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Friday, June 21, 2013

Material Differences Wrap-Up

Friday June 21st

Well here it is the longest day of the year and it is wonderful to see the sun shining and feel the heat as I honestly thought that summer was never going to arrive! It is the perfect time for a break and I am heading off to Bayfield for the weekend as the guest of two clients from the United States who happen to have a Canadian retreat. Can't wait to hit the road! Brian is however determined that I spend a few minutes letting people know what is going on.

Material differences our current exhibition featuring Laurie Rolland of BC, Audrey Killoran of Quebec and Zsuzsa Monostory of Ontario has been a great success. The opening was attended by all three artists and the attending guests thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to meet the artists. One guest had flown in from Orlando, Florida to meet an artist that she has been collecting for years and she welcomed the opportunity to finally meet the artist. There were guests from all over, many from the States but Orlando was the outer reach.

The gallery was honoured by a visit from the Brazilian ambassador a couple of weeks ago and she thoroughly enjoyed herself. She also made a purchase of an artist from Quebec. A media release on her visit also triggered interest from a travel writer who will be in London in July and is now planning to stop by as well.

It would appear that our new website is proving popular. Brian has spent a lot of time photographing and uploading images of work currently in the gallery. This week alone pieces have been selected by 'away clients' and are heading off to Alberta and Newfoundland.

I would like to hang around and write a bit more but Stephen just called and my chariot awaits and i am away to the country for the weekend! Have a great weekend and catch you next week!

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

June 12, 2013

Okay I have been a bit remiss in writing my blog. I would like to say that it is because the gallery was so incredibly busy but the truth is that many things got in the way. Suffice to say that I am glad that 2012 is well behind me.

This year has been interesting. You may have noticed that we now have a new website http://www.jonathons.ca/ and I love it. It is not only user friendly from the viewers point of view but we are able to easily upload and change images ourselves. My publisher said it was time to have an update and he generously offered to revamp the site for us. My heartfelt thanks to Brendan Frye of Ronald P Frye Publishing for heping Brian arrive at a new look that I love!

Actually my publisher Ron has been after me to update my blog. It is always good to have someone prodding and he does it with great aplomb. As many of you know last year the book on Walter Dexter RCA of Victoria, BC came out. It has been well received and now I am working on a series. Essentially the series will consist of a short monograph on an artist followed by a lavishly illustrated selection of a specific body of work the chosen artist has created. The first in the series is on the late Joanne Copp of British Columbia. It is  almost ready to go to press. Next on the list is Vera Vicente http://www.jonathons.ca/artists/66-vera-vicente.html The book on Vera is written and the photography will be done shortly and then it too will be ready to go. Other artists in the works are George Shadford http://www.jonathons.ca/artists/17-george-shadford.html Mary Fox, Ann Mortimer and Kirsten Abrahamson. If you are curious about their work just go to the main page and check out artists.

There has been a major communication shift in the gallery. We have suspended snail mail invitations and are now sending out evites. The response to the past two evites has been remarkable. The advantage is you now get both an evite about two weeks before the event as well as a reminder a couple of days before the opening. The evite enables us to give you more information about the show as well more information on the artist and the work. If you are interested in receiving our evites and ceramic newsletter just shoot me an email jonathon@jonathons.ca and I will add you.

Recently we added Doug Magrath http://www.jonathons.ca/artists/54-doug-magrath-wood.html to the gallery roster. I know what you're thinking 'but he's not a ceramic artist'. That's true but he is a Londoner and certainly London's premier wood-turner. It is the same reason that we showcase Nancy Latchford http://www.jonathons.ca/artists/23-nancy-latchford.html an incredible London fibre artist. Actually Doug just had his first exhibition in the gallery and it was a huge success and he shared the stage with Peter Thomas of New Brunswick http://www.jonathons.ca/artists/53-peter-thomas.html who arrived with his wife Karen and an incredible selection of new work.

Last week we had an opening with Zsuzsa Monostory of Toronto, Audrey Killoran of Montreal and Laurie Rolland of Sechelt. The exhibition "Material Differences" was great and opening night was a blast. Fans of Audrey's flew in from Orlando for the opportunity to meet Audrey. They had been collecting her work for years so they were thrilled to actually have a chance to meet her. Laurie had just given a workshop in Toronto at the Fusion conference while Zsuzsa gave a workshop at the London Potters' Guild that was well received as well.

Brian is busy gearing up for our August exhibition "Canadian Imports" that will showcase the artists we represent who were born outside of Canada and now make Canada their home. It promises to be a great exhibition with representation from New Zealand, Japan, Korea, France, Namiba, South Africa, Iran, England, USA, Brazil, China among others. So often there is a tendency to forget the incredible influences the immigrant has in helping make our art scene so vital. This exhibition will place the work of the immigrant artists front and center. I can't wait for the show!

Some of you may remember the "Fired Up!" 25th anniversary exhibition in 2009 when we also brought Miss Conception, Toronto's premier female impersonator, to London. She performed at Scot's Corner our favourite watering hole a few doors from the gallery. Well we are bringing her back! She will be performing at Scot's on Thursday August 8th. The opening for "Canadian Imports" will be Wednesday August 7th. The Delta Armouries hotel is providing a special rate for our out of town guests.

Speaking of "Fired Up!" I would like to announce that the August 2014 show will be "Fired Up" - Celebrating 30 Years! You heard it here first! More details to follow in the months ahead.

I think I will blog off by saying that I will try not to be so long in writing my next blog entry! Keep in touch and Keep smiling!