Alchemy 2009Al Green Sculpture Studio School

The Al Green Sculpture Studio School

Designed for adults whose talents range from the

novice to the professional, the Al Green Studio

School is a unique, non-profit centre for creative

expression and artistic development.

The flexibility of the studio allows members to

work and learn at their own pace, skill level and

schedule, as they have unlimited access to the

studio during hours of operation.

Al Green Sculpture Studio School is the brainchild

of Al Green. The founding goals of the studio

include the desire to bring the principles of

sculpture to individuals who want access to work

more than the normal three hours per week that

most other facilities offer.

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Sincere gratitude for our amazing

setup crew of Melanie Chikofsky,

Brian Meeson, Hershel Okun, Jung

Mo Kim and John MacBride for

making the exhibit hang together so

well.

We would also like to thank Judi

Young and the Sculptors Society of

Canada for all their assistance and

for facilitating our exhibition in their

lovely new gallery.

Invitation design: Dean Povinsky.

Photography by John D. MacBride

with assistance from various

members of the studio.

(Inge Johnson photographed her

own work.)

Thanks to Barry Green for his

support and assistance.

Book design: John D. MacBride

with assistance from Melanie

Chikofsky.

Editing: Penny Fiksel and Melanie

Chikofsky.

Acknowledgements

The Al Green Sculpture Studio School’s spring exhibition is a delightful elixir of new works. Our members have transmuted their diverse interests and talents to produce an eclectic array of sculpture. Our many new members, along with the veterans of the studio, have been hard at work to make your visit to the show an exciting and worthwhile experience.

All of us at The Al Green Sculpture Studio School are pleased to be able to acknowledge how much our founder and benefactor Al Green means to our work here at the studio. Without the Al and Malka Green Foundation’s undaunted support and commitment to the studio school, our lives would be sorely lacking.

“Alchemy” reflects in great measure, the work of members over the course of time since our last show. However, our member’s efforts could not be as professionally or as artistically shared as they are in this exhibition without the energy, resources, and devotion of Melanie Chikofsky, Managing Director of the Studio School and our beloved technicians George Farmer, Dean Povinsky, and Gerard Godin.

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Al GreenEstablished businessman, developer and

philanthropist Al Green discovered a second

career as a sculptor at the age of 65. Over

the ensuing years he trained extensively with

world-renowned sculptors Sorel Etrog and

Maryon Kantaroff. Now his sculptures can

be seen in many private collections across

North America including those of Bill Clinton

and James Earl Jones.

The Yonge-Eglinton Centre reflects Green's

two careers, first as a partner in the planning

and designing of the Centre, and second in

creating the seven sculptures on its

surrounding plaza.

Green's support for the arts led to his

involvement as an executive member of the

Sculptors Society of Canada, a trustee and

member of the board of directors of the Art

Gallery of Ontario, as well as sitting on the

development committee for the new AGO. In

the year 2000 he opened the City Sculpture

School & Studio and in 2003, established a

gallery and gave a permanent home to the

Sculptors Society of Canada. Green's most

recent accolade was being awarded the

Order of Canada.3

My artistic endeavors for the past several years have been involved in developing a collection of pieces for a personal show.

The robe/dress themed pieces have become my seminal work.

Recently, I have been working on an homage series to several artists who have influenced my work within the robe/dress motif.

Ellen Blankstein

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Thea CarvelTo me, sculpture represents the most immediate

path from the subconscious to three-dimensional

expression. Past faces, creatures, travels and inner

experiences melt together and take on a life of their

own on a level beyond representational reality. They

start to partake of a wider, abstract cosmos,

opening portals to yet unknown, luminous vistas.

Sculpture becomes transcendental aesthetics.

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Dorothy ChanMotion, transformation, and relationship are three enduring

elements of my work. Representing the physical, spiritual,

and emotional planes, which shape and define us as

individuals and the world in which we live, are the realities

that form the foundation upon which my work grows.

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Garson ConnA life long interest in art prompted

enrollment in sculpting facilities

beginning with soapstone carving at

Forest Hill Library, followed by

bronze casting at Central Tech and

then several weeks at the Haliburton

School of Fine Art.

At the Al Green Sculpture Studio

School, Winterstone sculpting

became quite challenging. Clay

modelling, mold making and casting

all provide stimulation to pursue my

life-long love.

“Firebird” represents my latest

attempt to reach the stars!!!

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J. Crowder

While lost in sculpting, I feel a profound

connection of heart, mind and spirit. The act,

for me, is one of meditation and pure love.

Through my art practice, I create a form that

conveys my innermost self to the viewer. It is

an intimacy not easily found in other media.

After a life in different areas of sales, I finally

decided to pursue a passion that goes back

as far as I can remember. I have always

wanted to be an artist and preferably a good

one.

Believing that it is never too late, I took night

courses, which led me to enroll in a three-year

adult art programme at Central Technical

School in Toronto. This gave me a

foundation in several disciplines of visual arts.

The one art form that truly fulfills me is

sculpting.

Today, I continue learning, exploring, and

experimenting at Al Green Sculpture Studio

School. The love affair continues.

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The Al Green Sculpture Studio School works a kind of magic. As much for the people, having access to a

creative environment to work on sculpture gave me a new and challenging path in my life.

Because I spend a lot of time in my little garden, nature is a subject of ever increasing interest for me. For its

colour and beauty, for its vulnerability and enduringness, for its timelessness, and because nature is the fount

from which everything human springs, I could not help but steal my work from it.

In my art space, from tiny tiles in Klean Klay, worked through the loving, talented direction of Melanie Chikofsky,

the studio's creative director, my humble attempts represents only the limits of my wonder and love of nature.

Molded into Hydrocal and Winterstone, washed in oils and acids respectively, "Wallflower" is just a beginning.

Penny Fiksel

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The driving force in my work is a desire to reflect life in a balance of line and plane.

Gerard Godin

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My art draws from memory to create sculptures that blend classical art with contemporary sensibilities.

I begin by sculpting a figure or an abstract form in clay. After a mold is produced, I then proceed to cast the piece in a variety of materials such as plaster,

Hydrostone, and Winterstone, which is my preferred material. When satisfied with the casting, I then attempt to enhance the sculpture by experimenting with a host of

finishing techniques, from applying acids, waxing, buffing, scaring to photo transferring.

My current series evolves from a single female torso, which I have transformed through myriad unconventional variations in composition, colour, and form.

Under the guidance of the instructors at Al Green studios and the critiques of my fellow members, I have produced a series of unique female torsos:

L'indécise, Belle Malgré Elle, and BELLAVOIR, represent three sculptures from this series.

Gregory Gue

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Tootsie Halbert

I draw my inspiration from

people and the diverse forms in

nature. In my work, I strive to

evoke an innocence to engage

the viewer. I love the

challenges that arise from

exploring new media and

venues, allowing me to express

my vision.

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Crystal Hawk

Working in Winterstone is still inspiring

me to pursue my love of art since I

joined the Studio when it first opened.

My diverse hobbies have always been

creative and my sculpture reflects the

many elements of form and movement,

space and line, which I experienced with

weaving and ceramics. With

Winterstone, the work remains

challenging. I am still exploring and

striving in my latest endeavour:

“A PATIO PLANT FOR ALL SEASONS.”

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An academic interest in antiquity, myth, archaeology, as well as a life-long habit of figure drawing, inform my sculpture. My interest is the body as subject, and reflects

such fields of reference as the classical partial figure, Michelangelo’s “non-finito” pieces, the “abbatis” of Rodin, and the distressed surfaces of Magdalena

Abakanowicz. Thematically the works speak to the vulnerability and mortality of the art object, the notion of entropy and the role played by the passage of time. The

process is an evolutionary one, manipulating the media to achieve the weathered appearance and accidental imperfections associated with the archaic object.

Janet Hunter

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I was born, raised and studied art in school in Trinidad. Although I have spent the last 20 years in Toronto, it is the lush, tropical vegetation of my native Caribbean that has fueled my interest in the form and lines found in nature.

I am inspired by the way a leaf unwinds from a spiral at the beginning of its life and curls back into a spiral at the end when it dries.  I can often see states of being from the animal world reflected in the plant forms, like Grace, Curiosity, Slumber and Play, expressed in my leaves on display.

Inge Johnson

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Through my work, I attempt to create a sense of lyrical beauty; to evoke the feelings one gets when listening to classical music, or drinking a fine cup of coffee. I

endeavour to produce work that can easily be understood by the viewer; not one of conflict but rather of comfort, creating a union between artist and audience.

In Korea, my emphasis was on hyperrealism. I expressed the inner conservatism of the eastern world creating life-sized, disenfranchised figures in realistic settings.

Since arriving in Canada in 2001, I have had the opportunity to see and be influenced by many new sources, primarily through my discovering the Al Green Studio,

its staff and members, all of which have changed my perspective and my view on the world. I now try to merge both eastern and western sensibilities in my work

and in myself.

Jung Mo Kim

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My recent work in special events has led me to an interest and appreciation of the work currently being done in the art of floral design. My initial sculptural attempts

involved creating structures and armatures to support and enhance the floral motif. These structures gradually evolved into interesting designs in their own right that

do not require flora to be complete.

I am fascinated with natural materials (branches, wax, bark) and seek to arrange them in compositions that enhance their aesthetic qualities, while challenging the viewer

to interact with them in unfamiliar ways.

John David MacBride

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One of my earliest memories was of hammering rusty nails straight so that they could be reused. On a farm, nothing was thrown away; even after a decade of neglect, it may be

just what was needed to fulfill a different function. The obsession with holding onto and converting what others would chuck away – reinforced during war years in England –

stuck with me. And so, an old apple ladder became a bench, fallen locust fence posts re-emerged as a stool, tin cans were hammered and bent into toys, barn boards

reincarnated as a refectory table. I never thought of this activity as artistic; in fact, I feel a bit off base in writing an artist statement. Improvisation with materials, intuition as to

the way things are put together and work, a good pair of hands, and a sense of shape and movement have all contributed to my work in theatre and more recently, abstract

sculpture. I think of myself as a bricoleur, a do-it-yourselfer with no formal artistic training, someone who invents his own strategies for using existing materials in a creative and

resourceful way.

Two shapes – the leaf and the flame – together with helical movement persist in my current work. I have been inspired by the architecture of Caletrava and Scarpa, the

American furniture craftsman, Wharton Esherick, the art theories of Rudolf Arnheim and William Hogarth, and the sculpture of Bernini and Andy Goldsworthy. Beyond these

influences, the greatest forces in my creative life have been Antoni Gaudi and Anton Chekhov, both of whom had the patience to work through all the details that make

perfection seem attainable. Having seen beauty and perfection that others have achieved in this exhibition, and which I lack the patience and vision to match, is a humbling and

exciting experience. Perhaps, however, we are all players in the “eternal spirit’s eternal pastime: shaping, reshaping”.

Brian Meeson

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Hershel OkunThe decision to close my practice after working as an architect

for 40 years was daunting, to be sure. I needed to find a new,

creative outlet, but I also needed an artistic forum that would

allow me to utilize skills that were familiar to me as I

experimented with art forms that were completely new.

26 BORGO OGNISSANTI

For my first project, it was no accident that I would gravitate to

something architectural. On a past trip to Florence, Italy, I had

admired a Liberty style building designed by Giovanni

Michelozzi. I decided to analyse the artistry that was so evident

in that Art Nouveau treasure by creating a scale model of the

building. What started as a simple architectural exercise ended

as hands-on lessons in photographic manipulation, sculpting,

cabinetry, and jewelry making. The building process took 9

months.

CARYATID

For this project, there also was an architectural influence; inspired

by the life-size figures that Frank Lloyd Wright designed for his

entrance at the Midway Gardens in Chicago. I was fascinated by

how Wright deviated from the classical Caryatid form, separating

his life-sized art-deco figures from the façade while still retaining

the illusion of their structural integration. My sculpture, which is a

study for a final version that will be about 200% larger than this

maquette, plays with the interaction between a human figure, and

the structural column in which she is embedded and from which

she is emerging.

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Ruth Love Paisley

My work is a celebration of the

power and the beauty of the female

form. The process I employ permits

an improvisational approach, which

nurtures these ideas into reality. I

manipulate large volumes of oil base

clay by pounding, kneading, and

rolling until I feel the form emerges.

After that initial process, I finely tune

the sculpture, exploring further

through texture and contour until the

piece comes to fruition. The

sculptures in this series Forms of

Expression convey the qualities and

the complexities of the feminine

being.

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Dean Povinsky

Dean Povinsky invented photography, met

Prince*, learned Japanese, held his breath

for 17 minutes, and fought a baby

Rhinoceros with a chainsaw hat all before the

age of 8. It was then, he realized, he could

not ride a bike…

From then on he decided, like Loverboy, he

would “start from the start,” that being the

only proper way to get anything of value

done. He would like to tell you that this

revelation allowed all of his actions to flow

with ease. Such utterances would be a lie.

Art is easy. Everything else you ever do will

be hard.

Dean took up guitar, played some punk

rock, drew some pictures, rode a

skateboard, went on some dates, went to

school, broke some bottles, tossed some

paint, quite smoking 7 times, moved away,

moved not away and now he is here with

you.

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It all started on an isolated mountaintop in Algeria, where I lived for

six years. For my sanity, I had to occupy my mind and my hands.

The outcomes were cooking and art. Eventually, I made a career in

the food industry and ran my own cooking school for twelve years.

After closing my school, I rekindled my interest in art to explore that

part of myself that was not being expressed. I found courses in

various locations including Mexico, Italy and Costa Rica, which

helped me move ahead in my quest. I finally arrived at the Al Green

Sculpture Studio School, where I found endless possibilities to

pursue all my interests in three-dimensional media. Winterstone,

paper, wax and clay are all part of my new repertoire.

Jan Quinlan

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Janet Ravin

Sculpting has been my anchor for

the past twenty-five years. Clay,

wood, stone, plaster, Hydrocal,

Winterstone, and bronze are some

of the materials that I have used for

my creations.

I am occasionally influenced by a

news story. Isabella Blow, muse to

hat designer Philip Treacy and a

fixture at fashion shows for many

years, committed suicide in 2007;

her style and flair had always caught

my creative attention. So, these

creations are Un Homage á Isabella

Blow.

Isabella, your individuality and flair

made me look for you each time I

watched a Haute Couture fashion

show. Thank you.

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Gloria RobinsI have, for many years, found my

happiest artistic expression sculpting in

clay and wax – casting in bronze,

Winterstone and Hydrocal. My greatest

joy and challenge is creating human “life”

– modelling all ages of figures and

heads, from babies to the aged; creating

commissioned portraits that are cast in

bronze. The wide and fascinating range

of human life in the world around us is

my endless source of inspiration for

sculpting.

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Dona Saunders

My work in sculpture started in

2005. Although I am self-taught, I

have learned a great deal from the

other sculptors at the Al Green

Sculpture Studio School, and I am

grateful to them for their assistance

and encouragement.

My influences include Eastern art and

philosophy, as well as deriving

inspiration from myths and fairy tales

told around the world. Favorite

materials are soapstone, alabaster,

oil-based clay, and water-based

clay.

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Donna Zekas

The suggestion of a passage of time is a common

thread that runs through my work. This series of

sculptures allows me to explore textured surfaces,

patinas, and acid washes to convey a worn and

aged presence.The gestured, figurative forms I am

working on illustrate the fundamental relationship

between form and movement. My intent is to

capture spatial energy in an endless flow/dance.

To maintain a sense of vertical rhythm, I express

the forms as accentuated slender silhouettes.

These incomplete forms are in transition, and the

open and exposed crevices provide an inward

passage to the vulnerability of the dancers. To

suggest lightness and fragility, I do away with

layers and expose the armature providing a

contrast between the segmentation and the solidity

of the Winterstone. The work suggests a gateway

for exploration and contemplation.

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Opening Night Reception: May 7, 2009