There are three sides to every story according to the three artists currently exhibiting at The Old School House Arts Centre.
The show is called Three, and includes three different abstract points of view from local artists Diane McCarten, Leslie Gregory and Chris Kazeil.
Besides their own bright and captivating pieces, the artists have made a wall of collaborative paintings. This summer they laid down 12 blank canvasses in a row and drew a horizontal line and some connecting shapes across them. They then numbered the backs of each one and took home four each, to work on with the same limited palette of colours. The three artists assembled the 12 pieces in the original order on the wall at TOSH for the show, and the result is a cohesive group of paintings, all very different in nature.
Leslie Gregory took her first abstract course from Diane McCarten three years ago and continues to enjoy the art form.
“I love abstract because it allows you to find things within yourself and there's always a surprise,” she said.
Gregory recently took first place in the Federation of Canadian Artists’ local Fall Juried Show.
Her pieces in the exhibition at TOSH are all inspired by music, which she listens to while painting. She has named some of the bold, colourful pieces Scarborough Fair, Summer in the City and Piano Man.
Kazeil started painting abstract in 2008.
“It was like an epiphany for me and then I took some courses from Diane and I haven’t looked back.”
Today, McCarten is her mentor in the art form, she said.
Kazeil said she gets lost in the process of telling stories with colour and shapes and feels the whole process is very cathartic.
In the exhibition at TOSH her series is whimsical and colourful using acrylic, india ink and watercolour pencils.
McCarten started painting abstract art back in the early ‘90s and has taught art and exhibited in Canada, USA, Holland, Denmark and Malta. She said she likes abstract because it is challenging and she discovers new things all the time.
“It seems more real to me than realistic art, it’s less of a lie,” she said.
Her pieces in the TOSH show are mostly acrylic with some charcoal line work and in some cases, a water-soluble crayon. One piece was painted without a paintbrush, simply using her hand and a squeegee and another was painted on her patio in the summer.
The eye-catching exhibition is up at TOSH until November 19.
For more on TOSH visit www.theoldschoolhouse.org or call 250-752-6133.