Catharine Somerville

Current Exhibitions

March 3-31,  2021

Gallery 1313  (Online)

As the pandemic continues, artists struggle to make a modest living. With most galleries closed, and with events being postponed or cancelled, few opportunities exist to exhibit or sell work. The lock down in Toronto looks like it will continue until March 9th or longer. With the variant virus now threatening to infect more people, it is the probably the best for everyone.

This particular exhibit is for members of Gallery 1313: over 60 members across the GTA with a variety of art practices. Most members are represented online at http://g1313.org/artists/. Gallery 1313 is an artist run centre occupying 1313 Queen St. West since 1997. Before that, members were part of an art collective: the Parkdale Village Arts Collective, founded in 1994.

We are all dealing with covid fatigue: tired from constant zooming, social distancing and covid precautions. The rollout of vaccines painted a picture of hope, but the emergence of the variant virus, and its even more menacing threat, mean that we count the days that roll into each other.

Online art will hopefully give the public something to view and talk about; perhaps fill some time of otherwise idle moments with humor and hope.

The exhibit is curated online by director Phil Anderson.

We look forward to opening our doors and welcoming the public back in a safe and healthy environment. Stay Safe. take Care.

Alison Kruse 

  • The Annex
  • 13.5 by 17 inches
  • Digital Illustration on Archival Paper
  • 2021
  • $250

Lockdown has allowed me to explore themes within my work I would have otherwise overlooked. This fall my work revolved around the theme of passing time and incorporating multiple scenes within one to reflect the synchronicity and repetition that comes with waiting for this period to be over. This second lockdown has felt much more numbing. The task of conceptualizing work felt daunting and laborious. My bandwidth for creating new ideas got much smaller and I found myself making work that felt forced. What felt most natural to me was to simplify.

Alison Kruse 

  • Butler
  • 16 by 20 inches
  • Oil on Canvas
  • 2021
  • $600

I gravitated towards recreating scenes within the pandemic where I felt calm. Because all these scenes were lived within this period, it gave me a sense of achievement that contentment can be reached within the turbulence.  This body of work is about regaining balance. Instead of creating work to memorialize how chaotic these times are, I wanted this work to contemplate the space in between.  Moments of peace in between boredom and anxiety.

Asma Sultana

  • April Comes, She Will
  • 17″x3″x4″ 
  • Artist’s Hair, Used Back Scrubber 
  • 2020
  • $500

I use the unique signature of my body to explore identity in time and place. With the tip of my fingers, using my hair and footprints, I imprint my emotions onto different surfaces to express the inimitable chaos of my inner and outer world.

Asma Sultana

  • Words Have Wings (Series)
  • 11″x10″ 
  • Colour Palette, Burning
  • 2020 – 2021
  • $500

I use the unique signature of my body to explore identity in time and place. With the tip of my fingers, using my hair and footprints, I imprint my emotions onto different surfaces to express the inimitable chaos of my inner and outer world.

Catharine Somerville

  • Ice Caps
  • 27” x 35”
  • Cryla on panel
  • 2021

Lock down to me represents a time to reflect and a time to celebrate nature. Ice interests me in it’s lock down state. Frozen in time waiting to be released but beautiful in its stately place.

Catharine Somerville

  • Ice Dream
  • 24” x 30”
  • Oil on Canvas
  • 2021

Catharine Somerville was born in Toronto and works between the UK and Canada.

Eva Lewarne

  • Pals
  • 30” x 40”
  • $1,200

After the restrictions of the Pandemic, the gloom and doom of our lonely lives this winter, without friends, I wanted to create something celebratory, alive, magical and fun in my studio.

Eva Lewarne

  • Carnevale
  • 48” x 36”
  • $1,800

So I remembered Disney and his delightful characters, especially Mickey and Minnie to incorporate into my usual theme of women and life…and have some fun albeit alone…

Mikael Sandblom

  • Doors of the Horizon
  • Variable Size Prints
  • Limited edition of 5
  • Digital Composite
  • 2021

Better take the long way around. Keep to the edges.  Don’t disturb what hides in the light. 

Mikael Sandblom

  • Blindness
  • Variable Size Prints
  • Limited edition of 5
  • Digital Composite
  • 2021

How about that. Finally slouched out of darkness only to find that the light ahead is blinding fog! 

Gerda Wekerle

  • Two Birds
  • 20″ x 24″
  • Acrylic
  • $400

During the Covid lockdown, I lie awake thinking of colour and movement. Behind my eyelids, I see new combinations of colours. Red and turquoise? What about movement in my paintings? Try painting the crane and church from different viewpoints. It keeps me occupied at 3 a.m.

Gerda Wekerle

  • Moving Vistas-Church and Crane
  • 30″ x 30″
  • Acrylic
  • $1,200

During the Covid lockdown, I lie awake thinking of colour and movement. Behind my eyelids, I see new combinations of colours. Red and turquoise? What about movement in my paintings? Try painting the crane and church from different viewpoints. It keeps me occupied at 3 a.m.

Jacqueline Treloar

  • TTC bus 76A driver and his mask 
  • 34″ x 34″ framed
  • acrylic ink and paint on canvas
  • 2021
  • $1,500

I am a magician. My work springs from ancient histories and legends, stunning light and colour. Its origins were formed from years living in England, Italy and now Canada. I ask questions of what holds meaning for me? What is my purpose? 

Jacqueline Treloar

  • Lady on the TTC with fab hat 
  • 30″ x 24″ framed
  • acrylic ink and paint on embroidered fabric
  • 2021
  • $1,150 + HST

My answers celebrate a personal vision; ideas, images and memories are sorted, researched, and stored over time and then put forward out of a desire to commemorate and honour that which is of profound personal value. Much  searching takes place within the archives of manuscripts, monuments, and great natural spaces, exposing the inner power and beauty that in turn forms the nucleus of a contemporary creation.

Jerome A McNicholl

  • Catch the Demon
  • 6ft x 4ft approx.
  • oil on canvas

My art practice is autobiographic in nature thus when I paint/sculpt/write I am plugged into the spark and clutter of my own psychic and there I find a tunnel into a seemingly endless unconscious sea that connects me to a larger more inclusive self– ‘you have to go in, to go out’.

I identify with the practice of the ‘mystic contemplative mind’ that experiences life as inner directed, holding and balancing our tensions and contradiction and “seeing not with, but through the eye,” (William Blake) life, as continuously revealing its secrets and rich earthly beauty.

Jerome A McNicholl

  • Reset
  • 5ft x 2ft 10” approx.
  • oil on canvas

The idea of an ‘incarnated world’, where ‘mater incarnates the vitality of spirit’ one vitalized by the other has been part of cultures the world over. It allows, if affirmed for us to see afresh the true aliveness of our earth planet and never more needed than Now.

Joanne Shenfeld

  • Rainbow Hill
  • 7″ x 7″
  • mixed media on paper
  • $125

These abstract works evoke colorful and whimsical landscapes that we can imagine while we remain close to home. Each piece starts with an active ground that is composed of acrylic medium, collage and texture. Subsequent layers of paint, ink, collage, line and glazing build up to create an intricate and dense surface.

Joanne Shenfeld

  • Pillar
  • 7″ x 7″
  • mixed media on paper
  • $125

These abstract works evoke colorful and whimsical landscapes that we can imagine while we remain close to home. Each piece starts with an active ground that is composed of acrylic medium, collage and texture. Subsequent layers of paint, ink, collage, line and glazing build up to create an intricate and dense surface.

John Ferri

  • Morning
  • 42″ x 42″
  • digital composition

My art blends elements of photography, collage and graphic design to create what I hope is a unique visual perspective that balances precision, whimsy and a fascination with human movement. This piece is a counterpoint to how we’re all feeling after a year of living with fear and isolation. I didn’t set out to create a feeling of hope and optimism, it just went there on its own.

Paul Brandejs

  • Your Choice
  • 22″ x 20″ x 2.5″
  • Mixed Media: Photography and Acrylic on Sculpted Canvas

The unadulterated beauty of nature is often challenging to capture on a simple canvas, as the resonating memory is fragile. Inspired by the sun rays after a summer storm at Bon Echo Provincial Park, the connection and reverence with the earth I felt in that moment is one I wanted to share with you.

Paul Brandejs

  • In Deep
  • 25″ x 20″ x 2.5″
  • Mixed Media: Photography and Acrylic on Sculpted Canvas

The unadulterated beauty of nature is often challenging to capture on a simple canvas, as the resonating memory is fragile. Inspired by the sun rays after a summer storm at Bon Echo Provincial Park, the connection and reverence with the earth I felt in that moment is one I wanted to share with you.

Ruth Hartman

  • Tokyo Visitor

My inspiration has always been the singularity of the human face but many years ago, I began my ‘no face’ motif to express what is universal, what we share as humans rather than what makes us different.  Viewers would fill in the blank faces with their own imagination and memories.       

Ruth Hartman

  • Arles Twins

As we close out our first year of the pandemic in lockdown, we see multiple faces with identities obscured behind masks, voices muffled, eyes shadowed and vague from a distance.  There is no time to linger. Blank faces have become our social reality, not a motif.   

I look forward to again seeing those faces, in all their sameness and particularity, when we can all safely unmask.     

Gilles Morin

  • Unknown and Mysterious Powers
  • Digital painting printed on quality art paper with archival inks.
  • Limited edition of 15
  • Size are:
    • 18’ x 24” $600.00
    • 24” x 30” $1200.00
    • 36” x 48” $1800.00

This period of lock down and confinement has help me see people with a much deeper understanding and not be distracted by the surface of the skin or the mask. In my visual mind I am more interested in seeing the complexity and power of their energy, personality and emotions. 

Far more revealing.

Gilles Morin

  • The Self – The Mask
  • Digital painting printed on quality art paper with archival inks.
  • Limited edition of 15
  • Size are:
    • 18’ x 24” $600.00
    • 24” x 30” $1200.00
    • 36” x 48” $1800.00

I am very cognitive of the fragmentation that each of us is experiencing in these unusual times,  consequently  discovering a deeper understanding of themselves and  as  a  result shining brighter even with a mask on.

Zoraida Anaya

  • The Lockdown Beast
  • Ink on paper
  • 8” x 11”
  • 2020

I lost the sense of time. All the days seem to be the same. I think twice about the day of the week I am in, but I am happy to realize that it is Sunday…and not Monday.

Zoraida Anaya

  • We Are All in a Humongous Prison
  • Collage on paper
  • 8” x 11”
  • 2020

I lost the sense of time. All the days seem to be the same. I think twice about the day of the week I am in, but I am happy to realize that it is Sunday…and not Monday.

Voitek

  • Whished I Was There
  • on raw metal
  • 45” x 30”
  • $800

The virtuality of software manipulation is replaced by Voitek’s exploration of reality in his subjects and objects. He explores through physical manipulation what others explore through their keyboard. It is the constraints and challenges of the physical reality that causes him to investigate and create.

Voitek

  • The Challenger
  • on raw metal
  • 47” x 24”
  • $800

The virtuality of software manipulation is replaced by Voitek’s exploration of reality in his subjects and objects. He explores through physical manipulation what others explore through their keyboard. It is the constraints and challenges of the physical reality that causes him to investigate and create.

Hugh Alcock

  • Burnham Beeches
  • 36″x60″
  • pastel on canvas

A quote from Thoreau’s ‘Walking’:


“It is of no use to direct our steps to the woods, if they do not carry us thither. I am alarmed when it happens that I have walked a mile into the woods bodily, without getting there in spirit.”

Henry
David Thoreau.

David Brown

  • Untitled 1, From The Spatial Perception Series
  • Encaustic over Acrylic Wash, Oil & Spray Paint on Birch Panel
  • 12” x 16”
  • 2021

I approach the act of painting like a builder, using wax, spray paint, and print techniques to construct a multi-layered, multi-sensory experience. I am interested in observing, collecting and reflecting the visual cacophony of metropolitan life.

In my paintings, layers of wax are painstakingly piled on top of acrylic washes, oil, and spray paints. Surface depth accumulates by weaving organic and geometric shapes, rendered in positive and negative form, through different levels. The final result is a thin sculpture with fragments of long forgotten messages resonating through.

David Brown

  • Untitled 6, From The Spatial Perception Series
  • Encaustic over Acrylic Wash, Oil & Spray Paint on Birch Panel
  • 12” x 16”
  • 2021

I think of my work as internalized landscapes that reflect the experience of living in Canada’s largest urban center — an encapsulation of all the daily sensory bombardments of the city. I strive to represent time and space, sight and sound, in a quiet loudness.

Emma Lewis

  • Lilac
  • Oil and Mixed Media on wood canvas
  • 12” x 16”
  • 2020

These 2 pieces were created during lockdown as a way to keep motivating me to make art and stay inspired. Being isolated on my university campus and away from my family, who live in BC, I spent most of my time creating, and inventing. Art was a huge outlet for me during this time to explore different media’s, styles and artistic elements. These were some of the pieces that came out of this journey.

Emma Lewis

  • Gaze
  • Oil and Mixed Media on wood canvas
  • 12” x 16”
  • 2020

These 2 pieces were created during lockdown as a way to keep motivating me to make art and stay inspired. Being isolated on my university campus and away from my family, who live in BC, I spent most of my time creating, and inventing. Art was a huge outlet for me during this time to explore different media’s, styles and artistic elements. These were some of the pieces that came out of this journey.

Helen Melbourne 

  • Thought Entangler
  • Hanging sculpture (6’)
  • Mixed media – reclaimed textiles and metal scrap
  • $450

After the first shock of lockdown a year ago, waves of uncertainty, confusion, and fear, I began to see the opportunity to explore new media, refine techniques and work materials I already had. These are two samples of what I have been making. Both are made from otherwise wasted resources.

Helen Melbourne 

  •  Bound together:  An aerial conceptual view of the City from lockdown
  • Wall Hanging, reclaimed textiles – scrap from cloth mask making          
  • $850

After the first shock of lockdown a year ago, waves of uncertainty, confusion, and fear, I began to see the opportunity to explore new media, refine techniques and work materials I already had. These are two samples of what I have been making. Both are made from otherwise wasted resources.

Leena Raudee 

  • Veiled 1
  • conte on paper
  • 22” x13”
  • $450.00

In this pandemic we have become accustomed to the masked face.

“Veiled” explores what is hidden, the urge to see what is behind. These veils reference the performative accumulation of line but also the animation of hair shifting in a breeze. Detached, they are like portraits posed for the camera.

Leena Raudee 

  • Veiled 2
  • conte on paper
  • 22” x13”
  • $450.00

In this pandemic we have become accustomed to the masked face.

“Veiled” explores what is hidden, the urge to see what is behind. These veils reference the performative accumulation of line but also the animation of hair shifting in a breeze. Detached, they are like portraits posed for the camera.

Gwen Tooth

  • Into the Light No 18
  • Acrylic
  • 24 x 12 x 1.5 in
  • 2014
  • $600

Into the Light No 18 is part of a series I created in 2014, expressing the joy and hope of coming out of a Tsunami series I had just completed before that.

Bright yellow backgrounds were applied, followed by bright splashes of colour. A gloss medium and varnish was applies last to enhance the light of the hopeful yellow.

Marie Finkelstein

  • Ty Dreaming 2
  • 9 x12 in
  • oil on canvas
  • 2020
  • NFS

During this time of Covid, I have been painting images of my family, particularly the children who have a capacity to revel in the moment, immersed in their own worlds of fantasy and play. I wish to convey hope for the future for all our children.

Marie Finkelstein

  • Ty Dreaming 4
  • 9 x12 in
  • oil on canvas
  • 2020
  • NFS

During this time of Covid, I have been painting images of my family, particularly the children who have a capacity to revel in the moment, immersed in their own worlds of fantasy and play. I wish to convey hope for the future for all our children.

Michelle Montague

  • Empty spaces – Marie Curtis Park, looking southwest
  • 16″ x 20″
  • oil on panel
  • 2020
  • $640

There’s a place in Toronto that I love to frequent.

It’s home to various local wildlife and is a waypoint for migratory birds. The trees are densely packed and the light that bounces off their leaves casts a kaleidoscope of shadows on the forest floor.

Michelle Montague

  • Marie Curtis Park, looking north
  • 16″ x 20″
  • oil on panel
  • 2020
  • $640

As I look north, south, east and west, it is here that I feel grounded, deep in thought and entranced by the sunlight.

The view from here is a growing series of paintings which depicts the surrounding scenes viewed from my favourite spot inside Marie Curtis Park.

Ned Palmer

  • Red Mountain
  • 12″ x 12″
  • oil on canvas
  • 2020
  • $150

 These paintings are inspired by my time spent in South Korea. Rooftops in Guro is based on a photo I took from the roof of a building in the neighbourhood of Guro, in Seoul. Red Mountain is based on the mountains which surround Seoul.

Ned Palmer

  • Rooftops in Guro
  • 12″ x 16″
  • oil on canvas
  • 2020
  • $175

 These paintings are inspired by my time spent in South Korea. Rooftops in Guro is based on a photo I took from the roof of a building in the neighbourhood of Guro, in Seoul. Red Mountain is based on the mountains which surround Seoul.

Shawn Postoff

  • Orion
  • 26″w x 48″h
  • Vitreous glass, ceramic tile, slate, and findings on wood.
  • 2021

According to the Collins Gem Guide, Orion is “a magnificent constellation of the equatorial region of the sky, representing a hunter or warrior with his shield and club raised against the snorting charge of neighbouring Taurus the Bull.” Personally, I prefer a different version of Orion, in which he spends his long winters drifting through far more contemplative skies. With a nod to photographer Greg Gorman for the perfect pose.

Shawn Postoff

  • Orion
  • 26″w x 48″h
  • Vitreous glass, ceramic tile, slate, and findings on wood.
  • 2021

According to the Collins Gem Guide, Orion is “a magnificent constellation of the equatorial region of the sky, representing a hunter or warrior with his shield and club raised against the snorting charge of neighbouring Taurus the Bull.” Personally, I prefer a different version of Orion, in which he spends his long winters drifting through far more contemplative skies. With a nod to photographer Greg Gorman for the perfect pose.

Pam Patterson

  • Killarney, Ireland
  • 39” H x 98” W
  • photo-digital print
  • 2020

My recent visual work addresses Irish diasporic intergeneration trauma. COVID-19 – as with other epidemics – has impelled us into a time when the oft-assumed securities, provided to those of privilege, have been inaccessible to others. Many BIPOC, disabled, poor, aged community members have lost health, shelter, refuge, and comfort, becoming nomads detached and deeply distressed. Access to place has become restricted and death hovers. Empty spaces resonant.

Pam Patterson

  • Kilkee, Ireland
  • 39” H x 98” W
  • photo-digital print
  • 2020

Works can be printed on paper at these sizes or at any preferred size – prices to reflect sizes.  At full size panoramic $750.

Paul Kilbertus

  • Series: Re-reading – works on book pages
  • Painting on two pages of The Iliad
  • $100

Books surround us and tell stories. I’m currently taking pages from books and creating abstract artworks. This interaction creates new stories based on our expectations of what a book is. This selection are a few of the ones that include circle motifs. These artworks lead to a re-reading of these books.

Paul Kilbertus

  • Series: Re-reading – works on book pages
  • Painting on page from L’Ordre bénédictin
  • $50

Books surround us and tell stories. I’m currently taking pages from books and creating abstract artworks. This interaction creates new stories based on our expectations of what a book is. This selection are a few of the ones that include circle motifs. These artworks lead to a re-reading of these books.

Julie Vetro

  • Castanet Girl
  • 11 x 14
  • Inkjet Fine Art Print
  • Signed, in ink
  • Edition of 25
  • 2020

Julie Vetro is an interdisciplinary artist. Sound and music are key components in her artistic practice. Vetro is intrigued by sound and its ability to evoke memories and emotions.  Her miniature figurine series examines how music and sound strengthen the details in our memories. Her work utilizes miniatures, musical instruments, musical cognition, perception and appreciation. 

Julie Vetro

  • Tuba Girl
  • 11 x 14
  • Inkjet Fine Art Print
  • Signed, in ink
  • Edition of 25
  • 2020

Julie Vetro is an interdisciplinary artist. Sound and music are key components in her artistic practice. Vetro is intrigued by sound and its ability to evoke memories and emotions.  Her miniature figurine series examines how music and sound strengthen the details in our memories. Her work utilizes miniatures, musical instruments, musical cognition, perception and appreciation. 

Mona Bayati

  • THE RED DOOR
  • 9″ x 12″
  • Paint on board
  • $190

Mona Bayati’s work is about ordinary spaces and our everyday experience of the nature around us.

Mona’s aim through creating these series of paintings is to draw our attention from our busy modern life to the magic of nature. The bright colors and texture of acrylic paint helps her create paintings that are vibrant and alive.

It is her way of escaping the reality of our pandemic days and in to the aliveness of nature. Mona simply shows us the vividness of the present moment.  A moment in the nature, which is Timeless.

Mona Bayati

  • WALKING ON THE CLOUDS
  • 9″ x 12″
  • Paint on board
  • $190

Mona Bayati’s work is about ordinary spaces and our everyday experience of the nature around us.

Mona’s aim through creating these series of paintings is to draw our attention from our busy modern life to the magic of nature. The bright colors and texture of acrylic paint helps her create paintings that are vibrant and alive.

It is her way of escaping the reality of our pandemic days and in to the aliveness of nature. Mona simply shows us the vividness of the present moment.  A moment in the nature, which is Timeless

GALLERY 1313

Wednesday –Saturday, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Sunday 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
1313 Queen Street West Toronto, ON.
Phone: 416-536-6778

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