(Posted 3:30 p.m., May 30)
Latest Arts Ottawa East exhibit well worth a
look see
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online

'Pedro' by Sherry Tompalski is just one of 47 works of art on display until June 24 at the Gloucester and Cumberland Galleries in the Orléans Client Service Centre on Centrum Blvd. File photo

Arts Ottawa East’s latest juried art exhibit is well-named. Dubbed “Selections” the exhibition is a selection of more than 48 works submitted by 29 different artists that range from the sublime to the absolutely marvelous.

The arts council received nearly 100 submissions for the exhibit and quickly realized they needed both the Gloucester and Cumberland Galleries in the Orléans Client Service Centre if they were going to hang the 48 chosen pieces properly and do them justice and so they did.

By not trying to cram all the paintings into one space, the exhibition curator Mike Taylor gave them room to breath and come alive.

Where in some juried exhibits you might have two or three pieces that capture your attention, in “Selections” there are at least a half dozen that would make a wonderful addition to any wall. Chief among them are two pieces by Sherry Tompalski, who is a psychotherapist by day and a painter during her spare time.

“Pedro” is a fascinating portrait that’s part of series of large abstract portraits entitled “Private Moments” that Tompalski has become quite well known for.
The second piece is taken from her “New Works On Paper – The Reassembled Self” series. Entitled “Beethoven’s Wife”, the mixed media work is mostly done in pencil with sheet music used as a collage.

Some of the other pieces that stood out during a recent viewing include a pair of brightly coloured abstract works by David Henderson; a large painting of two children playing chess entitled “Marc and Rachel”, by Camille Brisebois-Lussier; Richard Charlebois’ pictorial wood marquetry of the Ottawa locks near the Chateau Laurier; Ross Rheaume classic large oil painting of
a snow covered streetscape; and Magda Hanna’s mixed media portrait of an elderly man entitled “M. l’Abbé”.

Twenty-seven-year-old photographer Jamie Johnson also has an interesting piece in the exhibit entitled “Ottawa River Walkway” that uses a double exposure to place a walkway underpass in the middle of a foreboding cloud covered sky.

“Selections” is on until June 22 at the Gloucester and Cumberland Galleries in the Orléans Client Service Centre on Centrum Boulevard. The galleries are open Monday to Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Thursday and Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

(This story was made possible thanks to the generous support of our local business partners.)

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