Margot Ariss was born in 1929 in Belleville, ON. She moved to London in 1940 and attended H. B. Beal Secondary School where she met her husband, artist & teacher Herb Ariss.
Margot began working as a sculptor in the late 1950’s, stamping words into soft clay with a child’s set of wooden letters. Throughout the 1960s and 70s, she created intricate text-based clay wall panels, pots and cubes by scratching, stenciling or stamping personal poems or quotations into the clay. Margot was an avid reader and poet and often used quotations from Michael Ondaatje and John Bruce in her sculpture, illuminating the meaning of their poetry into elegant, visual, sculptural equivalents.
Her later works from the 1980s combine clay, cloth and paper mache. They still contain some text, but rely more heavily on smooth rolling designs and sculptural forms that reference snow falls, storms and empty landscapes.
Margot Ariss’s work is in the collections of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada Council Art Bank and the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. She was included in “Ceramics 69” at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1969 and selected ceramic group exhibitions at the AGO in the early 1970s. In 1989, the London Regional Art Gallery mounted a survey exhibition – “Zen Song” – curated by Paddy O’Brien.
March 6 - March 28 - 2020
Our March exhibition explores diverse representations of the environment, land and nature. Not all of the artists are characterized as "landscape artists", though they each have taken aspects of their surrounding environment as the inspiration[...]
MoreJanuary 6 - February 19 - 2017
When I was selecting artwork for our January group show, I wanted to focus on art that contained the written word, specifically, in order to explore the use and purpose of the text. Each of[...]
MoreEDUCATION
H.B Beal Technical School
COLLECTIONS
Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton
Canadian Handicraft Guild, Toronto
Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa
Delaware Hall, University of Western Ontario
Emco Limited, London
Indusmin Limited, Toronto
The Blackburn Group Incorporated
London Police commission
London Regional Art Gallery
McIntosh Art Gallery, University of Western Ontario
Vancouver Art Gallery
Xerox Canada Incorporated
and many private collections in Canada and the United States.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2011 “Love”, Michael Gibson Gallery, London, ON
1989 “Zen Song”, Margot Ariss Retrospective, London Regional Art and Historical Museums.
1987 “Boxart”, Durham Art Gallery (touring).
1987 “The Yellow Show”, Durham Art Gallery.
1987 40th Annual Western Ontario Exhibition, London Regional Art Gallery.
1986 “Prime Source: Clay and Fibre”, London Regional Art Gallery.
1985 “Ten Years After”, Spectrum Art Gallery, London.
1985 2 person show with M. Stubbs, Thielsen Galleries, London.
1983 2 person show with H.J. Ariss, Lambton College, Sarnia.
1983 “White on White” solo show, University of Waterloo.
1982 University of Western Ontario Collection at the Art Gallery of Windsor.
1980 “London and Area Artists, Part 1”, London Regional Art Gallery.
1980 “Bookworms”, Powerhouse Gallery, Montreal.
1979 4 man show (Onley, Robinson, Lorcini, Ariss), Thielson Galleries, London Indusmin Limited Collection, Toronto.
1978 “Tribute to University of Western Ontario Cemetary”, London Public Library and Art Museum.
1978 “London – Banff Exchange”, London Public Library and Art Museum.
1978 “Ariss,, Jobgin, Hunt,” York University, Toronto.
1977 “Major London Survey # 4”, London Public Library and Art Museum.
1976 “On View”, Toronto Dominion Centre.
1976 “Crossroads”, Ontario Crafts Council, Toronto
1976 “Word and Image”, McKenzie Art Gallery, Trent University, Peterborough.
1975 35th Annual Western Ontario Exhibition, London Public Library and Art Museum.
1975 2 man show with M. Rossiter, McIntosh Gallery, University of Western Ontario.
1973 “Ceramic Objects”, Art Gallery of Ontario
1972 “Audio Visuals” group show, Sarnia Public Library and Art Gallery.
1972 “London Collects No. 1”. London Public Library and Art Museum.
1972 “6 London Artists” London Public Library and Art Museum.
1971 “Signs and Symbols”, Art Gallery of Ontario
1971 31st Annual Western Ontario Exhibition, London Public Library and Art Museum
1970 “Sensory Perceptions”, Art Gallery of Ontario
1970 2 person show with H.J. Ariss, University of Waterloo.
1970 2 person show with H.J. Ariss, London Public Library and Art Museum.
1969 “Ceramics 69”, Vancouver Art Gallery.
1969 “Art in Architecture – The Wall, Art Gallery of Ontario.
1968 3 person show with Coulter, Steinbacher, Ariss, 20/20 Gallery, London.
1968 28th Annual Western Ontario Exhibition, London Public Library and Art Museum.
1967 2 person show with H.J. Ariss, Sobot Gallery, Toronto.
1967 Canadian Ceramics, Canadian Guild of Potters, Toronto.
1966 “24th Ceramic National”, Everson Museum, Syracuse New York.
1966 2 person show with H.J. Ariss, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery .
1965 “Canadians in Spain” Windsor Art Gallery.
1965 25th Annual Western Ontario Exhibition, London Public Library and Art Museum.
1964 2 person show with H.J. Ariss, Sarnia Art Gallery.
1957 “Young Contemporaries” Annual Exhibition, London Public Library and Art Museum.
1955 4 person show (Hull,Greenwood,O’Brien,Ariss), London Public Library and Art Museum.
1955 Annual winter exhibition, Art Gallery of Hamilton.
1955 “Young Contemporaries” Annual Exhibition, London Public Library and Art Museum.
1955 15th Annual Western Ontario Exhibition, London Public Library and Art Museum.
1954 Annual winter exhibition, Art Gallery of Hamilton.
1954 “Young Contemporaries” Annual Exhibition, London Public Library and Art Museum.
1953 Annual winter exhibition, Art Gallery of Hamilton.
1953 “Young Contemporaries” Annual Exhibition, London Public Library and Art Museum.
1952 12th Annual Western Ontario Exhibition, London Public Library and Art Museum.
1952 2 person show with H.J. Ariss, Waverley Institute, London.
SELECTED CATALOGUES / BOOKS
1989 Zen Song: Margot Ariss Retrospective catalogue (reproduction), London
Regional Art and Historical Museums
1987 Prime Source catalogue (reproduction), London Regional Art Gallery
1983 White on White brochure, University of Waterloo
1983 Margot Ariss, Herbert Ariss brochure, Lambton College, Sarnia
1981 L’Art mise en boite brochure, Musee d’Art St. Laurent, Montreal
1981 New Acquisitions brochure, McIntosh Gallery, Univerity of Western Ontario
1979 Women’s Bookworks, Travelling exhiitio catalogue. Powerhouse Gallery,
Montreal
1976 Word and Image brochure, McKenzie Gallery, Trent University
1976 On View catalogue (reproduction), Visual Arts Ontario
1975 Margot Ariss and Margaret Rossiter brochure, McIntosh Gallery, University of Western Ontario
1973 Ceramic Objects catalogue, London Public Library and Art Museum
1972 6 London Artists catalogue, London Public Library and Art Museum
1970 H.J. Ariss and Margot Ariss brochure, University of Waterloo
1970 Ceramic sculpture by Margot Ariss catalogue, London Public Library and ArtMuseum
1970 Art for Architecture – The Wall catalogue (A.G.O.)
1970 Art Gallery Bulletin, Sept./Oct. (London Public Library and Art Museum)
Exhibition review
1969 Ontario Craft Foundation Newsletter (reproduction)
1969 Ceramic ’69 brochure (reproduction)
May/June 1969 29th Annual Western Ontario catalogue (reproduction), London Public Library and Art Museum
May/June 1968 28th Annual Western Ontario catalogue, London Public Library and Art Museum
1967 Canadian Ceramics 67 catalogue, Canadian Guild of Potters
1966 24th Ceramic National catalogue, Everson Museum of Art, New York
October 1965 Western Art League programme, “The Arisses of London”
May/June 1965 25t h Annual Western Ontario catalogue (reproduction), London Public Library and Art Museum.