BIO

Music and art have always been in the background of Sharon’s life beginning in childhood.  It wasn’t until retirement that Sharon began to paint in earnest.  Her principal teacher was Linda Wilson-Szabo and subsequently, many other excellent watercolorists have influenced her work.

Sharon’s watercolours have been accepted twice in NOAA’s juried shows.  Her pieces have sold at the Algoma Gallery of Art and the Museum Gift Store.  Those and other pieces have landed in the Cayman Islands, the Philippines and Australia.

Sharon has been secretary of the Algoma Art Society since 2018.  She enjoys the enthusiasm and support of fellow artists.

BIO

Penny was born in Sault Ste Marie and has resided here for most of her life although she has travelled extensively throughout all of Canada. She was immersed in the world of art and music from a very early age and surrounded by family members who pursued a variety of creative endeavours. She began painting as a teenager, when she travelled each summer by train to British Columbia to spend time with her sister, an accomplished artist, who encouraged and mentored her.

As an avid nature enthusiast, Penny enjoys exploring the wonderful landscape of the area surrounding Sault Ste Marie, being very much at home in Lake Superior country. Summers were spent at her family’s cottage immersed in nature, becoming a strong swimmer, avid hiker and accomplished canoeist. Later in life, she introduced her two young boys to the special opportunity of spending time in nature and enjoyed countless adventures and excursions with them into our valuable area.

Penny believes that spending time in nature provides inspiration not only for painting, writing, and music, all of which are integral parts of her life but in general is a great source of strength . “For me, it is the path to a life of gratitude and wonderment for life overall.”

Penny returned to painting a few years ago after a very long absence when she retired from a career of over forty years in business and post-secondary education. While early paintings were completed with oils, she began to enjoy the flexibility and brilliant colours of acrylics, using them often. “I have experimented with watercolours and pastels also and appreciate those mediums as well. " " Presently, I am focusing on improving my drawing skills.”
Mostly, Penny paints landscapes and often water scenes. She is working on a series called “Painting the Canadian Landscape” as she has photographed most areas of this country in her travels from coast to coast to coast. She also enjoys painting flowers and hopes to develop a repertoire of several of these in the future. Painting her grandchildren and niece was a special opportunity and she hopes to expand in this area to complete more work focusing on adding people into her paintings.

Essentially a self-taught artist pursuing painting as a hobby, Penny continues to develop her skills, registering for classes from time to time both in-person sessions and on-line, along with studying the work of others. The Group of Seven and their fabulous art, many of the scenes from the Algoma area provide tremendous inspiration. “ Lawren Harris is one of my favourite artists from the Group of Seven, while, Claude Monet from The Impressionist Era is another favourite.” Exhibitions have included a students’ exhibition organized and presented by artist, Taimi Poldmaa (2018) and a members’ exhibition at the Art Gallery of Algoma (2020). The Algoma Art Society Members’ Exhibition at the Museum is the most recent (2024).

• Penny at AAS Museum Art Exhibition - Nov-2024 Penny at AAS Museum Art Exhibition - Nov-2024
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Biography

My Art journey began with a foundation created by the following teachers: Attilio Francella, Taimi Poldma, Christine Kubis Bieman, and Ken Hagerman.

I enjoyed the experience of learning perspectives of drawing, color schemes, shapes and structures, evaluating my work and efforts. An important impetus to growth toward artistry emerged from my Art experiences as I recreated the paintings of the artists known as Canada's Group of Seven.

These are some insights I gained:

• Franklin Carmichael’s work “Mirror Lake”1929 illustrates how earth contours could be created through tones of color.
• A. J. Casson used color abstractions to highlight how weather shapes the environment in his work, “Summer Storm” 1942.
• Lauren Harris’ painting “Shacks”1919, conveys how a painting could have social merit in his depiction of a 1920 tenement.
• A. Y. Jackson in “Grey Days, Laurentian”1930 shows how a painting may tell a cultural story.
• J.E.H. MacDonald's “Goat Range Mountains”1932 painting was able to capture the beauty of Canada's Rocky Mountains.
• In Tom Thomson's “Winter Thaw The Woods” highlights a Canadian approach to landscape painting unlike European Impressionism.
• Arthur Lismer shared a picture of Maritime lifestyle in his painting of the fishing village in his work “Seal Cove, Grand Manon, B.” 1931.
• Frederick Varley in “Stormy Weather”1921 with outlandish color and shapes showed the vibrancy of Nature’s beauty.

My membership in the Algoma Art Society in 2021, created new Artistry opportunities. There was the 75" anniversary exhibition at  the  Algoma Art Gallery where I displayed my first work, “River Fantasy”. In the following two years, I showed “The Storm” and “Radiance”. I have exhibited paintings at  the Hub at  Spring. In  December, 2023, I had an exhibition of my work at the Sault Museum.

My most profound exhibition avenue is Instagram. Over the last 4-5 years, I have displayed over 400 paintings.

At this time, May 2024, I have discovered how Facebook is an excellent strategy to publicize my landscape paintings. I have responses to my landscapes from viewers across Canada and the world. These are the groups I have entered photos of my landscape paintings:

Friends of The Federation of Canada Art, Canada Art and Artists, Canadian Visual Artists, Contemporary Landscape Painting, Society of Canadian Artist Network, Canadian Artist Showcase, Art In Canada, Sault Artists, Landscape Painting Artist Group, Canadian Art and Artists, Landscape Painting, Landscape Artists International, Algoma Art Society, Northern Ontario Artists, and Canadian Artist Association.

I can locate 3-5 pieces of my landscape paintings on each of these sites on Facebook!

It's a great way to promote one's paintings....

BIOGRAPHY

Brenda Nelson is a registered Metis woman with additional indigenous heritage roots being discovered, she was the first born to her teenage Mother in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario in December 1979. There are many members of both her Mother and Father’s families who have served in the Military including her Father.  

Brenda and her family moved often throughout her childhood within the area, she often was the new kid in school sometimes multiple times within a year.

In each school Brenda displayed her interest and talent for all things creative. Brenda was often encouraged by her teachers to enter contests, sometimes winning small awards and other times being mentioned in the local paper, The Sault Star.  

Brenda attended St. Mary’s College High School for the full duration of her high school years. Again her teachers helped encourage her Artistic abilities, she became active within the Community with small projects.  

Brenda had illustrated a children’s book for a local author, drew signs for small businesses, painted a textured mural for the children’s waiting room in one of the hospitals, designed a poster for a high school play and contributed to many murals within Sault Ste. Marie. One of which was painted at the Art Gallery of Algoma and displayed at the Memorial Gardens.  

Brenda graduated high school and left to attend Sheridan College where she graduated the Art Fundamentals program followed by the Correctional Worker program.   

Immediately afterwards Brenda married and had three children who remain in Southern Ontario.  

After 22 years, and many visits Brenda returned to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario during the pandemic. Hopeful to find the familiarity and comfort from family and friends.  

While working in different areas such as health care, social services, retail, small business, hospitality, and manufacturing, Brenda has maintained a presence within the Arts in most places she has lived. She has been apart of the Art Group in Strathroy, Watford and now a new member to the Algoma Art Society in her home town of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Brenda has been a vendor in Art in the Park events in St. Thomas, Strathroy, Watford and Petrolia. She has had her work displayed in Strathroy, Watford and Glencoe, Ontario.                                                                 

Brenda’s love for the outdoors still remain and are dominantly her subject matter in her artwork. She has also been an active member with The Horticultural Society in Watford as well as a member in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

Brenda has a connection to such Artists as August Renoir, Claude Monet and Bob Ross as the beauty of nature is found in most of their work as well. She enjoys bright vibrant colours and enjoys using them in her work.   

You can find Brenda’s works on her social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram, ‘X’(formally Twitter) and Pinterest, her works were once under BJWV Paintings but have since been changed to Paintings by Brenda W. Nelson.  

My childhood was spent in Southwestern Ontario, where summer weekends often included visits to family getaways on Lake Erie. Creativity was encouraged in our home, and I took music lessons, wrote poetry and loved to draw and paint.  As a teen, I was introduced to painting in oils. 

When faced with the demands of family and career as an adult, most creative activities were put on hold – for many years.  I spent much of my professional career in the mental health sector, working in the GTA as well as other parts of Ontario. My husband and I relocated to a village on Lake Erie for retirement.  I craved being involved in creative activities again, but, unsure of how to get started, I enrolled in watercolour classes given by artists in the area.  I loved the process: I found it relaxing and rewarding.  In 2019, we moved to Sault Ste Marie.  One of the first things I did was look for an art class so that I wouldn’t let my interest erode, I could keep developing my art and could meet others who shared my interests.  I took watercolour classes with Marilyn Mills, acrylic painting with Taimi Poldmaa, and a variety of one day workshops in various mediums. 

While we live in the Soo, we spend time in summer at a camp on St Joseph’s Island. This gives me the opportunity to photograph and paint subjects that reflect the beauty of this region as I continue to develop my style. While I paint some landscapes, my preference is for single subjects against the landscape.  I’m also interested in integrating family history into my art.  I belong to the Algoma Art Society, the Art Gallery of Algoma, and enjoy attending the Open Painting group at the Active Living Centre.

Susan Balog is a watercolour artist. She started painting when she retired from nursing. Susan loves the transparency of watercolour and how it makes the paintings glow.

She continues to strive to make her paintings sing and along the watercolour journey has studied with Art Cunanan, Doug Mays, Bryan Ateyo, Hi Sook Barker, Gerry DeLong and Jane Hanley.

Susan currently belongs to the Kanata Art Club and the Algoma Art Society.

She recently tied for third in the GNAAA juried show 2021. Susan has paintings in Ontario, New York State, Newfoundland, and Texas.

All paintings shown are sold and are size16x20.

Commissions are welcome!

Suebalog776@gmail.com
613 770 407

BIO

After a satisfying 32-year career with the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service Murray entered the business world of designing and manufacturing, creating Cedar Mountain Wood Products. The balance of form and function was his passion as he designed and simplified outdoor wood structures and their installation.

At the age of 60 Murray enrolled in university and graduated from Algoma Laurentian with his degree in political science. With a new-found interest in writing, he completed his memoirs of his final homicide cold case, Lanyard, the 1945 murder of a local high school student. Out of respect for the living members of the family the book was never published. In this latest chapter of his life Murray has developed his own unique style of mixed media artwork blending fabric and adhesive with acoustic board. Nature in all its grandeur provides the stage for Murray’s abstract interpretation.

Influenced by his political persuasion his work often touches the untouchable and is influenced by subjects that often demonstrate man's inhumanity to man.

BIO

My name is Katie Marchese and I am the current president of the Algoma Art Society.

I have always loved to draw and paint, and as a child, a sheet of blank paper was better than a coloring book any day of the week.

I learned the basics about perspective and facial structure from my Grandfather, Gilbert Charette. He was an inspiration to me in so many ways, and to gain his approval with a drawing or painting was something I strived for. While it might have sounded mean for him to have called a painting I proudly presented him “flat”, he was right. It’s a constructive criticism that’s stuck with me today, and has helped me in a lot of ways. I love the challenge of trying to capture the natural beauty of our world and transform it into something people want to look at on paper.  As well, the process of creating has always been a way to get lost for a little while and feel nothing but calm and peace. We all need a little bit of peace in the world, and art is how I get mine. Thank you for reading.

Bio

Born 1952 in Kirkland Lake, Ont. While attending high school, I took Shops courses, realizing early on I should have taken Art classes.  I began drawing in the 1960’s in pencil, also using black and white paint to create art to be viewed in those days under the black light. I continued drawing in pencil while also trying my hand at India ink on and off for many years.

I met my wife, Cathy Murray in Sault Ste Marie, Ont. in 1977. We established ourselves and raised a family that would include three children. My father-in-law, Dan Murray was a very well-known landscape artist and on occasion had the privilege of painting with A.Y. Jackson from the Group of Seven. I loved and admired the work from the Group of Seven as well as Dan Murray and felt inspired by both.

I had never worked in colour until one day in the mid 1980’s, Dan and Audrey Murray came to our home and placed a variety of items on our table for me that included oil paints, brushes, and boards. From that day forward I have worked in oil, oil pastel, soft pastel, acrylic, pencil, pencil crayon and India ink. I am a self-taught artist and feel lucky to have this passion that inspires me daily. 

BIO

Mary Stevenson is a textile, mixed media artist from St. Joseph Island. She started her creative journey over 30 years ago designing a line of clothing, some may remember, called Island Comforts.

Over the years, Mary has transitioned her love of textile into a unique artistic expression, creating fine art in the form of collage using hand dyed fabrics, bits of recycled fabrics, acrylic paint and mediums. She is drawn to the vibrant colours seen in nature.

Mary says: My life, like my art, has been constantly changing and full of colourful texture and Joy!  There is no lack of inspiration in the ever-changing beauty of this Algoma Great Lake region and the islands and coastal landscapes I have been blessed to live in.

Mary's mixed media work includes colourful textile collage, as well as wool, silk and fibre felt and stitch paintings.

You can view her work on instagram @Mary Stevenson Art or her website: https://www.marystevensonart.com/