Saturday, June 15th
Hosted OFFSITE in Catherine Morrisey's studio: 105 Clarence Street
2PM, with garden party to follow (if weather permits)
FCG is pleased to host a conversation between London-based artists Bonnie Parkinson and Catherine Morrisey. The woods, river, and garden behind Catherine’s studio at 105 Clarence Street provide endless subject matter for oil paintings. Her studio is in an old auto body shop. The breezes flow through, clearing the turpentine fumes and carrying bird calls and conversations from the bike path. Sometimes a bird will fly in one door from the woods and out the other side to the garden. Catherine has offered to host this conversation between her and Bonnie at her studio, with a garden party to follow (should weather permit). Catherine's studio can sit roughly 40 people.
Catherine Morrisey was born in Brampton, Ontario, and grew up in Port Credit, surrounded by a family of artists. She received her BA honours in fine art from York University, Toronto, and continued her studies at Arts’ Sake Inc., Toronto, with notable artists Graham Coughtry, Robert Markle, Gord Rayner, Dennis Burton, and David Bolduc. In 1978, she received the prestigious RBC Prize for Emerging Artists. Catherine moved to London in the early '80s and received a master's in library science from Western University in 1984. In parallel with her career as a librarian, her exhibitions have include presentations in galleries in London, Toronto, and in the USA. Her work has also involved curating exhibitions for the London Historical Museum & London Regional Art Gallery (now Museum London). Catherine's dedication to heritage has involved restorations of properties in various neighbourhoods in London, which has significantly contributed to the regeneration of these communities, for which she received the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario Restoration Awards in 2013 and 2016.
Bonnie Parkinson was born in December 1941 in London, Ontario. She is a well known London Artist who has exhibited and had many solo shows in London, Toronto and other cities throughout Ontario. Bonnie completed the Special Art Programme at Beal, where she showed an innate artistic ability, winning the Eva Bradshaw Award and a summer scholarship to Meinzinger Art School in Detroit, Michigan. In her last year of the Special Art Programme, she was chosen by The London Free Press art department manager to work in the paper’s art department part-time after school. After graduation in 1960, she was hired by the paper as a full-time fashion artist. Still very interested in painting, Parkinson was featured in a show entitled “Artists of our Region” at the Crouch branch of the London Public Library and was chosen to be in the juried Western Ontario show at the library system’s Central branch (then located on Queens Avenue). She was noted as “a person to watch” in The London Free Press art review by art critic Lenore Crawford. Bonnie was a sought after commercial artist for many years before finally leaving the field at age 40 to follow her dream of painting full time. She continues to paint with the same enthusiasm as ever.
This artists' conversation is sponsored by Brenda Fuhrman, who is supporting a series of artists' talks at Forest City Gallery through 2024-2025.
Image: A detail from Bonnie Parkinson's “Gwen and Devon,” oil on canvas. 24”w x 30”h.
Images:
Comentários