Summer Mosaic - Ottawa Printmakers Connective

Exhibition view of the Britannia Art Gallery, Ottawa

That's my personal tip for this summer: The first public exhibition of the Ottawa Printmakers Connective. Why? Because the exhibition at the Britannia Art Gallery shows not only a broad range of print techniques, but also of artistic sujets – and it offers original artworks by local artists for decent prices. Exhibited techniques are: woodcuts, linocuts, etchings, monotypes, drypoints, intaglio, collographs, aquatints, stone lithography and silkscreens. 

Woodcuts and linocuts at the Britannia Art Gallery, Ottawa

The woodcuts and linocuts with their formal simplicity caught my eye in particluar. In ther strong black and white contrasts and subjects like cityscapes and birds they reminded me on the German Expressionist movement. In particular Deidre Hierlihy's, Rozemarijn Oudejans' and Keith Bells' prints are worth to be mentioned. Their prices range from $100 to $350.

More colorful are the collographs by Paule Fournier that play with the concepts of abstract and figurative. Collographs are created by applying materials to a rigid substrate like cardboard or wood. In Fournier's case, the interesting structure in the print is made by using substances such as textiles, and leaves in creating the collograph plate. 

The prices of prints in the show range from $85 (e.g. for a small etching by Jeanne Vaillancourt) to $750 (a stone lithography by Lynda Turner) and include the frames. These decent priced works of art might be a good start for an own art collection. The Connective has also a blog: http://ottawaprintmakers.wordpress.com/

Artists in the exhibition:

Leigh Archibald

Mary Baranowski-Lowden

Keith Bell

Manon Boulet

Kathryn Davis

Paule Fournier

Leonard Gerbrandt

Deidre Hierlihy

Maya Hum

David Ladouceur

Louise Lépine

Rozemarijn Oudejans

Debra James Percival

Rod Restivo

Nathalie Roy

Jen Simpson

Denise Tremblay

Lynda Turner

Jeanne Vaillancourt

Shirley Yik

Britannia Art Gallery

Summer Mosaic

August 4 – September 6, 2011

2728 Howe St.

Ottawa

Tuesday thru Saturday 10 am to 5pm

Sunday: 1 pm to 4pm

Monday: Closed

http://www.britanniagallery.ca/