Artwork of Gordon Leverton

Hi all,

I lost count of how many winter storms we had last month in southern Ontario. What better thing for a hibernating artist to do but get busy with work? Last week I finished five pieces and am on the fast track to the beginning of this year’s show season. Speaking of which….

I’ll be returning to Toronto’s urbanscape gallery this month for the show “my City; urban artworks”, a group show focusing on each artist’s unique take on their own urban sphere. Opening reception will be on Friday, Feb. 29 from 7 - 10pm and the show runs from Feb. 28 - March 12. Can’t wait to get back to the Junction!

There was a great turnout for the Propeller Centre’s annual winter auction in January. The Queen West artist-run centre was overrun with wall to wall art from member’s and invited guests (including yours truly). I was most fortunate to meet Annette Hansen, owner of Cobalt Gallery, who gave me an opportunity to show alongside Garilla Prints in a themed show titled “Reflecting…”. Opening reception is Sat., Mar. 8 from 2-5pm. and runs to Mar. 31.

Toronto artist Kurt Rostek and I will be occupying the beautiful, sunlit space of Sunrise Gallery from April 5 to the 25th. This beachfront gallery on Lake Ontario earns a visit in its own right, so drop by on Sat. Apr. 5 from 2 - 5pm for the opening - we’ll both be there!

Flyers for the 9th annual Southwest Hamilton Artists Studio Tour will be out very soon so check your local coffee shop for a copy. Better yet, contact me and I will make sure you get one. More info in the next email but mark Mother’s Day weekend on your calendar (May 10-11).

Finally, It was a blast to be involved with the annual Martini Night and Silent Auction for Mother Goose Preschool on Feb. 9. The organizing committee did a wonderful job dressing up the “church” and raised lots of money for the school. Congrats to Joe & Lois, the winning bidders of my painting “Coming of Age” - hopefully they’re still pleased after the hangover!

contact:
urbanscape gallery - 2959 Dundas Street West (between Keele St. and Pacific Ave.), Toronto - 416.850.0021
Cobalt Gallery - 870a Kingston Rd. (@ Beech Rd.), Toronto - 416.694.0156
Sunrise Gallery - 765 Beach Boulevard, Hamilton - 905.549.5888
Gordon Leverton - 905.525.9874

cheers,
Gord

L-R:  1) “Convenience”, 2) “Construct”, 3) “Congestion”, 4) “Peak”, 5) “Favela 19″, 6) “Noonday Sun” - all images (c) 2008, Gordon Leverton, all rights reserved.

the last two weeks have been hectic! the AGH art sale last week was a success and i was fortunate to make new friends and see some past clients. i spent hallowe’en carrying around a flu bug, and we couldn’t find the kids’ costumes until the very last minute (now THAT’S stress!). but i’m sitting comfortably in the “trough” of activity, with the AGH sale behind me and TWO openings this coming weekend…

first, i’m very excited to be coming back to Mixed Media, the site of my first showing. the opening happens this friday, nov. 9, 2007 at 174 james street north in hamilton. thanks to dave and theresa for taking me on at the last minute (whew). if you haven’t been to mixed media before, it’s an art supply/bookstore/clothing store - well, let’s just call it a “lifestyle store” - focusing very much on eco-friendly, renewable, artsy fartsy stuff. it’s probably my favourite place to purchase consumer goods in the city. my show runs til dec.1.

this saturday sees the opening of the show “Drawing”, at the Glenhyrst Gallery of Brant in Brantford, Ontario (home to Wayne Gretzky, Alexander Graham Bell, Phil Hartman and Lawren Harris). the gallery is located in an historical homestead on a huge lot and is worth the visit itself. this show runs until dec. 20th.

the last two weeks have been hectic! the AGH art sale last week was a success and i was fortunate to make new friends and see some past clients. i spent hallowe’en carrying around a flu bug, and we couldn’t find the kids’ costumes until the very last minute (now THAT’S stress!). but i’m sitting comfortably in the “trough” of activity, with the AGH sale behind me and TWO openings this coming weekend…

first, i’m very excited to be coming back to Mixed Media, the site of my first showing. the opening happens this friday, nov. 9, 2007 at 174 james street north in hamilton. thanks to dave and theresa for taking me on at the last minute (whew). if you haven’t been to mixed media before, it’s an art supply/bookstore/clothing store - well, let’s just call it a “lifestyle store” - focusing very much on eco-friendly, renewable, artsy fartsy stuff. it’s probably my favourite place to purchase consumer goods in the city. my show runs til dec.1.

this saturday sees the opening of the show “Drawing”, at the Glenhyrst Gallery of Brant in Brantford, Ontario (home to Wayne Gretzky, Alexander Graham Bell, Phil Hartman and Lawren Harris). the gallery is located in an historical homestead on a huge lot and is worth the visit itself. this show runs until dec. 20th.

what a night! Nuit Blanche is an all-night art event that happens annually for one night only - sunset to sunrise - in Toronto. i managed to coax my friend Connan to join me for this exploration of art - we covered plenty of ground and “misplaced” the car but we managed to make it back to Hamilton by about 4am or so.

highlights? well, i was impressed by the overall beauty of the city by night. usually we’re too busy making our way to our destinations to really appreciate the beauty around us - this night i was attracted as much to the abstract shapes of the city and the play of streetlights than many of the performances themselves.

we started in Queen’s Park where Kristan Horton produced “Crowd”, an audio installation amid bright floodlights, giving the effect of being “crowded” by the cacophony of noise emanating from the surrounding speakers. we then moved on to King’s College Circle @ the UofT, where Jennifer Marman and Daniel Borins conceived the display of “Event Horizon”. a kind of UFO crash site, emergency personnel, media reporters and yellow tape abounded while the crowd looked on in wonderment - what/who had crashed? are those fumes toxic? all was revealed behind the giant tent!

“Crowd”

“Event Horizon”

the vision of New York’s McKendree Key was to see the contents of 31 Baldwin Street transferred to a lawn outside of an apartment building at Beverley and Cecil Streets - laid out exactly to scale. how successful he was, i didn’t stick around to see but i couldn’t help but think that anyone could break into an adjacent apartment and say that it was for “art”.

Swintak’s performance installation of “ThunderEgg Alley: A Dumpster Diver’s Paradise” was inspirational on paper but somewhat tepid in reality. the premise was to expose our consumer-driven society as vacuous by turning a dumpster into a 5-star resort room. the installation could have used an infusion of good old consumer cash to bring it to the level promised in the statement.

the Cecil Street Community Centre served as a one-stop shop for performance art and some of the best highlights of the night. the main floor space hosted Yvonne Ng’s stunningly beautiful princess dance projects, while downstairs held an old-fashioned sing-along on piano. one woman, dressed in 50’s housewife wear and enclosed in a furnace room-cum-kitchen with plastic wrap, sang to her lover’s answering machine with a menacing tone.

after a trip to the AGO for their “end of the party party”, we headed to Yonge and Dundas Square for an assembly of impromptu street performers - there was a brilliant young breakdance team (didn’t catch the name) and perennial Toronto busker Graham Kirkland amongst others. the Eaton Centre housed two interesting exhibits: the first a plasma-screen sky where punters could draw their own clouds then watch them transmitted; the second and most interesting, a “living organism” of balloon animals that took over the entire front lobby in front of Sears.

okay if i’m going to do this blog thing then it really has to be semi-regular, not semi-annual, agreed? and while i’m at it… i should call my mother more often.

the Junction festival in August went well - the weather cooperated for the most part and there was a ton of foot traffic. Ivan, Dragna and Joey Martinovic hosted one of the juried show sites at the brand new Urbanscape gallery. I owe a large thanks to them for their energy and hospitality, especially during the art fair on Saturday and Sunday and wish them the best of luck.

the Junction area of Toronto reminds me of Hamilton in many ways, with a good mix of old architecture and new development. the neighbourhood on Dundas West is very active in preserving the rich building heritage and are fiercely proud of the area.

besides the many visual artists, craftspeople and vendors, there was a large contingent of performance artists - street performers, singers, dancers and live music. i was lucky to be situated beside my favourites, the violin-playing music-box dancers.

i was joined by fellow-artists Kate Higgins of Toronto and Maria Whiteman from Hamilton at the Urbanscape show. Kate has traveled and studied in Italy, where she photographed the dramatic streetscapes, then combined these photos with hanging garments in a cohesive theme. Maria is a photographer as well; producing large double-exposed factory/nature scenes.

Got the flyer for the Society of Canadian Artists 40th Annual National Open Juried Exhibition today and thought I should do my part and post it up - enjoy! If you’ve never been to Montreal —- GO!!!

Though I didn’t get much artwork done during my vacation (well 2 actually which isn’t that bad), I did meet some interesting artists and visited some wonderful galleries.

First up, Lovart Gallery in downtown Forest, Ontario is owned by Maria Kastellitz, whose partner Tom Ackermann turns out to be a world-reknowned artist. Forest is a small town and I had no expectations to see art of this calibre! I spoke at length with the artist about his techniques, influences and life in general and he even took me on a tour of his studio. Tom is a  disciple of the “action painters” like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, so-called because of their fierce physical painting style and relationship with the canvas. Check out Tom’s artwork at www.ackermann-artist.com.

On the way to the beach, I happened across an artists’ co-op named River Road Gallery. Some co-ops can be quite low grade and so I really had no expectations good or bad. But was I impressed at the quality of work! The gallery is home to seven artists, all from the Grand Bend-London area, and being a pastellist myself, I was most drawn to the work of Barry Richman. His pastels were breathtaking and very reasonably priced - if you’re in the area, look for the lighthouse and you’ll find the River Road Gallery.

It’s summer time and the living is easy, to steal a well-known song lyric. I find myself with my family in Grand Bend, Ontario - a beach resort town on the eastern shoreline of Lake Huron. I haven’t been here in years, probably not since i was a teenager. Now that i’m almost 40, the perspective has changed quite a bit - the ”strip” as they call the main street to the beach, used to captivate my eye; now i see the superficiality, the cheap goods, the bored-looking teenage staffers. My artist’s eye looks deeper, through the veneer - i see the closed stores with ”for rent” signs, the run-down cottages off the drag, the ubiquitous sea gulls fighting for scraps of junk food. And yet, year after year, no matter the age, we find ourselves attracted to this place, or places like it - let’s face it, there’s no better place to people-watch.

Last week’s show in Guelph (Art on the Street), was basically rained out. Too bad, as there was a great crowd - not just in terms of numbers but a well-educated, art-savvy group. I really enjoyed meeting everyone and met some wonderful artists, many of whom displayed at the TOAE the previous week.  Special mention goes to Mary Karavos, a wonderfully talented artist who works in paper collage. Her artwork really has to be seen in person to be believed - she attains a high degree of representation using only Japanese papers and NO PAINT. Though her figure work is outstanding, and reminiscent of one of my fave artists (Mary Cassatt), I was really drawn to the abstracts.

We’re hitting that time of year when the weather’s nice and the art fairs are plentiful. I’ll be busy with three different outdoor shows over the next two months, the first being:

Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition

July 6, 7 & 8, 2007
Nathan Phillips Square (City Hall)

Free Admission
Friday 10am - 8pm
Saturday 10am - 7pm
Sunday 10am - 6pm

Canada’s largest outdoor art expo, with over 500 individual artists and an estimated 100,000+ visitors - the expo is located along Queen Street West, the city’s gallery/shopping district. Come say “hi” - i’ll be in the…

Orange Section Booth #401

(between the pool house washrooms and pool).

On Saturday, July 14th you can view my artwork at the Art On the Street festival in downtown Guelph, Ontario. The intersection of Wyndham and Quebec Streets will be closed to vehicular traffic to allow for the presentation of 100 painters, illustrators, photographers, sculptors, wood-turners
metalworkers, jewellery-makers, silversmiths, potters, glassblowers, printmakers, fabric and mixed-media artists.
There’s many great activities for the kids as well, plus live music throughout the day - and it’s all free!

To wrap up, Toronto’s Junction Arts Festival will feature hundreds of artists and performers during its 4 day run - from Sept. 6 - 9, 2007. Located in the historic Junction area of Toronto West (on Dundas Street between Keele and Quebec Ave.), this funky retail strip is magically transformed into a street-meets-art festival that attracts 100,000 people annually. With impromptu galleries, the world in restaurants, exciting activities, a Main stage, street performances and more, this festival offers an experience unique in the city of Toronto.

I’ve just finished setting up my solo show at The Workers’ Art & Heritage Centre on Stuart Street in Hamilton. What a GREAT building this is!! Located in the old Customs House at 51 Stuart Street, it has had quite a history since its erection in 1860. Not only has the building been used for the local customs agency, but it’s done time as a martial arts centre and macaroni factory.

But best of all, it’s haunted! Check the story on Haunted Hamilton to find out more…

The Fine Line Artists are having their second group exhibition, this time hosted by yours truly at The Jitterbug Cafe in Waterdown, Ontario. This is the first time the group has shown in Canada and will be a rare opportunity for many of you to see some truly amazing artwork so close to home. The theme is centred around “Portals” and features smaller-sized works, matted, framed and ready to hang. The show runs throughout June.