Culture Days

http://denisejdowdy.multiply.com

Open House at Studio 155b. Studio members: Denise J. Dowdy: mixed media paintings and sculpture, Pat Hendry presents plein-air oil paintings, Sara Jarvis: stained glass, Karina Bergmans: fall clothing line launch
Fri: Sept 30. 6:00pm-9:00pm, Sat/Sun Oct 1/2 11:00am-5:00pm

Date(s) & Time(s):

Friday, September 30, 2011 — 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Saturday, October 1, 2011 — 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Sunday, October 2, 2011 — 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Location

155b Loretta Avenue North, at Gladstone, one block west of Preston
Ottawa, Ontario

Winter Solstice

Denise J. Dowdy posing at her Hintonburg studio with one of her street crack etchings from her ongoing series “From the Ground Up”, is one of five female artists participating in a show at Credible Edibles

Bringing the outside in

Area artist contributes to five- woman Winter Solstice art show

By Kathleen Wilker

In the Stables Art Studio at 155 Loretta Ave North, painter, sculptor and mixed media artist Denise J. Dowdy introduces her favourite ‘found art’ sculptures.

The first piece is a beautiful, three-foot red oak log that has grown circled in on its own hollow centre. Capped with a slice of itself that could be arms held in an embrace, the Fairmont Ave resident calls the piece her “found art mascot.”

“I asked if I could keep the log for an art project,” says Dowdy, explaining that she was walking on NCC land when she happened upon the wood, which was slated to be cut up for firewood. “They agreed and even sliced a few pieces off the top that I’ve used for shelter sculptures.”

Dowdy posing at her Hintonburg studio with one of her shelter sculptures

- the 'found-art mascot' is in the background

The Stables Art Studio, which houses 17 artist studios, is so named because it was once home to a stable of horses who delivered bread from the nearby Enriched Bread Artists Studio (formerly a bread factory). For Dowdy (http://denisejdowdy.multiply.com ), a self-taught artist who learns new techniques from workshops whenever the opportunity arises, the location beside NCC land has proven useful in the ongoing quest for found art.

Along with sculptures made from found objects, Dowdy finds beauty and unanswered questions in the urban landscape of Kitchissippi. Riding her bike along St. Francis Street, she happened to look down and see an organic-looking crack in the asphalt below her tire. Dowdy immediately returned to create a 14-foot etching of the crack.

“It’s like a web or a cocoon,” she says, remembering the curious reactions she got from passersby while she was etching. Months later, the etching is now a sculpture of driftwood, roots, metal, wire and soil that hangs from the ceiling of Dowdy’s studio.

Dowdy shows me her encaustic – bees wax and oil pigment – paintings, and I lean in close to smell the honey preserved in the beeswax. It’s a breath of summer air on a rainy and cold early-winter morning.

“I create these encaustic paintings outside in the summer, so they are seasonal for me,” says Dowdy who has to be careful not to trap living bees, attracted by the scent of honey, in her paintings. It’s fitting that two of Dowdy’s encaustic pieces will be part of the five-woman Winter Solstice group art exhibit held at Credible Edibles (located at 78 Hinton Ave.) from Dec. 2 to Jan. 14.

“The idea of a Winter Solstice art show has been percolating in my head for some time,” says show curator Stephanie Guimond, a painter and Westboro resident (www.creativelivingexperiment.com).
The art show, opening with a vernis- sage on Thursday Dec. 2 from 8 to 9:30 p.m., is a gathering of reflections on the arrival of winter and the shifts it brings with it. Other participating Ottawa artists are Natasha Beaudin, Jo-Anne Guimond, Ellen Ramsey and Mimi Richard-Golding who will be showing their photography and paintings.
Judi Varga-Toth of Credible Edibles will be offering two special dinner sittings at 5:30 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. on Dec. 2, prior to the vernissage.
Reservations via email are recommended: info@credibleedibles.ca

BLACKBOOK LIFESTYLE: Blackbook Lifestyle & The Ottawa Art Expo 2010

BLACKBOOK LIFESTYLE: Blackbook Lifestyle & The Ottawa Art Expo 2010: "Presented by Blackbook Lifestyle & The Ottawa Citizen Thank you to Raymond Peterkin of Photo Features for many of the wonderful photos! ..."

Ottawa Art Expo 2011

Ottawa Art Expo - 2011

October 28th, 29th & 30th 2011
Art Show and Sale
10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Admission and parking are FREE!!!
The St. Elias Centre
750 Ridgewood Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario K1V 6N1

A not for profit, fine art exposition will be opening its doors at 7:00 pm on Friday, October 28, 2011 for our annual Awards Gala and then for a two day art show and art sale. Patrons and lovers of art will be treated to a spectacular opportunity to enjoy and to purchase the finest of fine art that our artists create.