Figures and Narrative

Works by Shirray Langley, F. Scott MacLeod, James Middleton, Kim Milan, and Lorena Ziraldo.

April 4 to 25, 2025

Opening reception: Friday, April 4 at 6 PM.

This section is under construction until we get closer to the opening

After a career in medical research, John Downie took his first jewelry course at the Nova Scotia Centre for Craft and Design in 2002.

He joined the Metal Arts Guild of Nova Scotia in 2004 and served as it's president from 2009 - 2011. In 2018 he was successfully juried into Craft Nova Scotia. (formerly the Designer Craft Council.)

John's work is hand-constructed in metal - primarily fine (999) and sterling (925) silver, but he also incorporates continental (800) silver for special effects.

In his work, John uses roller printing, hammering and flame-produced reticulation to achieve a variety of textures. Finally, to introduce contrast and colour he incorporates patination, gemstone beeds, pearls or bezel-set stones.

A former TV news anchor and CBC Radio broadcaster, Hans Durstling became captured by the magic of gemstones around the mid-1980s. At that point he began serious cutting, including a stint in Los Angeles cutting for the then president of the American Opal Society. He went on to study gemology, and combined his background in communication with his interest in stone by writing for gem and general publications.

He initiated a teaching and demonstrating facility, The Electric Park Learning Center, at the world's top mineral and gem expo in Tucson, Arizona, and is the originator of a 7-hour Discovery Channel series "Stones of Fate and Fortune".

In the July 2016 Issue of Reader's Digest, he was featured for his recutting of gems salvaged from the Fort MacMurray fire.

Currrently based in Halifax, he offers gemstone recutting and repair, sourcing, assessment, and restoration of gems and other stone, and does private commissions in precious stone and/or precious metal.

Karen Kulyk is a Canadian artist known for her lively use of vibrant colour. After graduating from York University in 1973 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, she joined the Marianne Friedland Gallery in Toronto's Yorkville and began her long career travelling and establishing studios in such far away locations as Europe, Asia, South America and the Caribbean.

In 1983 Kulyk was awarded the Grollo d'Oro for her powerful use of colour in the watercolour medium at the Treviso International Art Competition. Over the years she has shared her knowledge as a teacher and artist-in-residence in Canada, Burmuda, England and Thailand.

Karen is the first Canadian artist to show at the Chicago International Art Exposition at Navy Peir and later, solo at the National Gallery of Thailand in Bangkok. She represented her country at Festival Canada in Hong Kong and the Art Gallery of Ontario toured her exhibition, Colourscapes on Paper throughout the province.

During a fifty year career she has exhibited in New York, Naples (Florida), Los Angeles, Mexico City, London and Durham (England), Talloires (France), Halifax, Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Kitchener-Waterloo and Calgary.

Kulyk's work is in numerous private and corporate collections as well as museums around the world. She has lived and painted in Nova Scotia since 2000.

Shirray's career in art began with studying advertising, design and illustration at the Ontario Collage of Art and Design University in Toronto. Later she obtained a Bachelor's degree in creative art from York University.

Shirray worked in commercial art and graphic design for years before starting her career in painting. Her art is represented by many prominent galleries including the Toronto Art Fair. She exhibited regularly with the Ontario Society of Artists and represented the Society on the Board of the John B. Aird Gallery.

Following her move to the east coast of Canada, she owned and operated a gallery in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.

Shirray's work is found in both private and public collections in Canada and the United States.

Janice Leonard received her BFA from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 1981 and has exhibited in many public and commercial galleries since the 1980s. In 2016 a selection of Leonard's paintings were included in "Terroir, A Nova Scotia Survey" at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. Her work is held in the collections of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada, the Canada Art Bank, Telesat Canada (Ottawa), Nova Scotia Art Bank, Dalhousie Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia as well as many corporate and private collections across Canada and Internationally. One of her paintings now hangs in the Nova Scotia Room at Canada House, London, England as well as Canadian Embassy Official residence in Dublin, Ireland and the Canadian Embassy in Tunis, Tunisia.

Born in Corner Brook and raised in Halifax, Peter MacWhirter has taken a circuitous artistic path to Liverpool, Nova Scotia, where he now works and lives.

While studying Sciences at Mount Allison University he was introduced to the world renowned Zoologist, Dr. W.B.Scott, in St. Andrew's, N.B. Before working with Bev Scott, MacWhirter spent a short time working as an apprentice natural History illustrator at the Royal Ontario Museum. The artist went onto illustrate many scientific publications including, The Atlantic Fishes of Canada (U. of T. Press, 1988). It was at the Huntsman Marine Science Centre, St. Andrews, that he was offered the opportunity to design and construct several dioramas in their aquarium. This led to work in film and television.

For 11 years he worked as a Key Model Maker within the Nova Scotia Film and Television industry. This work included work in the areas of prop making, SFX and special make-up effects. As demand for this work lessened in Nova Scotia, he began to investigate other artistic opportunities. In 2008, he was appointed Assistant Professor within the Design Department at Hongik University, Seoul, South Korea. He recently left this position for full-time art making in Liverpool.

The artist has lectured at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA, Beijing), Guangzhou Academy of Arts (GAFA), Shenzhen University, Shenzhen Polytechnic University, NSCAD University and OCAD University. He has been invited as a resident artist in Argentina, Australia, Equador, Paraguay, New Zealand and Shenzhen. He has received support from The Canada Council for the Arts, Nova Scotia Arts Council, Korean Arts Council and Canadian embassies in Japan, China, South Korea and the USA.

Since 1982, MacWhirter's artwork has been about marine and aquatic habitats, and the animals and plants that live there. The artist describes his practice as, "The mixing of visual metaphors to create linear and non-linear narratives." Irony has been a constant feature of these narratives.

MacWhirter graduated from OCAD University (AOCA), Toronto, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art (BA Honours), Scotland, and MFA from West Virginia University, USA. Later, he was accepted to the London Film School, however he did not attend due to an attractive job offer in Seoul, South Korea. It was there he produced the pilot for the award winning animation series entitled, NetiBee.

The artist's works are in public and private collection throughout the world.

Jennie McGuire is a graduate of the Capilano Art School in Vancouver, BC, and did a post graduate work in art therapy before moving overseas. She has a long and active history of involvement with the arts in Canada, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Thailand, and elsewhere. She was the featured artist in the December 2022 issue of ArtSquat magazine, Los Angeles. Her work can be found in collections nationally and internationally. She lives and works in East Chester, Nova Scotia. Her abstract works feature a confident and clear sense of composition that is unique yet somehow familiar.

Kim (Chase) Milan was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, the second oldest in a family of 8 children. Kim had an early interest in art and creating with whatever was at hand. Kim choose a traditional educational path obtaining a BSC. in Computer Science and Business Admistration at Saint Mary's University. Kim ultimately left her long career as a System's Integrator upon becoming a mom. She also used this opportunity to delve into her passion for art. Over a span of 3 years, Kim augmented her natural ability and interest with painting and drawing courses at the NSCAD School of Extended Studies. Kim travels extensively and has lived in a number of Canadian cities but calls Halifax, Nova Scotia home.

Native to Nova Scotia, and living in Windsor, Kelly Mitchelmore paints in both acrylic and oil using a combined technique of knife and brush. From bold florals to soft landscapes, Kelly is especially known for her moody coastal scenes and her signature red poppy series.

Her Bachelor of Interior Design provided her with a sound foundation in colour theory and perspective. Also a 14 year veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces and she attributes much of her inspiration and love of painting water and poppies to her naval career.

Kelly hosts workshops in person and online and her home studio gallery is open for showings by appointment.

You can find her work in galleries and collections throughout Canada.

Patricia Morris was born in Beauharnois, Quebec, and spent her early childhood in Kitimat, BC. Her secondary school years were spent in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. After returning to Canada, she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Mount Allison University, a Masters of Fine Arts from Concordia University, and a Diploma in Art Education from McGill University. In 1980s she began exhibiting abstract drawings and installations in Montreal, Que., Sackville, NB, and St. John''s, NL while teaching drawing and sculpture in the Continuing Education department at Mt. Allison University.

The following 16 years were spent exploring abstraction with pastel and ink, exhibiting in Kingston, Ottawa and Toronto. During this time she taught art at secondary and elementary levels in Quebec and Ontario.

Patricia Morris is an award winning artist with works in major Canadian collections. She has refined her focus in recent years and combined her strong understanding of abstraction with a visually fascinating reference to the diverse beauty of Canadian landscape. She has received many accolades for her current "Trans Canada Drive" series, which celebrated road trips through all of Canada's provinces with dynamic, semi-abstract oil paintings. These works are at once mysterious yet somehow familiar, as the viewer can experience a sense of landscape in motion that is rendered in a distinct, refined and fluid manner.

Heather Waugh Pitts is a rising star in the world of ceramics, whose work has been exhibited throughout Canada and in London, England. The contemporary vessels that she creates are informed by the surface landscapes of her youth - gravel pitts, forests, the Atlantic Ocean, and her family's extraordinary gardens. Principal owner of successful design, fine art, and mural companies for over 25 years, her vast experience with form, scale, and texture has influenced how she builds her storied and layered vessels. Heather experiments with layers of glazes, oxides, and slip with several firings that result in authentic raw works of art. She built her own home ceramic studio in 2020, where she creates a dialogue between her lived experience and clay.

A Sense of Time - Janice Leonard and Mary Reardon

October 25 to November 22, 2024

Opening Reception: Friday, October 25 at 6 PM

We are very excited to be presenting the works of these two well established painters! Both NSCAD graduates, their works share references to the passage of time.

Janice Leonard's fluidly painted work is focused on her interest in the landscapes of Paradise, Nova Scotia, where her family roots date back to the 1700s. It is a place of romantic history where she experiences a sense of timelessness that is reflected in her work.

Mary Reardon's work is concerned with describing the intangible process of memory, and she employs the genre of still life and the use of objects as symbols to effect this description. Her realistic representation of objects creates a visual metaphor for how the mind looks at the moment when something is remembered or forgotten.

This new body of work extends MacLeod's legacy as a Canadian landscape and figure painter, and features his delectably painted images that arise from his recollections of places he has passed through and the people that populate those places.

This exhibition is being extended until October 18.

June 14 to July 12, 2024

Opening reception: Friday, June 14, at 6 PM.

This section will be under construction until we get closer to opening day.

Jennie McGuire is a graduate of the Capilano Art School in Vancouver, and did post graduate work in art therapy before moving overseas. She has a long and active history of involvement with the arts in Canada, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Thailand and elsewhere. She was the featured artist in the December 2022 issue of ArtSquat magazine, Los Angeles. Her work can be found in collections nationally and internationally. She lives and works in East Chester, Nova Scotia. Her abstract works feature a confident and clear sense of composition that is unique yet somehow familiar.

Heather Waugh Pitts is a rising star in the world of ceramics, whose work has been exhibited throughout Canada and in London, England. The contemporary vessels that she creates are informed by the surface landscapes of her youth - gravel pits, forests, the Atlantic Ocean, and her family's extraordinary gardens. Principal owner of successful design, fine art, and mural companies for over 25 years, her vast experience with form, scale, and texture has influenced how she builds her storied and layered vessels. Heather experiments with layers of glazes, oxides, and slip with several firings that result in authentic raw works of art. She built her own home ceramic studio in 2020, where she creates a dialogue between her lived experience and clay.

New works by Bob Hainstock and Kelly Mitchelmore

April 5 to 26, 2024

Opening reception: Friday, April 5 at 6 PM

Bob Hainstock has worked in Atlantic and Western Canada as an artist for more than thirty years. He is a full-time printmaker, painter and art instructor. Bob teaches at Acadia University, as well as in many private workshops. His work is represented in galleries throughout Canada and the U.S.. He is primarily concerned with landscape fictions and the potentials of texture and colour. He explores the contrasts and frictions between rural and urban cultures, and between natural and man-made environments. His studio techniques include a full range of painting, mixed media, collagraphs, woodblock, etchings, mono prints and experimental processes involving rust oxidation and hand-made papers from Fundy seaweed.

Kelly Mitchelmore lives in Windsor, Nova Scotia. She paints in both acrylic and oil, using both knife and brush. From bold florals to soft landscapes, Kelly is especially known for her moody coastal scenes and her signature red poppy series. Her Bachelor of Interior Design provided her with a sound foundation in colour theory and perspective. Also a 14 year veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces, she attributes much of her inspiration and love of painting water and poppies to her naval career. Kelly hosts workshops in person and online, and her home studio gallery is open for showings by appointment. Her work can be found in galleries and collections throughout Canada.