A Casting of Shadows - John Koyounian

October 6-31, 2015

Feeding Thoughts & Illusions

Opening Reception: 

Friday October 16, 7-9 pm

John is a graduate of the Fine Arts program at Fanshawe and holds an Honors Degree in Visual Art from Western as well as a Bachelor of Education. Currently John teaches visual art at Beal Secondary school in the Beal Art Program.

John explains his art in his own words:

The use of narrative has always been a large part of my creative process. Communicating ideas in a visual manner is a central component of my practice. Quite often themes and symbols are developed as a reaction to the stringing of words that can be found in not only my writing but also phrases gleaned from poets and various forms of popular culture.

Talk of the Town

We are all creatures of our experiences and observations. These experiences shape our world view and our concerns manifest themselves in our daily life and influence our perception of events. It is in moments of meditation that I find myself exploring those experiences in a visual manner. However there is a grey line between events and our perception of them. In the interior of our psyche we can at times infer events that conflict with our rational experiences and it is those projected thoughts that I am exploring. Not unlike the story of Plato’s Cave and the experiences of silhouettes that are casted shadows on a wall that represent the concrete world.

Iconoclast

The inclusion of contour lines plays with the idea that these projections are not truly there but are mere shadows. Their existence represents subconscious symbols which are a reaction, when projected upon our reality tell a different or new story.

Often times within these compositions the faces are hidden or intentionally cropped in order to develop a more universal experience for the viewer, this is done in order to allow the viewer to identify and see themselves or past experiences of their own within the work.

Welcome Melissa Tulloch - Resident Artist

We, at the Art Gallery of Lambeth, would like to welcome our newest addition to our Resident Artist family.  Melissa has come to us all the way from the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia.

Melissa was born in Toronto, and moved to the Lower Mainland of BC, settling in Richmond when she was five. Melissa became interested in art in high school where she was 

encouraged by her art teacher to pursue art as more than just a passing interest.


She loved art, loved talking about it, and loved learning about it. She talked often about what she was doing, and what she was learning about colours, hues, the techniques, and composition. Anyone could see her enthusiasm.


Her teacher was good for her, with his encouragement and teachings. When she graduated from high school, he helped her get a scholarship to Emily Carr University of Art & Design. 


When she graduated from Emily Carr, she traveled to parts of Europe. She was inspired by Leonardo da Vinci. She spent time studying his work and even visited the Sistine Chapel in Italy to see his work first hand. 


She was inspired by other 'masters' of that time and genre as well, including Rembrant. She wanted to paint the way they did and with as much detail in her work as they did, especially with regards to the human body. She then carried the same passion for detail into the other aspects of her work.


She has painted with acrylics, and watercolours. 
She has even done tatoos for people on their body, one of which (believe it or not) is a rendering of 'The Last Supper' up the full side of a woman's body. But, by far, her favourite medium is oil. 


Melissa paints a wide range of subjects.  Her work includes birds, country scenes, landscapes, and seascapes.  But her love of painting and technical skill  is obvious in her portrayal of the human figure. Her works draw attention wherever they are shown.

When she looks at something that catches her eye, nothing escapes her.  Light and shadow, tone, and perspective;   she sees all of these things, and captures them on her canvas. 

"Pencil Crayons...Breaking Barriers and Mis-conceptions" -- Christine Johnson

May 5-30, 2015

Opening reception on Saturday May 9, 6-9 pm.

Always having a deep passion for art, Christine has developed and grown as an Artist in London over the last few years. Her works hangs in the Art Gallery of Lambeth, Westmount Art Centre and dozens of commissioned work hangs in homes in southwestern Ontario. Her work is widely displayed on line as "CJ Artwork" with thousands of followers on Facebook and Instagram!

Her work shows her creativity and passion in her human portraits, endangered animal drawings, nature and spiritual works!

Using a unique perspective, angles and close-up images; she captures the overlooked and zoomed in intricate details of images in her work. Her one of kind iris eye portraits seem to grasp and convey a hidden universe or life within the individual eye. She brings awareness and love to the viewer with her variety of endangered animal pieces. Again, her technique of close-up detail expresses the animals’ strength and beauty in intricate details.

Using her medium of choice, the Pencil Crayon, she breaks the misconception and borders that pencil crayons are merely an amateur or an elementary medium that we all used when we were younger. As her skill develops, she consistently makes the viewer ponder and wow at the achievement of realism that is reached in her work. She also expresses a love for using ink, graphite, acrylic paint and charcoal in her work.

Expression in ones self in creating any piece of art is therapeutic, spiritual, fun and self-healing. Christine has begun sharing and teaches her mandala drawing classes at the AGL in a step-by-step class. As this is an art form that is very much unique to the individual, she teaches the basic, simple and relaxing pencil crayon tools and techniques so that any beginner artist can create their own beautiful mandala!"