The Minto Arts Council presents Face The Music in the Minto Heritage Gallery from Feb. 26 to April 10, featuring the works of area artists Mary Helm, Pat LaFrenere and Mike Shannon.
The three distinctly different artists, working in different media, will present an exhibit of musically-inspired portraiture.
Born in Kingston, Helm studied commercial art in the early 1980s. After graduating, she realized fine art was where her passion was. She began her career as a portrait artist and later expanded into wildlife illustration.
Now residing in Holstein, she combines her love of portraiture and wildlife with her art in pencil, water colour or airbrush.
Her work is exhibited in the Wellington Art Gallery from May to November,(see www.wellingtonartistsgallery.ca) and can be seen at local markets and events during the summer.
LaFrenere grew up in Drew, and now resides in Chepstow. His favourite medium is conte. He also enjoys working with chalk and pastels. He alters the traditional ways they are normally used.
Conte is ground into powder and the colours blended with his fingers rather than a brush. His work varies from portraits to organic forms to abstracts.
Shannon was born and raised in Drew and continues to live there, just around the corner from the family farm. He is a self-taught artisan of metal work. Combining form with function, he forges and shapes metals into useful and artistic works. A coal fired forge; anvil, and hammer are the tools he uses to create art through ancient and modern methods.
One of the oldest crafts known, it provides extensive sources for inspiration. His work has reached as far as Texas, and he has produced various items such as candelabras, garden accents, specialty tools, knives, swords, light armor, detailed wrought iron work, and more. It requires hours of methodical physical effort.
The exhibit begins Feb. 26 and the artists’ reception will take place on March 5 from 7 to 9pm in the gallery on the upper floor of the Harriston public library.
Gallery hours are Tuesdays 7 to 9pm, Thursday and Friday 2 to 4 and 7 to 9pm and Saturdays 11am to 1pm.
