Author: Zavitz Gallery

Categories
Exhibitions 2020 - 2021

Technology and Failure


Emma Ongman

Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan once argued that it is not the content of a message that holds importance; but instead, the characteristics of the medium itself. In other words, “the medium is the message”. 

In his essay, Neo-Materialism, Part I: The Commodity and the Exhibition, Joshua Simon points out that the world is full of commodities that influence how we interact with the world. There is no better example to use here than the technology that is currently allowing me to write this statement and currently allowing us to communicate with one another from our homes and through our screens as we survive a global pandemic.

In this exhibition, I am interested in exploring the potential of photographic technology beyond its intended use and its capability to imitate real life. More specifically, I am interested in creating photographs that speak to their own creation. Technology and Failure is an installation that consists of scans of corrupted images that were misprinted, scratched, and covered in dust and fingerprints.

emmaongman.com | @emmaongman

Categories
Exhibitions 2020 - 2021

Working On it


By Emily Escoffery

Virtual Reality Gallery (above): click on the arrow to enter the scene, click and drag to change your point of view.

  • Green and Greenish, 2020
    Oil and acrylic on canvas, 48 x 42 inches (121.92 x 106.68 cm)
  • Blue and Blue/Red, 2020
    Gouache and acrylic on paper, 30 x 22 inches (76.2 x 55.88 cm)
  • Yellow-Green/Blue and Green/Purple, 2020
    Gouache and acrylic on paper, 30 x 22 inches (76.2 x 55.88 cm)
  • Yellow/Red and Orange, 2020
    Gouache and acrylic on paper, 30 x 22 inches (76.2 x 55.88 cm)
  • Purple and Red, 2020
    Oil and acrylic on canvas, 48 x 42 inches (121.92 x 106.68 cm)
  • Yellow and Crimson, 2020
    Oil and acrylic on canvas, 60 x 72 inches (152.4 x 182.88 cm)
  • Green, 2020
    Oil and acrylic on canvas, 48 x 42 inches (121.92 x 106.68 cm)
  • A Bunch of Things, 2020
    Oil and acrylic on canvas, 60 x 60 inches (152.4 x 152.4 cm)
  • Big Blue #2, 2020
    Oil and acrylic on canvas, 90 x 78 inches (228.6 x 198.12 cm)
  • Big Blue #1, 2020
    Oil and acrylic on canvas, 72 x 84 inches (182.88 213.36 cm)

This body of work explores both colour and the application of paint.

Follow Emily on Instagram here.

Categories
Exhibitions 2020 - 2021

Recuperare

Recuperare

Mary Kroetsch

“To Recover”

Heading out from your home today, you return and it’s gone.  Nothing left.  It is not hard to visualize this with one global catastrophe happening upon another and affecting many lives left homeless.  It could be a natural disaster or war, but when it is safe to return, you rummage through what is left, looking for pieces of you to salvage, hoping for just one thing of what was.

Home has and always will be where your story is.

Preserve what was

  • Earth
  • Wind
  • Fire
  • Water

Archeological Dig

  • Dig 1
  • Dig 2
  • Dig 3
  • Dig 4

Build what can be

Categories
Exhibitions 2020 - 2021

Some Thoughts on Colour

Rylee Rumble and Emily Escoffery

Emily and Rylee are both painters currently continuing to develop their practice within Specialized Studio. Their work shares similarities when exploring the properties of colour in relation to shape and memory. Rylee’s paintings comment on how colour interacts with the expression of feelings through careful colour consideration, mixing, and application. Emily’s paintings aim to explore the boundaries between the digital and the painterly, and they are mainly focused on the movement and colour of shapes. She uses already established techniques with non-traditional subject matter to create non-objective pieces that examine the painting process. Enjoy!

Click Here to Enter the Virtual Gallery
  • Orange, Emily Escoffery, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 48 x 48 in. (121.92 x 121.92 cm)
  • Big Blue #2, Emily Escoffery, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 90 x 78 in. (228.6 x 198.12 cm)
  • The Dark of Night Keeps Me Awake with its Dancing Lights, Rylee Rumble, Acrylic on panel, 12 x 12 in. (30.48 x 30.48 cm)
  • The Dark of Night Keeps Me Awake with its Dancing Lights, Rylee Rumble, Acrylic on panel, 12 x 12 in. (30.48 x 30.48 cm)
  • What the Sky Looked Like When I Wanted to Go Home, Rylee Rumble, Acrylic on canvas, 48 x 48 in. (121.92 x 121.92 cm)
  • Yellow and Crimson, Emily Escoffery, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 60 x 72 in. (152.4 x 182.88 cm)
  • Crimson, Emily Escoffery, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 60 x 66 in. (152.4 x 167.64 cm)

Categories
Exhibitions 2020 - 2021

What’s in a Name?

Anne Munroe

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In this work, Anne Munroe draws on her lived experience and the narrative; exploring themes of identity, time, memory and the body. Working with a variety of mediums, the inspiration for this body of work began with a Celtic History course at University of Guelph where she discovered Ancient Irish-Runic, or Ogham script, which dates back to about 400 AD. This enlivened her interest in her own genealogy and our ancient heritage. One compelling feature of this script is that the Celts have an oral tradition similar to some other ancient cultures. This script is found on memorial stones in at least two locations: Southern Ireland and Southern England, where two branches of her family once lived or are living. Munroe makes use of Christian names from the Loney family of County Longford dating back to about 1848 and into the present. The family surname in Ancient Irish was Luan, in translation, “warrior”. The Irish were some of the first in Europe to make use of surnames which appeared about 900AD.

The second feature of the Ogham script is that for the most part, it is generated from one symbol, like a rectangular bar, which is arranged on the horizontal or oblique and numbering one to five on the sides of a fissure in a standing stone to represent 24 different sounds. The rock is chosen because it contains this fissure and a somewhat flattened section adjacent to the crack so that the inscription is unencumbered by ragged edges. A mark on the left side of the stone, will represent a different sound if it is placed on the right side. Another feature of the script is its connection to time beyond the historical; the time in the doing. Munroe discovered this process is slow, and can be meditative, even though she worked with a template, a brush and paint as opposed seeking the right marker, and working chisel on stone where these characteristics might be more pronounced. The formation of the rock, or “standing stone” is also slow- molded by nature.

As time passed, the early Celtic masons began to “dress” the stones more in keeping with memorial stones of today with a smooth, flat surface to write on. This exhibition makes use of some of Munroe’s genealogy to illustrate the script as well as the transition in the selection and preparation of the stones. Her idea was to make use of the gallery space, including seams in corners and over doorways, to create an immersive experience for the viewer.

Categories
Exhibitions 2020 - 2021

Drive By

Abbigail Withers

Broken, falling down, and split apart, but still remarkable.  

Drive By came to life as my family and I were in quarantine. Trying to keep sane but not permitted to leave the house, we adopted a new ritual of going on Sunday drives. Once a week, my family and I left the house, left the worries of the pandemic behind, and drove through the enchanting country roads surrounding my rural hometown. Not wanting to leave the safety of the protective bubble that was our family’s van, each photo in this series was shot from a moving vehicle. The broken-down barns were later edited and split apart to mirror the separation from our friends, family, and loved ones during the pandemic.  

Many of the broken barns look as though one gust of wind could bring them down, yet they stand strong and firm. These barns have stood for years despite the winds’ attempts to bring them to collapse, and they will continue to stand for many years to come. My hope is that individuals can look at the barns in Drive By, remember the strength that they too possess, and stand strong and firm against the winds that threaten to beat them down.  

Barn 1

Barn 2

Barn 3

Barn 4

Barn 5

Barn 6

Categories
Exhibitions 2020 - 2021

The Wedge

Melanie Leader

A letter to you

Hi,

My name is Melanie. Better known as Mad Mel, like Mad Max. I am in my final year of the Studio Art program. My time in the program has been a wonderful journey of self-discovery. The stars aligned to find my strongest area in sculpture. 

I work in the welding and woodworking areas, and use other materials such as foam and plaster. My work occupies space and time to create a visual language that speaks to the viewer in a contemporary sensibility. 

Working with geometric principles to define volume and mass, I interlock planes and punctuate open spaces into a three dimensional abstract.

This sculpture is called The Wedge and it is the first virtual 3D rendered sculpture made by the Zavitz Gallery team. You can find more information about how it was created and other 3D rendering options here.

@missmadmel

Categories
Exhibitions 2020 - 2021

Apology tour

APOLOGY TOUR

by Maeve Hind and Alexa Collette

APOLOGY TOUR is about acceptance

APOLOGY TOUR is a show created to release judgements about ourselves, and release a need to apologize for who we are. Through this process, we have released the need to apologize for having mental illness, for being in the way, for needing something, for crying. In creating APOLOGY TOUR, we had the opportunity to have compassion for ourselves and one another. Through painting, writing, sculpting, and video we were able to gain insight into these “things” we find ourselves constantly apologizing for. It has given us the time and space we needed to develop a relationship with ourselves where we can begin to stop fighting with that which we cannot change, and to accept every part of ourselves.

So here we are.

Categories
Exhibitions 2020 - 2021

Outdoor School

Experimental Studio 2019

Artists:
Ethan White, Charlotte Stone, Chevanne Wisdom, Kate Steinbach, Chloe Hason, Michael Richardson, Hannah Martin-Paradis, Hannah Moffitt, Carolina Benitez, Siobhan Bean, Ruth “Bruce” Cortis, Claire Gammal, Emily Graetz, Emmi Boyle, Gillian Kloet, Martha Scroggins, Karen Houle, Fastwurms, Diane Borsato, Nathan Saliwonchyk, the Land, the Sun, the Water, the Animals, the Plants, the Fungi, the Food.

Experimental Studio: OUTDOOR SCHOOL is a unique multi-disciplinary and experiential course where students participate in activities that examine recent developments in contemporary art, including social practices, interventions, and the use of live materials including plants. The course includes various studio assignments, readings, field trips, visitors, and in-class workshops that offer opportunities to explore aspects of outdoor education and environmental art. OUTDOOR SCHOOL looks at recent examples from contemporary art, and considers the practices of other cultural practitioners including naturalists, activists, farmers, foragers, wildlife workers, navigators and horticulturalists. Students create and participate in Survival Tips workshops, do outdoor reading performances, go on hikes and forays, join a club, and create multi-disciplinary environmentally-themed final projects. We develop collaborative relationships with other departments and amateur organizations on campus, including projects in association with Agriculture, Horticulture/Landscape Architecture, Wild Ontario, the Honeybee Research Lab, and the Guelph Arboretum. Projects are in various media, including live performances, event or action based works, video, photography, and artist multiples.