CONNECTIONS - an artistic community of friends

DENISE BOUDREAU - HALIFAX

An engaged photographer of daily life, Denise captures a diverse range of subjects, from the environmental brilliance of Nova Scotia sunsets to daffodils by the side of a road to playful plovers frolicking on a beach or a friend relishing lobster. With her discerning eye and sharp graphic instincts, she recently became a volunteer photographer for the Halifax Public Gardens. Her role reflects her deep interest in the community and commitment to visually promoting the beauty of the gardens in monthly newsletters, posters, and the website.

Anton Cetín - Toronto

Born in Bojana, Croatia, Anton studied mural techniques at the School of Applied Arts and then printmaking at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. Since immigrating to Canada in 1968, he has held 160 one-man exhibitions and participated in more than 200 group exhibitions worldwide. Throughout Anton’s career, his artistic compositions have centred on Eve, who represents femininity, the giver of life, and the spirit of peace and harmony. “My Eve was born in 1967 in Paris at a time of peace and hope for a better tomorrow, at a time when one could freely walk along Parisian streets feeling art in the air. And today, 50 years later…?”

Website: www.antoncetin.com

Henry Dunsmore - PEI

Since the 1970's Henry, an accomplished watercolourist, has built stories through his art believing that "happenstance" plays an important role in the creative process - a combination of a state of mind, a place in time, talent and good luck. Since his early work in serigraphy, he has allowed fate to play a role in his art, composing images and letting the surprises and experiments of technology play a role. Recently, he has integrated writing with his work by taking a story or poem and creating a visual interpretation. His poem "Caught in Mid-Flight" inspired The Juggler's Wife.

Email: henry@studiogallery.ca

Website: www.studiogallery.ca/

WESLEY FRASER – Halifax

Wesley received his Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 2012 with minors in drawing and the first-ever Illustration minor, which he and his colleagues petitioned for. It later became the first Illustration major at present-day NSCAD.

Wesley has always felt drawn to illustrative works, particularly fantasy illustrations spanning the 19th and 20th centuries. Ink, graphite, and watercolours were his medium of choice in the 2010s. Although he pursued venues at various galleries in Halifax, Nova Scotia, he balanced this with a career in freelance Illustration, working on digital fantasy art for books and games.

In 2018, Wesley studied at the Synthesie D’ecole D’arts in Montreal, Quebec, and obtained the prestigious Concept Art Diploma in 2022. He is now pursuing a career in concept art (pre-production artwork for movies, games, and books).

Email: snarling.mushroom@bellaliant.net

Website: https://www.artstation.com/snarling-mushroom

Andrea Johnson – Halifax

Andrea paints landscapes, portraits, and garden motifs in watercolour. Her work intensively explores light, colour, and beauty. Watercolour's transparency and luminosity best express her love of nature's seasonal colour changes and shifting light. In summer she paints en plein aire. Her visual and emotional reaction to the subject becomes an integral part of the painting process. Born in Toronto, Ontario, Andrea completed a BFA from NSCAD in 1985. From 2002 to 2017 she taught watercolour and drawing classes for Halifax Recreation. In 2015, Andrea and her students exhibited their work at the Chase Gallery in Halifax. Her work is in private collections.

Email: andreapj@bellaliant.net

Gertrude Kearns, CM – Toronto

Gertrude has worked both officially and unofficially as a Canadian War Artist for over two decades. An independent, she is not currently affiliated with a commercial gallery. ‘The ART of COMMAND: portraits + posters from Canada’s Afghan Mission’ 2006-2018 comprises sixty-seven large-format paintings, mixed media and multiple original text/image prints. 2018-2019 realized a U.S. military project. 2020 she developed works on Canada's NATO Mission Iraq Command under Major-General Jennie Carignan.

Kearns’ works are in private and institutional collections in Canada including The Beaverbrook Collection of War Art, Canadian War Museum, Ottawa; Art Gallery of Nova Scotia Collection; Department of National Defense; Royal Canadian Military Institute, Toronto; Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery DC.

Email: contact@gertrudekearnsartist.com

ron mackay — halifax

For as long as he can remember, Ron has appreciated the truth and beauty of good art. He and his family have been collecting fine and folk art and travelling to art destinations for several decades. Ron retired in 2020 from a career in science and education. Since 2022, he has been making his own art with pastels and acrylic paints on paper - working alone or in a small group of novices, experienced artists and an encouraging teacher. Ron works according to his imagination and intuition. His subjects often reflect his understanding of nature. His work includes studies of colour, blind contour-drawn portraits, references to mythology, cosmology and biology, comment on contemporary national character, Earthly and otherwise landscapes, still and not-so-still life and sentient fruits and tubers. Viewers will likely be engaged by Ron's use of colour. Synthesis of meaning and appreciation of craftsmanship should follow in time.

Email: ronaldmorganmackay@gmail.com

Alexandra McCurdy - Halifax

An accomplished ceramist/printmaker / independent curator who works in porcelain making highly decorative, one-of-a-kind, colourful pieces, informed by her long-standing interest in textiles. She was an Associate Curator of Ceramics at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia for six years and has shown her work both nationally and internationally. Alexandra’s work is in the permanent collections in museums across Canada and in the International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza, Italy. For the past few years, she has been obsessed with polka dots and has made a continuing series of pieces with polka dots, each one slightly different from the last. In 2019, Alex won Best Body of Work at the Craft Nova Scotia Xmas Market and was accepted to the International Academy of Ceramics.

Email: amccurdy2@aol.com

Website: amccurdyceramics.ca

SOPHIE MCILWAINE - MONTREAL

Sophie McIlwaine is an architectural artist from the UK, based in Montreal and St Andrews, NB. She works in pencil, ink and watercolour to celebrate our historic built environment. Underpinning her work is a fascination with traditional hand drawing as a means of recording, processing and communicating ideas. The scope of her artwork varies in scale and detail, from intricate studies of a single window to energetic street scenes.

Trained in Architecture (BA) and Building History (MSt) at Cambridge University, Sophie has worked for heritage and contemporary architectural practices in London and Devon, UK. Art commission clients include the National Trust, Brownsword Hotels, and several Cambridge University colleges.

In May 2024, Sophie relocated to Canada for two years. She uses her art practice to explore and understand her surroundings as she travels the country.

Email: sophiemcilwaineart@gmail.com

Website: sophiemcilwaineart.com

Helga Mills - Halifax

After a lifetime spent in academia, social service, and administration in Canada and abroad, Helga retired to Halifax. Always a lover of flowers and flower arranging but without experience in painting, Helga began taking lessons from a botanical artist. Little did she know that she was entering a world of beauty, which changed the passion of her retirement years. Helga is a founding member of BANSA (Botanical Artists of Nova Scotia).

Remembering:
25 December 1934 – 1 November 2019

Margaret Osmond - Halifax

Margaret was raised in an industrious family in Ontario, where sowing, hoeing, and harvesting were formative experiences. Secretly, she dreamed of being lazy and chasing fairies and kittens. She trained as an Eurythmist in London, England, and then taught in a Waldorf School, where 'imagination' has a capital "I." Margaret now lives in "friendly Nova Scotia," where she shares her creative fibre creations on a lobby table for seniors she works with to enjoy.

Bernice Purdy - Halifax

Bernice was fascinated by the human condition and life's emotional paradoxical situations, including the real and imagined. As the work matured, she used symbolism, allegory and myth to convey insightful visual narratives, giving the viewer open-ended questions to contemplate. These questions and reflections involved the precepts that govern and shape our society. A favourite theme was the conflicting messages of womanhood, especially "fat ladies." Bernice's depictions of voluptuous women were empathetic and satirical social statements. Also of interest were her childhood memories of growing up in a small coal-mining town in Nova Scotia. These charming vignettes from the 40s and 50s capture the intimate and lively characters of days gone by. Her paintings have been shown at numerous Maritime exhibitions, and a film, Bernice, was produced for Bravo in 2003 and presented at the Atlantic Film Festival.

Remembering:
20 August 1940 – 7 February 2021

Lise Trottier - Montreal

Lise received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from NSCAD University in 1985, a Bachelor of Architecture degree from l’Université de Montréal in 1988 and a Masters in Architecture from Sangath in Ahmedabad, India, in 1991. In 1995-1996, Lise travelled to the University of California in Berkeley, USA, to further her architectural studies via a specialized study in architectonics and to expand her computer skills with work on Auto-Cad, 3-D Studio and Form-Z. As early as 1983, Lise was commissioned to design and build an art installation, “Le Mur Qui Parle”, in Kapuskasing the Garden City and Model Town, Canada. In 1995, she founded, hosted and participated in organizing a symposium on art and architecture, “Agora chez Articule”, with the Gallery Articule in Montreal. Art and architectural field trips have taken her to various locations, worldwide: Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, the sub-continent of India, Hong Kong, the Caribbean and Japan. She taught theory courses on architecture at Concordia University as part of the Faculty of Fine Arts and environmental design at l’Université du Québec à Montréal as part of the Environmental Design Department. Lise has been involved with the development of several new architectural prototypes and garden community projects that serve as contributions to quality of life. Site-specific architectural works which live in harmony with their cultural contexts and with nature.

Email: lise001arch@yahoo.com
Linkedin:  www.linkedin.com/in/lise-trottier-74811728