Art ce Soir II Wants You!

Barrie Galleries and Studios: Art ce Soir II Wants You!: Lakeshore Mews Galleries, Studios and Shops are starting to organize this year's Art Ce Soir for the 2012 Culture Days.  If you are an ar...

Hubby gets creative in the garden!

Today I came home to a new garden in my backyard.  What a wonderful surprise to the end of my day.  While at the studio today I worked on yet another collaged canvas piece for my upcoming show at Claustro Gallery in Midland.  Gavy Swan also came for a visit today and worked away quietly on one of her fantastical fairy designs.  Tomorrow is bound to be a busy day with my morning being spent in Creemore and then back to the studio to start on a fourth large canvas collage.  I've also begun to krinkle together the paper bases of my farmer dolls using food flyers.  Now to find some farmer almanacs to create the outside shell of the dolls.  These pieces will be heading to the Double Door Gallery during the month of July along with paper works by Jenn Guerin, Alana Sproule and Lee Richmond in our first group show as the Paperdolls Collective.  Entitled "Unbound", this show will fufill my desires to work in 3D and work with shadows.  

Jill Price heading to the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition!

Well, despite the delay, we have finally heard back from the Toronto Outdoor Show and it would appear that I have made the cut.  I have been told that of all the shows, this is the one to do, due to the number of people that come to the event and the reasonable cost to do the show.  Of course this means that I really need to start kicking things into high gear so that I have enough work to deal with any sales that may happen and the fact that I am having a feature show down at Arts on Queen during the last two weeks of July.  I am currently exploring how to make my pixelated pieces more painterly as I really miss working with broad gestural strokes.  I am also in the midst of relinquishing the printmaking layer, but we'll see how my experiments go with drawing and some stitchery into the work.  For now I am working on the base of another figurative collage utilizing old scraps from previous paintings.  The problem with these pieces is knowing when to stop so that you don't completely obliterate the references to other works while still working into the piece to give it some depth and dynamism.  I hope to have 4 of these pieces ready for my show up at Claustro Gallery in June.  Ahhhh.....got to go!

Barrie's own Pauline Bradshaw heads to the Louvre!

When I first moved to Barrie I didn't know a soul.  Wanting to become part of the arts community as quickly as possible, I set out downtown to find a space that would have me immersed in Barrie's culture immediately.  Before any boxes at my house were even unpacked, I had rented myself a studio on Lakeshore Mews.  The space was being used by a local artist Pauline Bradshaw for her practice and teaching, but she was on the move to a building just across from the Maclaren, so my timing was perfect.  My first night renovating the studio space in walked Pauline and her husband Sandy to welcome me to the community.  Their camaraderie warmed my heart and I felt really good about my move to the city.  Since then Pauline has offered me a lot of sound advice, found me a job as the curator of the Mad and Noisy Gallery and has been an excellent sounding board for all that ails me in the art world.  The mental and physical support she has generously offered me over the last several months I am extremely grateful for.  The fact that she has been selected as one of the few artists to be featured in the Louvre is only fitting as not only is she a world class artist, but she has been a world class friend.  Congratulations Pauline, you deserve it. Click on the link to read more about Pauline and her upcoming show.  Ontario artists to be featured at Louvre | Ontario | Travel | Toronto Sun  To see some of her work in person, head to the Mad and Noisy Gallery this weekend to take in  a selection of her works in our current group show Momente.

Social Networking Has its Benefits

Jill Price, Rurbia: Coop, 2011, mixed media on canvas, 4' x 5'

Over the last few weeks I have been introduced to Pinterest and received a brief tutorial on how to increase my followers on Twitter, and wouldn't you know it a NewYork blog called The Wall Breakers took a look at my work and decided to feature me as one of their artists.  People always ask me if all of the social networking I do actually pays off.  I have told them that although it doesn't translate into a lot of direct sales for me, the opportunities and free press I have received over the last year have been amazing.  Here's hoping a New York Blog turns into a New York gallery.  http://www.thewallbreakers.com/index.php/the-gallery/414-jill-price-fabricated-landscapes