Natalia Laluq is Toronto based visual and ceramic artist, who studied drawing and painting from well recognized Ukrainian painter Olga Krylova (1983-86). Natalia received her Masters of Graphics at the Kyiv Polytechnic University in Ukraine in 1993. She worked along with 25 other ceramic artists at the Honchary Cooperative in Ukraine’s capital city from 1991 to 2003. The artist is internationally known for her paintings and ceramics work. She has shown her paintings and ceramics in Belgium, Germany, Holland, Italy, South Korea, Canada and the USA. Laluq has won several awards and  honourable mentions for her works. 

Since immigrating to Canada in 2003, the artist has been developing her Canadiana Project. In 2007 she was awarded a project grant from the Ontario Arts Council  and exhibited the Canadiana at one of Ontario's public gallery - Station Gallery in Whitby. The exhibition was curated by Olexander Wlasenko. 

In 2011, on her visit to San Miguel, Mexico, Natalia Laluq met Toller Cranston, Canadian figure skating champion and Olympic bronze medalist, as well as painter and avid collector of Mexican ceramics.  Fascinated by his life story, Natalia, with support of the Ontario Art Council, envisioned and produced Tollermania project, that was presented at Toller Cranston's studio in 2014.

The project, a series of 452 handmade porcelain plates, painted in blue cobalt, was presented as an installation, as well as a “stop-motion” film, where each plate is used as a key frame.  A supporting documentary explored the artistic concept:  Post Industrial Hand-Labourism.

Natalia works at Studio 5 - shared and collaborative space in Toronto’s midtown. 

John Howlin 1941-2006. John was born in England and later moved to Canada in 1969. One of his first major exhibitions was a group show in 1963 at the Whitechapel Gallery in London, along side David Hockney, Ian Stephenson and Howard Hodgkin. The show was called the Impact Makers and the four artists involved were regarded as the most important and influential painters at the time in England. The exhibition was featured in VOGUE magazine at the time.

John’s works are in important collections around the globe including TATE London, The Victoria and Albert Museum, University of Oregon, USA and the Art Gallery of Ontario, Canada to name a few.

Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, William has lived in four of Canada's major cities and now calls Toronto home. Always working in design or fashion retail, the visual aspect of the work was always the draw. Buying his first camera at age 11, he remembers it being a Minolta from a local strip mall. Taking pictures was a hobby from that day on.

In the mid 2000's in Vancouver, William decided to try his hand at film, purchased a digital camcorder and joined Vancouver Film school. He completed the film direction course but realized that he was capturing stills with the camcorder more than shooting video. Film didn't stick.

"I've always been drawn to capturing inanimate objects with clean lines or a simple subject. The beauty of rustic decay or the simplicity of calculated geometry of modern architecture has always pleased my eye. I enjoy playing with perception to challenge the viewer, giving a different perspective that may otherwise not be noticed".

Williams prints are sold by order. 

Gerald Gladstone was born in Toronto, Canada in 1929. Having a background in art and advertising, at 32 he decided to turn to art and sculpture full time. In 1959 he won a Canada Council of the Arts grant and moved to London, England to study at the Royal College of Art. There he met and became very close with British sculptor Henry Moore to whom his work became heavily influenced.

A very confident man, he described himself as “Canada’s foremost sculptor” a title he could back up. As a Canadian he was one of the first artists whose sculptures were truly accepted internationally with shows in London, Rome, New York and Los Angeles to name a few.

Some of his most well known works include his Lucite Cube sculptures  (in which welded airplane parts appear to be floating effortlessly), The Downtown Nudes (a series of oil’s on canvas), The Three Graces (a bronze fountain at the Ontario Government buildings), and Universal Man (a giant bronze sculpture originally located at the base of the CN Tower).

A 1964 quote from Gerald Gladstone in which he describes his work; “I’m a product of the middle part of the century with all it’s insecurity and strangeness. Science has really made it impossible for most artists to go on in that slow drift which is the tradition of art in the grand manner. There’s nothing more beautiful than a jet aircraft. It’s functionality.  It takes you from place to place. When you get in a jet aircraft you are a different person, you are disassociated from the outside environment, you are physically and emotionally in the hands of a mathematical equation. The artists basic contribution to society is his ability to show the people in it exactly who they are at that time in history. That’s what my work is all about.”

Perhaps people of today don’t still look at the “jet aircraft” as quite the marvel it was in the 1950’s and 60’s, but in reading Gerald Gladstone’s description of his work, you come to realize he has produced exactly what he had set out to: A series of works from their own time, working to understand the relationships between science and the human experience. The analogy of the jet aircraft is still relevant when you put it in a context that most people of today can relate to. Humans, art, science and the technology that science produces will be forever intertwined.

Josh is a Toronto based photographer and urban planner whose interest in photography was borne from his fascination with the urban landscape. His work is composed of imagery found in often unnoticed bits of Toronto's urban backyard and districts of other cities he's traveled to. His appreciation of texture, symmetry and graffiti can be seen in his themes of industry, transportation, construction and decay.

I have been a practicing professional ceramic artist and teacher since the mid 90’s in South Africa and have very recently arrived to live in Toronto.

In my work I have attempted to integrate symbolic, visual, tactile and spiritual values- blending form, function and meaning. My work resonates with light, sound, pattern and texture.
 

My work includes one-off pieces that are created by coiling and hand-building as well as specialized ranges of thrown work: and the surface of the vessels are then carved, sculpted or engraved with intricate patterns and symbols that combine the geometric and organic.

I have also made ranges of porcelain lighting created by piercing, slip-trailing and resisting intricate patterns through which the light resonates.

There are many diversities and extremes that I try and hold and balance within my life and work- the white porcelain and black basalt clay; the closed, lidded and the open form; the tiny and the large. Within them all, they hold the silence and meditation of the making, the time, the process and the attention to detail.

I make vessels because containers are about potential. My focus is on the space-in- between; defined spaces of emptiness making room for something to be held.

Biography

I have recently moved from South Africa to Canada and have been a practicing ceramic artist and teacher for over 20 years. Below is a short resume of my life and work.

Graduated in 1989 with a BA Fine Arts in Photography from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Studied Ceramics at the Kim Sacks School of Ceramics and started
making ceramics full time creating one-off coiled and hand-built pieces (1991 – 1995)

Set up my own teaching studio and continued to make ceramics (1995-

Taught drawing and printmaking at the National School of the Arts, Grade 10-12 (1996)

Taught photography and drawing at Visual Arts and Crafts Academy
(VACA), a Non Government Organisation focused on arts education and training (1996)

Vice-Principal of VACA (1997 – 1999)

Director of VACA (2002 – 2006)

Formed Ceramic Business with ceramist Anthony Shapiro designing and manufacturing specialised home ware ranges for local and international stores, the business became known as Loren & Ant Ceramic Designs (2002-2005)

Set up on my own as Loren Kaplan Ceramic Art and Design focusing on growing my teaching studio and my ceramics: commissioned based work, one-off coiled pieces, specialised ranges, porcelain and stoneware lights highly patterned with slip-trail and drilled piercings, collaborative work and organic firings (2005-

My teaching focused on all forms of handwork including pinching, coiling, sculptural work, slab work, the relationship of form, function and design, a diverse range of techniques of surface detail and decoration for all levels of experience.

I was a Co Trainer, Facilitator and mentor for Create Africa Trading on behalf of the South African Department of Arts and Culture on Product Development, Design and Marketing Courses for artists and crafters.

Exhibitions and Awards

1987  Martiensen Exhibition Annual student competition at the Gertrude Posel Gallery-Johannesburg

1988  Martiensen Exhibition-highly commended for photographic work

1991  Group exhibition of South African Fine Art photographers at the National Gallery of Namibia

1992  Group exhibition of Ceramics at the Kim Sacks Gallery-Johannesburg

1993  “Black and White in Craft”- Group exhibition at the Kim Sacks Gallery
 

National Ceramic Biennale- won the First National Bank Award, 2nd prize in the Vessel Category

1995 Africus Biennale- Group exhibition of South African Ceramics entitled ‘Africa Earthed’ at Museum Africa- Johannsburg

1998 Vita Craft Award at the African Window- Johanneburg
 

1998 National Ceramics Biennale- Sandton Civic Gallery-Johannesburg 1998 Vita Craft Award at the Castle-Cape Town
 

1998 Participant of the South African exhibit at the World Trade Fair in London

1998  Beyond the Pale- Designer-maker exhibition-Johannesburg

1999  Beyond the Pale

2000  “Black and White in Craft”- Group exhibition at the Kim Sacks gallery

2005  Gallerie Galapagos- Group Exhibition-Johannesburg

2006  Design Indaba- Cape Town Convention Centre

2006  Rooms on View-South Africa House-Sandton Convention Centre- Johannesburg

2007  Design Indaba-Cape Town Convention Centre

2007  SHIFT-Joint Exhibition with Yda Walt-Amoeba Gallery-Johannesburg

2008  Design Indaba-Cape Town Convention Centre

2008 National Corobrik Ceramics Exhibition-University of Johannesburg Art Gallery

2008 Making Space: Solo Exhibition at Alliance Francaise- Johannesburg

2008 Oppitafel VIII An Exhibition of Ceramic Art and Lighting at Artspace- Johannesburg

2008  Soccerex Department of Arts and Culture Sandton Convention Centre- Johannesburg

2009  Design Indaba-Cape Town Convention Centre

2009  Oppitafel Babettes Feast at Artspace Gallery-Johannesburg

2010  Translations: Art into Jewellery- Standard Bank Gallery-Johannesburg

2010  Group Show, Ceramic Artists OBJEKT-Parktown-Johannesburg

2011  Southern Guild Design Exhibition-Edward Read Gallery-Johannesburg

2011  Group Ceramic Exhibition-Art in the Forest Gallery-Cape Town

2012  RESONATE- Solo Exhibition of Ceramic Bells-Mot Mot-Johannesburg

2014 Toronto Outdoor Art Show-Honorary Mention-Best of Ceramics

Collections

Constitutional Court of South Africa Art Collection: Bells of Forgiveness- A set of 6 Basalt Bells hanging off a mild steel structure 

Anna Bean aka Bluebeany is a freelance photographic artist based in Hull, East Yorkshire, England.  She also works as a lecturer at the School of Creative Arts, Hull College.  Anna has exhibited and sold her work regularly since 2008. 

Within her work she creates digital reinventions of vintage images and also constructed surreal photographic tableaux inspired by old masters, myths, fairy tales, cult films and television programmes watched as a child.  She collaborates with friends and family who appear as subjects within her work and they dress up and transform into magnificent and sometimes absurd characters.  Her work links strongly to the themes of the Gothic and the Uncanny.  She describes her work as ‘darkly enchanting and familiar yet uncomfortably strange’.

"The linguistic autonomy remains one of the fundamental characteristics of Barbara's work, experimenting new techniques, has brought to light a new dimension in her paintings- multicoloured layers and every colour has been placed instinctively, portraying an interior world that the Artist explores guided by a sense light. Every view, every figure, becomes a discovery to break down the barriers between double and triple size, its production is informal meditated and conscious to express its values and its strong emotions in the face of the vicissitudes of life, Barbara knows how to give color to sentiment, creating dense shades and vibrant with combinations courageous and bold adventures: there is clearly a descriptive element, a surreal poetic invention, painting becomes essentially color that absorbs its intensity in a lucid and lyrical sense of vision, the players lose all their natural connotation to become feelings, imagination and memory!"

Anne Grossi, Art Critic.

Laurie Burns is a freelance photographer living and working in downtown Toronto, Canada. She began studying photography at Ryerson University in 2009 and completed the first two years of her degree before taking a short break to attend Humber College in order to gain additional technical knowledge in the field of photography. After successfully completing Humber’s two-year Creative Photography program, she returned to Ryerson in 2013 to continue her BFA, which she obtained in 2015. 

Jacob Louvelle-Burt (born 1993, Canada) is a Toronto based photographer, installation artist, and experimental filmmaker. He recently graduated and received his BFA in photography from Ryerson University. He has been involved with photography for many years and has worked in many aspects of the field, ranging from assisting to working in printing. Jacob's photography is focused mainly in architecture and is heavily conceptual, influenced by psychology and sociology. Jacob's film and videos are mostly focused in process based art and concepts of materiality. 
 

Born into a dynamic Polish family, Blaise was given his first camera at the tender age of 5, a Russian Smena. His father ran a darkroom after teaching music during the day, where Blaise would spend time training his eyes.

Having gone to seven schools in three countries before the age of 12, Blaise learned to capture his memories through the lens. He has since gone on to work with leading names in business, telling their stories through vision and creative wit.

Blaise is a proud father of his 3-year-old girl Aria, and partner to fashion stylist Amie. They feel one of the greatest gifts to give Aria is to show her that dreams and passions are to be pursued, and lead by example.

Blaise and his family live in Toronto, Canada. 

““Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still.” – Dorothea Lange (American: 1895-1965)

As in his many books, soon to exceed forty, Rooke's art work tends to avoid the routine, the commonplace, the ordinary. He shuns willy-nilly, the "privileged repetition many other artists pursue" opting instead for vibrant subject matter replete with surprise, thus taking advantage of narrative, humour, and the always incalculable human form.

Sept. 30th, 2015

Born in Sheffield England he was awarded a scholarship to study at the Sheffield College of Art from 1898 to 1905. He then moved to Antwerp Belgium where he studied art at the Academie Royale. Lismers artistic style was inspired by the Barbizon and Post Impressionist movements in Belgium, and this showed through in his art. He also was said to have had pencil and paper always at hand, as he often created cartoon drawings of his friends. 

Arthur Lismer 1885-1969 was an English-Canadian painter and founding member of the Group of Seven. Arthur Lismer and the Group of Seven where known for depictions of the North American countryside in a new and uniquely Canadian style. He was made a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and in 1967 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.

Lismer passed away on March 23rd of 1969 in Montreal, Quebec and was buried alongside other members of the Original Seven at the McMichael Gallery Grounds.