Octarine Women Artists' Collective – Page 2 – A Group of Eight Artists All Working in Different Media

The Show is Up!

Our new show is up at the beautiful Joshua Creek Heritage Arts Centre, and it will be there until May 8th. Our Opening Reception will be from 2 to 5 on Sunday April 3rd, and we invite you all to be there.

We’ve called the show “Elemental”, because that’s what it is. Familiar with Joshua Creek and its peace and serenity, we each visualized how to respond to the natural forces at work here. Each artist has worked to her own elemental imperative, seeking to interpret and portray her own unique environmental view.

Here’s a sample of the work. First, an encaustic from Deborah Dryden:

Deb is just back from the west coast, with a new series. Don’t miss this!

And a new watercolour from Carol Hughes:

Kim Johnston has a lot of new work, and is also offering prints of her oil paintings:

Mary Karavos also has new work, including a beautiful long banner that is difficult to post here: here is one of her collages:

Jean Loney is our glass mosaic artist, and here is one from the show:

Leslie Miles has more from her Zen series, a screen print on raw canvas:

Here is an oil on canvas from Gail Root’s many travels:

And finally, a gicleé photograph, altered with coloured pencils and watercolour, from Susan Strachan Johnson. You can just see the original photograph inset into the upper left corner.

So, if you’d like to see more, you’ll have to come to see the show! Hope to see you at the opening.

New Show

“Elemental” is the title of the 2016 Octarine Artists’ exhibition, which will take place April 1 – May 8, 2016 at Joshua Creek Heritage Arts Centre in Oakville, Ontario.

This year’s returning artists are Deborah Dryden, Carol Hughes, Susan Strachan Johnson, Kim Johnston, Mary Karavos, Jean Loney, Leslie Miles and Gail Root.

Encore sampler

Fibre art by Helen Hughes.

Our next show, Encore, is coming up fast! Opening night is Friday, May 1, 2015 from 7:00 – 9:00 pm at Studio 404 in Guelph. Here is a preview of work from this year’s participating artists:

“Morning Blackbird”, pastel by Kim Johnston.

“Dark Seascape”, mosaic by Jean Loney.

Landscape by Gail Root, oil.

“Sand I”, encaustic by Deborah Dryden.

“Raining colour”, paper collage by Mary Karavos.

“Grand Day in June” watercolour by Carol Hughes.

“Peonies in the Window”, pastel by Leslie Miles.

Introducing Mary Karavos

Joining the Octarines this year for the Encore show (May 1 – 10, 2015) is Mary Karavos

“Raining Colour” by Mary Karavos.

Born in Toronto, Ontario, Mary’s formal art training took place at the Ontario College of Art. Following a juried application process in her final year, Mary was accepted to study fine art in Florence, Italy. Florence became home for many years; during her time in Florence surrounded by the history, the architecture and the people Mary found herself drawn to paper fiber as a medium for her art.

Collections of her art have been seen in solo, group and juried exhibitions in Bologna, Italy, New York City, Paris and in various galleries and juried exhibitions across Ontario and Quebec.

In June 2014 following a jurying process of both her figurative and abstract work the Arts-Sciences-Lettres Academy of Paris awarded Mary the Bronze Medal. (The Arts- Sciences – Lettres Academy was founded in 1915)

In December 2014 Maryʼs art received “prix du Jury” at the SNBA (Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts} International exhibition at the Carrousel de Louvre in Paris, France. The SNBA is one of Paris’s oldest and most prestigious shows founded 153 years ago.

Vibrant color and rich texture have become the signature of Mary’s work. After more than twenty years she is still exploring her love for paper and the creative process involved in an original work of art.

Encore Invitation

Here is the invitation for this year’s Encore show. We hope to see you there!