheless often characterized by three basic qualities:

Essentialism

Reductionism uses recognizable objects and is therefore representational.  However, objects are important for their effect, not important in themselves.  The artist attempts to achieve an effect with the fewest possible lines and details, removing extraneous elements which may deviate or obscure the effect…thus the name Reductionism.  Objects are reduced to their essentials in a move toward the abstract.  Similarly, colour is used unambiguously and powerfully to enhance its effect.  Colours are few, vibrant, sharply contrasting.

Timelessness

Reductionism typically explores another dimension of time, a dimension which is not sequential or “horizontal” but eternal or “vertical”…the same dimension of  time which contains the creative act itself.  There is little or no explicit movement in Reductionist art.  Nothing is happening in the usual sense and time, therefore, does not pass.  The result is an enhanced awareness of posture, positioning of visual elements and their inter-relationships.  Freezing the frame, rendering objects static, also has the effect of freeing other forms of movement such as feeling…motion through emotion.

Space

Perhaps the outstanding feature of Reductionist art is that, despite a limited use of the techniques of  perspective to create three dimensional effects within the picture, the art nonetheless establishes a sense of space.  The reason is the primary place assigned to the viewer.  Because the Reductionist artist strives for communication, scenes are composed for a viewer who is not a voyeur outside the scene but rather a participant who is the reason for the work and necessarily a part of it.  Everything in the scene is oriented first and foremost to the viewer so as to bring the viewer into a relationship with it.  Depth of field is therefore not bounded by the frame but includes the viewer in a truly three dimensional experience of space.  Thus, the art is only completed by viewing.

No Biography is available at this time for Michael Hayes.

Contributing Artist in These Exhibits

I have used art to discover and know something of my life in this world. I am for the most part self taught, which is to say that I have learned through inquiry and perception.

In 1998 I accepted the position of artist-in-residence at Gallery Arcturus. During this time I have expanded my work efforts to explore a wide range of mixed media installations including collage, painting and sculpture as well as curating and hosting public and artists’ workshops.

– deborah harris

deborahharris.ca