GET TO KNOW THE ARTISTS OF THE CARLETON PLACE GALLERY

Local and regional fine art

Our Artists

BRENT McGILLIVRAY - WATERCOLOUR/ACRYLIC Brent creates photo-realistic style paintings with watercolour and acrylic of vanishing landmarks; roadside restaurants; motels; abandoned buildings and disappearing urban and rural artifacts. His paintings explore the dynamic relationship between architecture and light capturing details such as the way the light filters through a window or the play of shadows on a wall.
COLLEEN GRAY -STORYTELLING WATERCOLOUR - says the work at the Carleton Place Gallery "really speaks to the past 25 years of my journey to discover who Indigenous people are in the world - who I am through my art. It serves to both educate and highlight the unique and beautiful intricacies of Indigenous ways of knowing, ceremony and of a belief system rooted in community and generosity. I believe in the power of art to heal. It invites the imagination to dance with the heart. Art is love and vulnerability, given life and then shared.”
NANCY BRANDSMA - OIL - is a contemporary oil painter born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1975. She has been actively involved in the Francophone artist community of Ottawa, Ontario since 2009 where she currently resides. Her oil abstracts have been exhibited in solo shows and group exhibits throughout the province in several galleries and venues. “My art has often been compared to Van Gogh for its bold, dramatic colour and energetic brush strokes filled with emotion and movement. Like Van Gogh, my heart and passion is in every stroke and it is my sincere hope that viewers will be charmed by the complexity yet simplicity of my world.”
VIOLETA BORISONIK - MIXED MEDIA - "gives people a chance to escape to a different reality. A happy place where you can breathe peace and freedom.” Violeta was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has a degree in Architecture from the University of Buenos Aires and Visual Arts from the Ottawa School of Art. Violeta is a mixed media artist exploring the urban landscape. Some of her works have a more geometric abstract style showing a strong influence of her background as an Architect.
Image of a silver ring created by artist Kenna McCall.
KENNA MCCALL - FINE JEWELRY - extracts natural works of art from the Earth, through the canvas of stone, and interprets them into a wearable art form. "Although my style is inspired by Modernist and Brutalist jewelry artists of the mid-20th Century, each design is directed by the gemstone and its story. I work from my studio next to my home in Merrickville. I have been cutting gemstones and making copper and silver jewelry for more than 20 years. My work was featured in an international art fashion magazine and won a Global Excellence award from a UK luxury goods magazine."
CAROLYN SANDOR - STONE SCULPTOR - When working with my stone, I trust the story it has to tell, I listen and urge it forth. It is a choreography of chisels, mallets, rasps, rifflers, dental tools, and tons or sandpaper. The results are always exactly what the stone knew it was meant to be and the delight and surprise is ours.
DAVID MCAUSLAN - WATERCOLOUR - is a Carleton Place local artist whose work depicts local haunts and 'everyday' scenes with wonderful light and detail, capturing buildings, nature and objects with exceptional detail and light.
CAIRN CUNNANE - METAL SCULPTURE - Cairn began as an architectural blacksmith and says "there is a lot to learn from making the old traditional forms but gradually I developed a vocabulary of my own forms to express how I thought and I felt. It is an ongoing adventure."
LORRAINE NAGY - OIL - has always been drawn to the arts, "but it was only when I retired that I could finally scratch that itch. Raised in the Laurentians, I loved living close to the many beautiful lakes and mountains and developed a strong attachment to nature. I try to express this in my paintings. I’ve dabbled in various forms of artistic expression but now favour oil on canvas with palette knife."
DON BRUNER -ACRYLIC - says "I love to celebrate the beauty of the places and the people I see. Often painting on location making a document of what is right in front of my easel. Or in the studio using photos of my wanderings. And sometimes just from memory." Don is a self-taught artist, currently an instructor at JB Arts – Almonte – Youths and Adults.
AMANDA PIERCE - ENCAUSTIC - Amanda Pierce is a Cree Métis artist known for her encaustic painting and sculpture. Primarily self-taught, she works from her studio in Chelsea, Quebec. Working intuitively, Amanda invites her ancestral influences to guide her creative process, resulting in artwork that transcends mere visual expression to become a profound healing experience.
TOM MURPHY - STONE SCULPTURE - has been carving wood and stone for over 30 years. After a brief battle with cancer, Tom’s life changed significantly. Carving stone has allowed him to creatively channel his recovery. Originally from Perth, Tom now lives on the Ottawa River with his beautiful wife Anne-Marie. Tom Murphy carves soapstone, serpentine and alabaster. All of Tom’s work is done by hand, much of which expresses his love and respect of the natural environment.
JANET TULLOCH - FELT & ECO PRINTING - says that her art practice, vis a vis nature, "is a response to what I see as The Sacred Wild. This body of work explores the joy and mystery found in gardens and forests through my inquiry and response to the visual language of plant life."
CHRISTINA STAPPER ---- CERAMIC POTTERY - is a small batch potter. Christina creates fantastic and functional as well as visual art. Wheel thrown and hand built. "I am in a season of life where I am saying yes to love, to being more fully and unapologetically myself, of embracing others for who they are, and of saying yes to finding ways to be light in this world. Pottery has been a space of joy, a way for me to be creative, and a means of connection to community and other creators. I am truly just a baby potter as I’m only three years into this journey, but it will be something I do forever. It feels like an extension of me."
LAUREL WILSON - OILS - has lived in the rural woods of South Frontenac since 2018. A graduate of the Graphic Design program at St. Lawrence College in 1991, she worked as a freelance designer/illustrator in Kingston ON for over 20 years. Since dedicating her time to fine art, she has been successfully showing and selling her work in local art shows and galleries for the past three years.
RICK ROBERTS - ACRYLIC - lives and creates in Stittsville, Ontario. "I am a self taught artist who has been creating art for over 50 years. I love to work with dark lines against light backgrounds. I always concentrate on movement flow, shapes and contrasting colours to create works with impact.”
PAMELA STEWART - ABSTRACT MIXED MEDIA - is a mixed media painter from Kanata, Ontario, Pamela uses (and loves experimenting with) modern materials such as art resin, synthetic paper, alcohol inks, glass paints, broken mirror and more. Her work is an expression of how she experiences the world around her – as an immersion of the senses. "I love for art, like life, to be a multi-sensory experience."
JOANNE COUGHLIN - ACRYLIC -says her art could be described as abstract expressionism. "Most of my work is layered and colourful and often reflects an aspect of nature."
SUZANNE WARREN POWELL - MIXED MEDIA - Suzanne co-founded Ottawa Mixed Media Artists (OMMA) in 2000 to give Mixed Media artists a voice in the Ottawa arts community. Her work is influenced by Zen principles, so there is always a spiritual component to her paintings, which involves letting go of fear and welcoming lots of room for play. “It is not what you look at but what you see.” - Thoreau
ANN GRUCHY - ACRYLIC - is a visual artist living in North Gower, working and teaching in her Kars studio. She paints in both acrylic and watercolour and is known for her minimalist landscapes as well as her large, bold abstracts. “I paint trying to capture the light and atmosphere that continuously inspire me. My works are minimalist, abstracted and created spontaneously.”
GINNY FOBERT - PHOTOGRAPHIC ART “To me, it seems limiting to only photograph the world in one way. I like to look for something of interest and go beyond it to find a different way to portray what I see. Photography allows me to get outside the box, be a bit rebellious, break some rules and get away with it. Photography is a way of slowing down, escaping the norm and watching the world move at a more peaceful pace. The day I discovered photography I also discovered a hidden part of myself.”
BRUCE CLIFFORD-MIXED MEDIA and ACRYLIC - hails from Kingston Ontario but grew up in West Ottawa. Always in touch with his creative side, with a flair for colours, home decorating, and even a stint as retail store window dresser, which lead to helping clients design their custom orders with Porsche for 20 years. Self taught, experimenting with colour and textures…as Bruce says, ”Keep going, you’ll know when it’s right”