Between a Rock and a Hard Place “A few disillusioned Loyalists traded their slice of wilderness for a 26’er of rum and vamoosed to greener pastures. But mostly they stayed and adopted the dependable custom of spreading the work through neighbourly barn-raising bees, and, later, logging bees as well as apple-drying bees.” Peter C Newman Hostages to Fortune, The United Empire Loyalists and the Making of Canada Prince Edward County has long been known as a destination spot for wineries, beaches and history buffs alike. This island community on the north shore of Lake Ontario boasts a unique rural culture that coexists with a big city influx. A Sunday drive, or a ‘horn trip’ as the locals like to call it, will take you from Picton down to Cressy and back through Waupoos, making sure you stop at Black River Cheese for some fresh curds. On your stop you will find yourself in the fifth township, as it was originally known, today called Marysburgh. A drive along Morrison Point Road ...
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What exactly is painterly realism you ask? Well, that is how artist Linda Barber of Prince Edward County describes the work she does. Linda originally hails from the pretty little town of Marmora, Ontario. Her post secondary studies took her to the east coast where she studied Fine Art at Mount Allison University in Sackville, NB, graduating with a degree in printmaking. After graduating, she moved to the County and has made it her home for more than 30 years now. Visiting Linda at her studio in her beautiful old Colonial home, you are greeted with the charm of this historical place (her husband is the fifth generation on this farm), the beauty in this rural setting and the welcoming bark of their family dog, Benny. It is here at her home studio that she first began her painting and her framing business; both of which are still in operation. Although Linda has painted many works with watercolour; her medium of choice is now acrylic paints and working with a palette knife f...
Jerry F Albert The recent and sudden passing of the well-known Canadian artist Jerry F Albert has stunned the art world in Canada and abroad. Jerry not only leaves behind his family, including his wife of almost 50 years, Susan, his two daughters Kristina (Lloyd) Dyrow and Shanna Albert, and his grandson Andrew, he also leaves behind a legacy in his art. Jerry was born ‘Jaroslav’ in the Medvednica mountain ranges (translated as bear mountain) of central Croatia. He immigrated to Canada, first landing in Toronto but quickly moving on to settle in Frankford Ontario where he grew up. He attended Kemptville College where he met his soon-to-be wife Susan. Jerry made a career as a paper broker, a profession that had him moving from time to time. He lived in Trenton and then Belleville, across the country to Western Canada, family in tow, and then down into Washington State, USA where he lived for many years. Jerry enjoyed travelling, being out in nature, photography, sketch...
A Day in October Paul Chester paints peaceful contemporary impressionist land and waterscapes. Inspired by the natural countryside surrounding his home in Keene, located in southeastern Ontario, Paul celebrates and shares his recollected visions as an emotional experience through his works of art. His early exposure to familial artists in his parents, both painters and his mother also a sculptor, naturally led a nineteen-year-old Paul to pick up his father’s old paint set. He loved It and couldn’t leave it. Inspired and supported, Paul was driven to pursue his own art. “Painting for me is a poetic expression…” With private lessons to start, Paul enrolled in the school Arts Sake in Toronto. In 1982, his ambition took him abroad to study art at the Academy St. Roch in Paris, France. Inspired by the great impressionists, think Monet, the idea was to immerse himself in the art and culture, and secretly he always wanted to learn to speak French. This all-French academy meant...
The Forest Robert Tokley is an artist who has arrived. Born in Bannockburn in the back seat of his parents Pontiac in front of the doctor’s office they didn’t quite make it to, he had no choice, his life was going to be an adventure. His childhood growing up in the small, artsy town of Madoc was riddled with adventures, accidents and mishaps, all of them leading to a life of expression through art. From being run over by a car as a toddler, to breaking his femur in a three-wheeler accident as an adolescent, his recovery time was spent drawing, painting, it was spent with art. This cat has story after story and nine lives too; from each one of them come new inspiration, renewed desire to create and more experiences than most of us could ever imagine. His adventures led him west to Alberta where he spent some time working in the oil fields. As his luck would have it, he was injured on the job. He found himself out of work, out of money and homeless, living out of his c...
Joyce Burkholder The hamlet of Wilno is nestled in the beautifu l, rocky hills of the Madawaska valley and is home to Canadian Wilderness Artist Joyce Burkholder. Many refer to this area as God’s Country , and for good reason- the hills afford breathtaking views of the surrounding forests and lakes, and serve as a natural backdrop for the work of an outdoor artist. Joyce has dedicated the better part of her life to her work, “it has been, and still is hugely fulfilling to be a full-time professional painter of the stunningly beautiful landscape of wilderness Ontario.” Born and raised in Toronto, Joyce attended the Ontario College of Art and Design (formerly known as OCA), an education that was to be just the beginning of a lifetime of learning. In her early 20’s, she made the decision to “get back to the land”, so she headed north, originally settling west of Wilno in the country near Maynooth where she lived for the next 25 years. It was about this time that Joyce found a cot...
Skating on St Lawrence san-murata.com Anyone who meets San Murata knows that he is someone whom you won’t soon forget. Lively, charismatic and honest; he is certainly a true reflection of his art. He currently lives in the small historic town of Grafton where he loves to paint the beautiful Northumberland countryside. He also enjoys spending time in Quebec during the colder months to paint. The painting on the front cover is a scene from winter, one of the things San says he likes most about Canada, particularly in Quebec. San grew up in Japan, with admittedly a stricter social system, which encourages all children to work hard in school and go to university. San’s father was a banker and wanted his children to be professionals, so San studied at the University of Musashi in Tokyo, and although he says he wasn’t the best student, he graduated with a degree in Economics. He, too, worked at a banking job but it was always his dream to one day be an artist. In the late 60’s...
Leanne Baird is a visual artist residing in the Peterborough area. Her background involves a variety of experiences that, all combined, informs her particular style of painting. These experiences range from a Fine Arts degree from the University of Toronto to landscape design; from studies in process art making and mandala art, to teaching the craft itself to adults and children. Developing her intuition for her surroundings, she has immersed herself in the study of yoga and of ancient Indian scriptures. Baird’s main painting focus is on landscapes which she considers to be both ‘a study of the physical and the metaphysical.’ Inspired by the natural world, she perceives the consciousness in all things and is particularly attracted to the consciousness in trees. Remarking on the cover art, she says, “To me it expresses the illumination of consciousness…the trees seem to be lit up from within.” Her influences include such artists as Lawren Harris, Emily Carr and Norval Morrissea...
Artist Kathy Haycock has spent her life dedicated to her passions; nature and art. She comes by these passions quite honestly through the noble influence of her father, well known Canadian Arctic painter Maurice Haycock. She was also greatly exposed to the work of her fathers close painting partner A.Y. Jackson of Canada’s Group of Seven. She lives near Lake Clear in the Eganville area of Ontario. Her influences introduced her to the bounty of Algonquin Park, to the vast Canadian Arctic and even further on to Greenland. Kathy continues to travel to these beautiful and extraordinary places to carry on the work of capturing nature at its best. Her dedication to on-site painting all-year-round in these remote locations can only be considered uncompromising. Kathy is truly inspired by nature itself as she continues to immerse herself in the outdoors. Her passion has her sitting out in the wilderness, quietly becoming part of it, as she paints her experience of being there. Th...
The spiritual practice of yoga is one of the oldest disciplines in the world, and from that discipline stems the sacred practice of Thai yoga massage. We all know the health benefits of doing yoga; this massage, in essence, is the equivalent of having yoga done to you. Shelagh Binks of Yoga with Shelagh, describes it as a truly unique and beautiful experience, one that is unlike any massage treatment out there. Thai yoga massage is a ‘partner practice’, performed on large, comfortable mats on the floor, wearing loose and comfortable clothing. The practitioner uses their hands, feet, arms and legs to gently guide the recipient through a series of yoga postures, while palming and thumbing along the body’s energy lines and pressure points. Shelagh defines the palming and thumbing as a way to open the energy lines (also known as sen ) that run throughout the body, move the energy through these lines and then close the lines by palming again. Together, the postures and the m...
Joyous, cheerful, exuberant - these words are regularly used to describe the artwork of Margaret McFetridge from Wellington, in Prince Edward County. Margaret was born and raised in Toronto, and has had the good fortune of living in many different places in Ontario as well as spending a decade in Quebec. As a young child, her parents encouraged her art through classes at the Art Gallery of Ontario, and that passion never left her. Her early career saw her working with watercolours, silk and porcelain paintings. By the 1990’s she was experimenting with oils and that was when she discovered her true medium! That was when she went big – big canvases, big brushes and big, confident strokes. She says that the work just poured out of her and you can feel her energy through these large, vibrant and colourful floral works of art. In 1999, Margaret discovered Wellington. She says “I came to the County with some friends. I could feel the creative energy here, and that was in November! I h...
Peter Rotter is a well known landscape artist from Lakefield, Ontario. He grew up in Toronto, spending his summers and many weekends at the family cottage on Stoney Lake just a short twenty five minutes north of Lakefield. It is here that Rotter finds true inspiration for painting. “The Kawartha and surrounding areas are my muse” Rotter says he began painting landscapes at a very young age. As a child he was “obsessed with a book on landscape painters”, and in particular, books about The Group of Seven were of interest to him. “Drawing and painting the north was just something I did growing up.” His parents were always very supportive of his art, encouraging him with art classes on the weekends and art camps during the summer. “It seemed growing up, I was always the youngest kid with landscape paintings at shows in the Toronto area.” Rotter studied design at the Ontario College of Art and Design and computer animation at Sheridan College. He went on to work in animation fo...
The Wilno Hills, an hour north of Bancroft in the Madawaska Valley, is known by some to be God’s country. It is here that you will find the artist Linda Sorensen . Artist Linda Sorensen shows her art to me in her studio. Linda was born in London, England. She moved to Canada with her mother and settled in Burling ton, Ontario where, as she says, she had the good fortune of Robert Bateman as her high school art teacher. It was the early 70`s and the school was the newly built Lord Elgin High - since renamed after this world renowned Canadian wildlife artist. Under Bateman she studied Pottery and Sculpture, Drawing and Painting and Art History. She also took a course in Textile and Printmaking with Birgit Freybe , now Robert`s wife. She was truly inspired! Linda moved to the Madawaska Valley and recalls heading out “ with a pack on my back and not two pennies in my pocket .” She became part of a back-to-t...
The Wilno Hills, an hour north of Bancroft in the Madawaska Valley, is known by some to be God’s country. It is here that you will find the artist Linda Sorensen. Linda was born in London, England. She moved to Canada with her mother and settled in Burlington, Ontario where, as she says, she had the good fortune of Robert Bateman as her high school art teacher. It was the early 70`s and the school was the newly built Lord Elgin High - since renamed after this world renowned Canadian wildlife artist. Under Bateman she studied Pottery and Sculpture, Drawing and Painting and Art History. She also took a course in Textile and Printmaking with Birgit Freybe, now Robert`s wife. She was truly inspired! Linda moved to the Madawaska Valley and recalls heading out “with a pack on my back and not two pennies in my pocket.” She became part of a back-to-the-land movement and lived off the grid, ``without telephone, running water, hydro and neighbours!” For the next 25 years, she devoted ...