Last Chance to See The Exhibitions of Mary Catherine Newcomb and Martha Eleen at Loop Gallery

Mary Catherine Newcomb at loop Gallery

The exhibition of work by loop artists Mary Catherine Newcomb and Mary Eleen was reviewed by Toronto art critic Terence Dick. Read his Akimbo blogreview here. The gallery is open this afternoon from 1-4 pm and the show closes today.

R.M. Vaughn's Review of the Exhibitions of Martha Eleen and Mary Catherine Newcomb at Loop Gallery

The Great Hare by Mary Catherine Newcomb

Globe & Mail art critic R.M. Vaughn reviewed Martha Eleen and Mary Catherine Newcomb's exhibitions at loop Gallery, suggesting that the show which may at first "appear dissonant" actually reveals underlying tensions and subliminal commonalities that make the artists a "good team". Read the full text of the review called The Zen of Post-conceptual Art here.

Opening at Loop Gallery January 7, 2011

Paintings by Martha Eleen

Michele Harney and Martha Eleen's dad

The gallery is open today from noon to 5 pm and on Sunday from 1 to 4 pm. Photos shown above are from last weekend's opening. Martha Eleen will be giving an artist talk at Toronto School of Art on Wednesday, January 18th at 6 pm.

Artist Talk: Martha Eleen will headline at Toronto School of Art

 AS IS  oil on wood, 30 x 30, 2011 by Martha Eleen

Loop member Martha Eleen will be the "headline" speaker at an evening of artist talks at the Toronto School of Art on Wednesday, January 18, 2012. The evening begins at 6 pm with a talk by artist Judith Snow and  Martha's talk will follow.

Martha Eleen teaches painting and drawing at the Toronto School of Art and is an honours graduate of Emily Carr College of Art, Vancouver, Canada. Her artistic practice engages the ideas of cultural landscape, the construction of society, and the politics of space through painting. Her work has been exhibited in public galleries in Canada, the United States, Japan, and Mexico. 

Martha will be talking about her current  exhibition at loop Gallery. I, Huck maps the domestic space framing the artist’s relationship with her son Gabe, who is vulnerable and requires constant support. This is an inside view of a dynamic person whose natural gifts of sharp wit, emanating love, and disarming honesty are often obscured by disability bias. The titles used in the work are quotes from Gabe. Fascinated by analog audio technology, Gabe listens to several recorded versions of Huckleberry Finn and likes to call himself ‘Huck.’ He thinks the “n” word is “neighbour”.

This program is free and seating is first come, first serve.  Donations are welcome. Toronto School of Art is located just east of Spadina on the north side of Adelaide at 410 Adelaide Street West, third floor.

Martha Eleen's show continues at loop Gallery until January 29, 2011.

Martha Eleen and Mary Catherine Newcomb at loop

loop Gallery is pleased to announce exhibitions by loop members Martha Eleen entitled I,Huck, and Mary Catherine Newcomb entitled Grassy.  

Tough Luck (oil on wood, 30x30) by Martha Eleen (2011)

I, Huck is the latest exhibition by Toronto-based artist Martha Eleen which maps the domestic space framing the artist’s relationship with her son Gabe, who is vulnerable and requires constant support.  This is an inside view of a dynamic person whose natural gifts of sharp wit, emanating love, and disarming honesty are often obscured by disability bias. The titles used in the work are quotes from Gabe. Fascinated by analog audio technology, Gabe listens to several recorded versions of Huckleberry Finn and likes to call himself ‘Huck.’ He thinks the “n” word is “neighbour”.

Martha Eleen is an honours graduate of Emily Carr College of Art, Vancouver, Canada. Her artistic practice engages the ideas of cultural landscape, the construction of society, and the politics of space through painting. Her work has been exhibited in public galleries in Canada, the United States, Japan, and Mexico. Martha Eleen is represented by loop Gallery in Toronto. She teaches painting and drawing at the Toronto School of Art.

Untitled (detail), rabbit's ear, glass, silver, grass by Mary Catherine Newcomb (2011-12)

In her exhibition at Loop Gallery Mary Catherine Newcomb combines an image of the hare, a recurring personal symbol, with her interest in working with living media in the 8’ long “Great Hare”. The exhibition also features a number of smaller pieces including a rabbit’s ear suspended in olive oil with a small silver cup, six silver beans on a small bed of grass, and a series of ink drawings on the rib bones of a cow. These works, together with the Great Hare, whose pelt of coiffed turf is literally alive to the touch, raise questions about relationship between different life forms. 

Mary Catherine Newcomb is a sculptor based in Southern Ontario who was born and raised in Montreal. She has received numerous awards form both the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts. Her work has been widely exhibited in Canada and internationally.

Please join the artists in celebrating the opening reception on Saturday, January 7^th from 2-5 pm.  Learn more about Martha Eleen and Mary Catherine Newcomb’s work during a Question & Answer Session at loop on Sunday January 15^th, 2PM. 

More loop at Art Toronto 2010

There is such a range of talent among the loop artists. Here is another selection of work that is available for sale at Art Toronto 2010 (Toronto International Art Fair).

Gone Missing by Yvonne Singer, 2010
Neon Installation, 30x9 inches
$2000

undersinister by Suzanne Nacha 2008
Oil on canvas, 26x22 inches framed ellipse
$1200

Sacred 2 by Elizabeth Babyn
Acrylic on canvas, 12x12
$400

Loop Gallery received a mention in today's Globe and Mail in the Arts section, page R15, in an article by Larry Humber called "No $100 Warhols, but there are bargains". This is what was written about Loop:

"The Loop Gallery, which recently relocated to Dundas West from Queen Street, is a cooperative with members each allotted a space. Works on the block include Martha Eleen's oil on wood titled Winner, priced at $900. Another member is cartoonish Gary Clement, whose watercolour Untitled/Air is $400". 

WINNER by Martha Eleen 2009
Oil on wood, 16x16
$900

LOOP Members at Harbourfront Centre Winter Exhibition

LOOP Gallery members Martha Eleen, Suzanne Nacha and David Holt are participating in the Big/Small exhibition curated by Patrick Macaulay at Harbourfront Centre and invite you to see their work which will be on display January 23 to April 4, 2010. This exhibition "brings together eight Ontario-based painters to reveal each participants' unique approach to realizing the landscape".

Suzanne Nacha: Focused on imagery from underground mine shafts, cave systems and rail tunnels, my current body of work entitled Origin seeks to present landscape as an intimate location. In many of these shaped paintings a struggle exists between the architecture of the space, the shape of the canvas and the abbreviated marks that define it. With this particular image I was interested in creating a space that would appear as though it was carved out of the darkness by the very lights it contained. 

Underground 7, Oil on Canvas, Copyright of Suzanne Nacha, 2009

David Holt: My recent paintings depict subjects from natural history, architectural history, antiquities collections, and botanical gardens. The garden landscapes are influenced by my love for the classical landscapes of Poussin, Asian landscape painting and calligraphy, and children’s drawings. Although I make many small drawings of the subjects, the paintings themselves are derived purely from imagination and memory. I try to evoke the motifs playfully with abbreviated forms and an economy of means. I also try to make each brushstroke convey something of nature’s energy while serving both representation and composition.

    Big Hedge 2009

    Acrylic on Canvas, 30x24, Copyright of David Holt, 2009

Martha Eleen is also in the community-centred show in the Harbourfront Centre Architecture Gallery opening the same night (guess she has to be in two places at once!). This show involves three architects and one painter on the topic of how architecture shapes the community. Martha's series Necessities of Life is about the poetics of using box mall signage.

The artists invite you to join them at the openings at Harbourfront Centre on Friday, January 22, 2010 from 6-10 pm.