Gallery Hopping

Yesterday I added some beauty to my life. I spent the afternoon gallery hopping. My mother-in-law was in town and as she is an art lover, we treated ourselves to a fun afternoon of art viewing. Joined by my husband, we started our outing with lunch at The Ox Head Restaurant for some wonderful, authentic Vietnamese food. Next we were off to the Ottawa Art Gallery, www.ottawaartgallery.ca (not to be confused with the National Gallery of Canada). The Ottawa Art Gallery is currently featuring an exhibit entitled "Deep Roots". This is an exhibit of approximately 35 paintings by members of the Group of Seven as well as their contemporaries. The symbolism and significance of the familiar Canadian landscape composition found in the Group of Seven's work is explored. As Catherine Sinclair, the curator writes: "The placement of the tree in the foreground of the picture is intimately connected to the depiction of a landscape emptied of any other human presence. This was a departure from 19th century Romantic landscape paintings, which included human figures as witnesses to the grandeur of nature. When the Group of Seven and others removed people from their landscapes, they created a void and filled it with the artist's autonomous experience in the wilderness." While this is a small exhibit, if you enjoy the work of the Group of Seven, it is worth stopping by.

Next we headed to the Atrium Gallery, Ben Franklin Place (101 Centrepointe Dr.) to see an exhibit entitled "A touch of Gold". This exhibit features works by OMMA artists - Ottawa Mixed Media Artists. This exhibit is running until April 30, 2008. While a small exhibit, if you are looking to acquire an original, contemporary, mixed media painting the art is for sale and reasonably priced...read some artists aren't charging enough :-) I love mixed media art. This may surprise some people as I create mostly realistic, detailed art. How could you not love a group whose motto is "Artists with attitude"? OMMA has some very talented artists in their membership. There are over 160 members and you can browse through a listing of the artists and see examples of their work by visiting www.omma.cn.

At the end of the day I came away satiated, content and inspired. Perhaps I need to dust off those tubes of oil paint in my cupboard and how about that idea I have for a mixed media piece, humm...