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A group of OGPC members undertook a gallery crawl the evening of May 2nd. We began at City Hall, an opening with works by three young artists in the City Hall Art Gallery — Gabriela Avila-Yiptong, Rachel Gray and Lea Hamilton – “I Came Back and Things Were Different,” after which we went next door to the Karsh-Masson Gallery for L. Koltun’s fascinating “Death of the Monarch” show. It’s always good to see the quality of work at the City Hall Galleries, and these shows were excellent.

Many of us have never been across Elgin Street to the Âjagemô art space gallery and the offices of the Canada Council for the Arts, 150 Elgin St. (nor to the 7th floor rooftop viewpoint, which unfortunately was closed on May 2nd). The current exhibition is a simple but ingenious installation built of a series of subway car doors taken from the “old” Montreal subway (ahh the memories….good times, good times) by Michel de Broin. The offices of the Council, on the second floor, had several works of art in the foyer. The Council gallery is perhaps one of the best kept secrets in artistic Ottawa, but the work on display there is remarkable in quality, certainly on the level of the best international art. It is really worth the effort of a visit (free parking at City Hall after 6PM; the gallery seems to be open at least until 8PM). On our way out, we stopped in to the Korean Cultural Centre, in the same building, to quickly examine a small exhibit of artworks by Canadian Koreans which is a fundraiser for student bursaries.

From there it was off to Cube Gallery for what seems to be the last exhibit in the current space. Sadly for us the building is up for sale. Everyone involved with the visual arts in Ottawa owes Don Monet best wishes and thanks for the many years of service to the community. We wish him best of luck on his future endeavours.  We look forward to more gallery crawls in the coming months.

The OGPC and SNAP (The Society of Northern Alberta Printmakers) partnered for an exchange between our two great cities. We are excited to showcase the prints from the printmakers of SNAP and OGPC at the Minto Place Vitrines, starting March 20th running until May 15th. The prints featured centre on the theme of language, whether visual, bodily. or the artist’s personal language. The 13 selected artists from SNAP are: Amanda McKenzie, Megan Stein, Daniel Evans, Emileinne Gervais, James Boychuck-Hunter, Mitchell Chalifoux, Justine Jenkins, Luke Johnson, Max Keen, Cate Kuzil, Joanne Madeley, Phoebe Todd-Parish, and Mark Henderson. The 13 Artists of Ottawa are: Aileen Leo, Charmaine Swain, Katie Argyle, Laurence Finet, Mark Glassford, Deidre Heirlihy, Mary Lowden, Murray Dineen, Roger Sutcliffe, Shirley Yik, Susan Cartwright, Valerie Bridgeman and Villia Jefremovas.

Want to know more about the artists? You can click on the link to see the bios and artist statements for SNAP printmakers and OGPC printmakers.

A big thanks the Ottawa School of Art for lending us these showcases. A special Thank you to Cathy Brake of the Ottawa School of Art for hanging the Lyon St. entrance so beautifully. The prints will be seen by a large number of people in these locations, since this is a central building for the federal government. Print artistry is alive and well in Canada. Go see them at Minto Place.