James Ian MacDougall, Jinny Slyfield, Ellen Catherwood, Marjorie Morton, Birte Hella, Susan Makin, Diliana Popova, Jean Miller Harding, Sybiline, Jennifer Foster, Ella Frazer, Kristy Gordon, Joyce Fournier, Raymond Woodhams, Judith Elsasser, Juan Felix De La Fuente, Kendall Ayoub, J.A. Fligel, Martha Southwell, Margaret Ludwig, Jari Nieppola, Deborah Pearce, Julie McGregor, Morton Harris, Mimcilo Simic, Gue Yue Dou, Brian Smith, Rhonda LeGrove Garton, Cynthia Kemerer, Mahmoud Meraji, Yevgenia Savosta, Katherine Stone, Marta Franco, Marina Dieul, Veronica Kvassetskaia Tsyglan, Melody Kozmeniuk, Judith Sinclair, Petro Dhimitri
This very successful festival was held from December 4th – 7th at the Toronto Center for the Arts, where we had both auditorium and gallery space. The presentations by our invited Master artists were outstanding and well-received. Participants commented on the high quality of the work produced, the skill of the presentations and the relaxed and helpful interactions between members and invited guests. We cannot emphasize enough, that the caliber of the artists who gave these demonstrations is exceptional and that we are lucky to have them with us!
For working artists, these presentations are of such quality, that they appeal to all levels. If, since the last festival, an artist has been working hard, and he or she comes to see one of the demonstrations, even if the demonstration is given by the same Master as two years ago, and the artist will learn more from the Master but at a higher level. Nothing is better proof of this than the fact that most of the Master artists attended each other’s presentations, just to see. It is a great point of reference to see your reaction to a Master’s presentation over the years, a good way to measure our own development and understanding and a good way to see how the work of the Master also evolves. For this reason, in the future we hope to continue to invite back some of these artists, as well as to refresh the schedule with new people, for variety.
Juan Martinez gave a highly informative demonstration and talk on classical drawing.
Morton Harris did an expressive caricature and gave an animated explanation of the technique.
Gwenneth Barth did a lovely pastel drawing and showed us the steps from laying in structure to layering color.
Yuqi Wang did a double session and developed a portrait over 5 hours.
Dan Thompson showed us how to immediately work in vivid colors and make beautiful color transitions.
Irena Korosec worked on the top layer of a portrait, emphasizing refinement in the final stages of portraiture.
A panel of four of the invited artists critiqued approximately 25 of the member’s paintings.
Jean Miller Harding led a panel discussion on aspects relevant to the business side of art.
All of the presentations were well-attended, and the presenters often made themselves available to members throughout the festival.
The exhibition of the work of the 18 competition finalists was held concurrently.
Portrait Arts Festival Competition Top Winners
Grand Prize: Mahmoud Meraji, Ontario “Levon”
"One of the most important reasons for painting this portraiture is my long friendship with Levon. Levon is an intellectual that has been working in the field of theatre, acting and directing. his close connection to theatre and his open attitude about everything aloud me to replace his cloths with a simple blue bath robe, and not only there was no resistance he was happy about the suggestion. The colour blue is as much a means of communicating with the viewer as is the expression on Levon's face. The red apple that Levon is Holding, in a symbolic way shows his soft soul just aposed against his enormous mass. During the making of this portraiture I was very excited and this is always a good thing for me that shows the work will turn out to connect to the viewer also."
Mahmoud Meraji
1st Prize and Peoples’ Choice Award : Katherine Stone,Ontario
