Artist and ICS alum Janet Read will be opening her new exhibition, High Arctic Light: Paintings and Bookworks, through the Propeller Art Gallery on November 7th. The exhibition will start before the opening, and run in person at the gallery from October 28 through November 15.
Please read more below for details about the gallery and a statement from Janet about the inspiration for the exhibition, and consider joining the virtual opening on Nov. 7th for yourself.
Artist Statement by Janet Read
Paintings reference the artist’s “being” in the natural world and encounters with those for whom the high north is both wild and home. My paintings are reflective of my personal experience, always aware that Inuit voices must be heard to tell their own stories and history. My work tells the story of a visitor, a sojourner to a remote and sublime region of Canada.
My purpose is to highlight this region and the themes of "wilding and cultivation." These themes invite the viewer to unpack moral, aesthetic, and legal relationships to the land and the people for whom it is sustenance and spirit: landscape and home. The wild is evident in the land and sea. Cultivation is the sea as resource and garden.
Wilding and cultivation go hand in hand in this delicately balanced environment. My work explores these dualities to raise awareness of this fragile and beautiful part of our country through explorations of light, earth, and sea.
Opening and Artwork
Janet's drawing, High Arctic: dark horizon #1, was awarded the Juror's Prize at the 2020 Carmichael Landscape Exhibition: Tradition Transformed, at the Orillia Museum of Art and History. [Oct. 2 - Jan.17, 2021] www.instagram.com/p/CGFDIlYlS3W/
Janet's experience with Adventure Canada, the impetus for this body of work, is also highlighted as part of the Mindful Explorers section on their website: www.adventurecanada.com/canadian-high-arctic-and-greenland/high-arctic-light-wilding-and-cultivation
Exhibition Details
Janet Read | High Arctic Light: Paintings and Bookworks
Propeller Art Gallery: Oct. 28 through Nov. 15, 2020
Wednesday through Sunday: 1:00 to 5:30 pm or by appointment
All Covid-19 protocols are in place at the gallery.
Propeller Art Gallery, 30 Abell Street, Toronto, ON
Phone: 416-504-7142
Email: info@propellerartgallery.ca
A full e-catalogue of works will be available for viewing on the gallery website when the show opens, or you may email the artist at info@janet-read.com to receive a pdf.
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First image: High Arctic: the vernacular of light, 60x42, oil on linen
Second image: deep ice, deep sky #1, 18x18, oil on panel, 2020
Third image: Ice #3, 5x5 inches, oil on duralar, 2020
