2018 Year End Review
Thank you to everyone who helped make 2018 a rewarding and fun year at the Michael Gibson Gallery. We are passionate about what we do.
Below are some exhibition and artist highlights from the past year.
In February we celebrated colour through the abstract paintings of Jonathan Forrest, William Perehudoff and Hans Wendt. The vibrant show explored the many ways in which colour can be expressed in painting.
March featured new paintings by Colin Muir Dorward and Gavin Lynch, friends since completing their MFA’s at Concordia. Both painters created representations of imagined places and landscapes for our fanciful show.
May was Susan Dobson’s exhibition of photographs from her “Slide Library” series. For the exhibition, we produced a 4 minute long video interview with Susan Dobson that you can watch HERE.
July was our 20th Annual Sizzling Summer Soiree with solo exhibitions for Jason McLean and Jeremy Herndl.
For his 3rd solo exhibition at the gallery, Jason McLean energetically researched moments in his personal history as well as important events from London’s past: O Pee Chee trading cards, the price of real estate and businesses founded in the city.
In the middle gallery, we introduced the paintings of Victoria, BC-based artist Jeremy Herndl. His evening inspired landscapes explored the veil between the natural and human world.
Also in July, Erik Olson arrived on his Triumph Bonneville motorcycle at the end of a three month long journey across the US. He came to paint reflections from his trip in our newly built Gibson Atelier. His October exhibition, captured the people and places from his epic motorcycle journey.
At the end of October, and for the 19th consecutive year, we attended Art Toronto. This year we highlighted a rare painting by Greg Curnoe that was originally exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1976. Strong paintings by Charles Gagnon and Gathie Falk were exhibited throughout the weekend along with an impressive “World” painting by Ron Martin. On our side wall of small gems, we hung early Michael Snow collages along with two 1958 Jack Chambers paintings and smaller works on paper by Greg Curnoe.
We also introduced the quirky photographs of Sage Szkabarnicki-Stuart and had new paintings by Jonathan Forrest, drawings by Jason McLean and watercolours by Hans Wendt.
November featured glorious new floral paintings paired with vintage paintings and sculpture dating from every decade of Gathie Falk’s 50 year long career.
Also in November, James Kirkpatrick worked in the Gibson Atelier on a strong suite of graffiti inspired paintings that we exhibited in the middle gallery at the end of November.
Our December exhibition was Roly Fenwick’s 11th solo at the gallery. The paintings, inspired by Fenwick’s beloved Bruce Peninsula landscape, were a true reflection of place: entangled swamps, monumental trees and reflective self portraits.
In our middle gallery for December, we curated a salon-style hung exhibition of important Canadian Watercolour artists. Artists included Jack Bush, AJ Casson, Franklin Carmichael, Brian Jones, Dorothy Knowles and William Perehudoff.
2018 Artist Achievements
Susan Dobson’s “Slide Library” photographs were exhibited at the Robert Langen Art Gallery.
The Art Bank included Aganetha Dyck’s shrunken sweaters in “Thunderstruck: Physical Landscapes”
Paterson Ewen’s online book was published by the Art Canada Institute.
Gathie Falk was included in an exhibition at Galerie McLure and the Glenbow and also published her memoir, “Apples, etc.“.
Michael Gibson was interviewed by See Collective.
James Kirkpatrick’s mid-career survey opened at the JNAAG and travels to The Robert McLaughlin in Oshawa in March.
Dorothy Knowles had a solo exhibition at the Remai Modern in Saskatoon.
Jason McLean had work in a touring exhibition organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery and was interviewed by See Magazine.
Erik Olson joined Gathie Falk in a three person exhibition at the Glenbow. He was also interviewed during his October show by CBC Radio and Andrew Gunn.
Diana Thorneycroft exhibited her “Black Forest (Dark Waters)” installation and photographs at the Art Gallery of Burlington.
Hans Wendt had three watercolours purchased by the National Gallery of Canada.