Artists

Since 1962, Herb van der Staay has been painting with a number of Ottawa artists. He studied at the Ottawa School of Art under Bruce Heggtveit, Robert Hyndman and others. His oeuvre is comprised largely of works in oil and works in pencil. He enjoys plein air painting and is inspired by the colours and space of the Canadian landscape.

“Nature is the ultimate teacher—it teaches us to see colour, light, shadows and shapes and to feel the moment. It is a challenge to put feelings and impressions on canvas and to connect with the viewer.”

Yong Suksamran was born in Thailand. For several years he lived in Ottawa where he was inspired by the beauty of the city, but he currently resides in New Zealand. His background is in post-graduate fashion design and technology which has given him his inspiration for colour and texture. Techniques that he learned with fabrics have led to skills in drawing and colour mix.

I spend time thinking and researching my subject and themes so that my paintings are unique and striking to the eye. In many of my oil paintings, your eye can rove across the canvas and focus on different details. Hopefully you get the sparkle or dance that comes from what you see and what is delightful. The richness of the texture and using shade and colour to the best advantage is what I like about oil painting … I love bright colours. It is a challenge to create an oil painting but I get enormous satisfaction from seeing the painting come alive on the canvas.

Born in Amos, Québec, Lise Massicotte attended l’institut des arts appliqués in Montréal. She then spent some time in Alberta, continuing studies in art and photography at the University of Edmonton. A long journey, with a thousand jobs along the way, allowed her to explore different artistic avenues, such as theatre set design, journalistic graphics and layout, and the management of an art and craft gallery.
In 1995, after twenty years of working in black and white, the exploration of colour took center stage in Massicotte’s practice, in the form of watercolor painting. Massicotte strives to break away from the rigidity of her graphic design background by exploring the fluidity and emotions of the watercolour medium. Acrylic inks have also recently captured her interest, resulting in stunning creations both figurative and non-figurative, which employ intense colours and contrast. With the fondest of exceptions for all things avian, Massicotte’s long-time passion is for trees, those giant witnesses of our presence on this earth, and the forest, sleeping and waking to the voice of light.

"My name is Pauline Dwyer and I'm a Traditional Artist and Concept Artist. Everything I know about painting was self-taught and I feel that's what sets me apart. I love learning new things and love working with all kinds of mediums. At the age of 13, I created a watercolour painting and have sold quite a few paintings. Recently, I've gone to College and learnt about digital art programs to keep up with modern day technology and that has opened a whole new world for me. I love to create and learn new things every day."

"My art is a constant search, which encompasses a spiritual dimension. Images travel between the mundane and a magical world, without making the illusion of reality its main objective. Each painting is a cathartical experience which delineates longing and unveils an attempt to remain in touch with my inner world. My work invites viewers to decipher the emotions that brought me to paint it.
My work is divided into series, which feature my environment, my dreams and my inner world."

"I am originally from Hudson and of Scots ancestry. I have been painting and drawing all my life. I got my first set of oils at age 12. My work has gone from highly textured figurative portrait studies to hard edged symbolism, re-absorbing and personalizing classical techniques and redirecting them into stark story telling. For me what connects my work is an ongoing battle between primitive human impulses and an unmovable destiny of myth and spirituality that forces the untamed or unwilling to do its bidding. In my world, the spirit always wins and woe to those who choose folly or greed, conflict and arrogance. Sometimes my directness will make the viewer feel uncomfortable with the sometimes political, sometimes grotesque or sexual images. I am summoning my own fears, dreams and anger to formulate a commentary on contemporary issues. The act of painting is an incantation to cause something to happen.
Living now out in the country, in Vankleek Hill where Scots first settled I feel very much at home and surrounded by the Celtic myths as I did when as a child in Hudson. Kanehsatake (Oka) was just across the river and, as we searched the shores looking for arrowheads and pottery shards, my game warden Father would tell me stories of the Mohawks and the Iroquois nation. Later, living in Jamaica from my friends I would hear West Indian stories, history and legends. I am intrigued with the universality of myth and legend.”

Mary Ann Varley has always been an artist. She can’t really remember not making drawings and paintings. Born in England immediately after the Second World War, her family promptly came to Canada. She was brought up in Nova Scotia and Ottawa. Mary Ann began teaching in 1968 in Quebec City. When she and her husband moved their young family to Ottawa, they taught at Ashbury College. Thirty years later she retired from teaching at Ashbury. She is also a life long learner, with a Master of Arts, B. Ed., B.A. (Fine Arts). She has taught various sessions at the Ottawa School of Art at the Shenkman Arts Centre. She also manages the Old Stick Cooperative Studio. A highlight of her career was being a recipient of The City of Ottawa, City Builders award in May 2018 for her contribution to the arts, nominated by Lynn Alsford, president of Arteast. Her recent solo shows include The Crichton Street Gallery, The Good Eats Café, the Galerie Old Chelsea, and the Shenkman Arts Centre, Trinity Gallery. She has been in group shows at the Rothwell Gallery, Galerie Electric Street Gallery, The Crichton Street Gallery, Sienna Gallery, Da Artisi Gallery, Cumberland, Ottawa Mixed Media Association (OMMA), the Ottawa School of Art, as a Member of The Foyer Gallery, Fredric Remington Museum(USA)and Arteast.
She was the juror for the New York State Art Show at the Fredric Remington Museum (2020)
The use of collage including photographs is a common technique in her work. Drawing, acrylic, oil and mixed media are her usual media.

Virginia Dupuis is a local artist who lives and paints in Blackburn Hamlet. Working in the traditional medium of oil, Virginia Dupuis takes macroscopic views, often exploring them on a larger-than-life scale. Dupuis strives for a strong tactile quality in her work, building up layers of paint. Her work suggests a narrative around such subject matter as the handcrafts of tatting, knitting or crocheting, to the tangled foliage, fruit stems and their growth pattern in nature.
Dupuis is a graduate of the 3 year Fine Arts Diploma at the Ottawa School of Art. She refined her oil painting practice by completing two Advanced Studios in oil painting, as well as two Apprenticeships in oil painting with a concentration in colour theory. Virginia has won numerous juror’s awards and grants from both the AOE Arts Council and the Ontario Arts Council. She was invited by Artspace613 to create an installation for Ontario2017 Culture Days. She is also an elected member of the Society of Canadian Artists.

“I respect perseverance, patience and resilience and am drawn to a subject by its beauty, colour and rhythm. Exploring colouristically the drama in patterns, suggestive of creation, growth and endurance, allows me to see beauty in the ordinary.”