The featured exhibit runs March 1 – 31, 2023 in Metro Gallery in the Garneau Theatre lobby.⁠

Artist Reception: March 10 at 5:30PM.⁠

Artist: Jimmy Golden

Artist Statement:

Making art is a curious and often wonderful occupation. It can also be frustrating and infuriating, but all in all it does make for an interesting life. It can engage the deep belly of the soul, and aid in the self discovery that is inherent in the creative process. In my earliest years at elementary school, I spent so much time and energy drawing in the margins of my scribblers that my teachers took note. They called my parents to suggest that I enrol in Saturday morning art classes at the Art Gallery of Edmonton which was in a house on 105th Street at the time. I took to it like a duck to water, attending Saturday morning classes for many years. My education and most of the work that I have done has always been meant to enhance my art, and ultimately my enjoyment and the quality of life. Enjoying and delving into the infinite fascination of “the chemistry of colour” and the observation of the natural rhythms of Nature has been at the core of my entire life, and practice.

Our local universe is filled with an unending pageant of form and colour that I have always used as source material for my art. The myriad variations of animate life provide me with more than ample inspiration to reflect the infinite wonder that we are witness to in this finite existence. I have long been drawn to the ancient Chinese philosophy called Taoism. It is based on the observation of the natural opposites that comprise this world and indeed our lives. Life is created when these opposites meet and dance. In almost all art, there are both positive and negative spaces. The empty, or negative, spaces are of the same importance as the solid, or positive spaces. Their value is identical. Yin equals Yang. “Insalata Mista” is Italian for “mixed salad”. The paintings that I present here are indeed a mixed bag of my response to living here in this amazing world. There is always something new to witness and experience, amidst all that is old and familiar to us. For me, making art has always been a personal reflection of the mystery and majesty that we are all heir to.

The featured exhibit runs February 1 – 28, 2023 in Metro Gallery in the Garneau Theatre lobby.⁠

Artist Reception: February 4 at 4:30PM.⁠

Artist Statement:

This is a collection of photographs and artwork from over the past two years. The photographs are of basketball hoops from around Edmonton. I’m very interested in the various energies possessed by hoops, as well as their iconic presence and ubiquity on planet Earth. The collection was influenced by lo-fi idealism and sports.

Bradley J. Sime is a multi-disciplinary artist from Edmonton. This is the first exhibit of his work. The continuing photographic documentation of hoops from Edmonton can be followed via @edmontonhoops on Instagram.

The featured exhibit runs January 1-31, 2023 in Metro Gallery in the Garneau Theatre lobby.

Artist Reception: December 11 @ 5:30PM

Artist Statement:

I focus on colour relationships that evolve from an external inspiration to a meditative landscape, open to chance and change.

A colourist by nature, David Shkolny has been an active artist for over 30 years, finding inspiration in the magic Albertan landscape. A frequent instructor both locally and abroad, his studio is located on the second floor of the downtown farmers market in Edmonton. IG @daveshko

The featured exhibit runs October 1-31, 2022 in Metro Gallery in the Garneau Theatre lobby.

Artist Reception: October 21 @ 5PM

Artist Statement:

“Looking into my personal mythology, I create and reflect on an ongoing, non-linear narrative inspired by memories and dreams of the landscape where I grew up, and by the immediate process of mark-making. This series of 14 drawings explores a mix of painting and drawing media, with playful use of colours such as hot pink and gold. I focused on depicting strong female forms in bright, dream-like clothing woven into real and imagined landscapes, hoping to evoke feelings of optimism, fun, and connection.”

Lisa Rezansoff comes from a sunny place in southern British Columbia, surrounded by rivers, lakes, mountains and forests. In 2011 Lisa received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Alberta, where her focus was on Drawing, Printmaking and Painting. She then completed an 8 month studio residency at SNAP (Society of Northern Alberta Print Artists). Lisa’s work has been exhibited in various locations including Cafe Mosaics, Artery, SNAP, Latitude 53, Stollery Gallery, Edmonton City Hall, Jackson Power building, and the Grand Forks Art Gallery. She has done Illustration for Unlimited magazine, and her drawings have been featured numerous times in Notebook magazine. Lisa currently lives and works in Edmonton.

The featured exhibit runs September 1-30, 2022 in Metro Gallery in the Garneau Theatre lobby.

Artist Reception: September 16 @ 5PM

Artist Statement
“In making new art, I was trying to end up with artwork I hadn’t seen before. These pieces on paper started out as being based on atypical reference photos. Once I was comfortable with that translation to paper, I set sights on resolving each picture by further additions of line, colour, and fill-ins. However comfortably successful or ultimately unsuccessful these may be to look at, they’re what became of each blank paper as the permanent marks were made. Similarly, the animations you can view here were made in a way where edits could only be made along the way from beginning to end because of the process I liked working through. The end of each animation left me with captured frames for a video along with any remaining physical parts along the way, or a working surface that wasn’t worked all the way to disintegrated paper.”

Jordan Rule made art within no focused chosen discipline while in art school in Grande Prairie and Lethbridge. After graduation he felt happy with subject matter through film photography, but has always still missed making artworks in the physical way he once did. It’s true animating preserved that to a degree, however these artworks here show him trying to find that again.

The featured exhibit runs August 1-31, 2022 in Metro Gallery in the Garneau Theatre lobby.

Paula Sommers has had a lifelong love for art. Her paintings are abstract impressions of places, people, or ideas created with lush splashes of color and playful brushwork. Sommers’ particular style opens a dialogue with the viewer, suggesting ideas and features through color and form, yet leaving interpretation open to her audience. Born in Calgary, Sommers is wonderfully adept at absorbing the feeling of a place and then recreating in her very personal artistic language. “Celebrate life, humans, the marks people make on the world, and our community. Treasure the local, the eccentric, the ordinary; whatever is made from caring. Respect what people have built for themselves and given away. Find the beauty in some battered old wall, give it new life, share color and joy with the world while it stands still.” Sommers lives and works in Alberta, Canada.