The Lafrenière & Pai Gallery, established in 2000, searches out and presents to the world the most promising developments in contemporary Canadian jewellery and sculpture.
Information
- Location:
- Ottawa, ON, K1N 9M5
- Phone:
- 613-241-2767
- Mon - Sat:
- 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
- Sun:
- 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Photos
2 of 6 albumsSee All
Opening: Sunmi Jung & Sandra Noble GossCreated about 2 months ago
Exhibition images: Susie Osler Ofrenda; Patrycja ZwierzynskaCreated about 3 months ago
Links
Events
17 past eventsSee All
- The 22nd Annual Contemporary C...
Lafrenière & Pai Gallery
Saturday, November 21 at 3:00pm - SOLO at SOFA: Anna Williams, S...
Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
Friday, November 6 at 7:00pm - SOFA Chicago 2009 - The 16th S...
Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
Thursday, November 5 at 7:00pm - Sunmi Jung
Lafreniere & Pai Gallery
Sunday, September 27 at 3:00pm - Sandra Noble Goss - Hidden
Lafreniere & Pai Gallery
Monday, September 14 at 1:45am - Patrycja Zwierzynska
Lafreniere & Pai Gallery
Sunday, August 30 at 3:00pm - Susie Osler 'ofrenda'
Lafreniere & Pai Gallery
Sunday, August 30 at 3:00pm - 6th National Student Jewellery...
Lafreniere & Pai Gallery
Sunday, July 5 at 3:00pm - Anna Williams: In My Secret Life
Lafreniere & Pai Gallery
Sunday, July 5 at 3:00pm - Paula Murray - States of Being
Lafreniere & Pai Gallery
Thursday, June 11 at 10:00am
Lafrenière & Pai Gallery
Contemporary jewellery artists present one of a kind pieces as well as a fabulous holiday gift selection.
Also introducing this year wearable textiles for men and women--scarves of recycled materials, silks, and wool foraged straight from sheeps' backs in New Zealand.
Wear their stories.
Time:3:00PM Saturday, November 21st
Location:Lafrenière & Pai Gallery
Lafrenière & Pai Gallery Visit the SOFA website for details about this upcoming exhibition. Further details are available through the gallery website www.lapaigallery.com .
www.sofaexpo.com
SOFAEXPO.com, the web site of the annual international Sculpture Objects & Functional Art (SOFA) expositions in Chicago and New York City
Lafrenière & Pai Gallery November 6 to 9, 2009.
SOFA Chicago 2009
Time:7:00PM Friday, November 6th
Location:Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
Lafrenière & Pai Gallery www.sofaexpo.com
November 6 to 9, 2009.
Time:7:00PM Thursday, November 5th
Location:Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
September 27 to October 17, 2009
Time:1:45AM Monday, September 14th
Location:Lafreniere & Pai Gallery
September 27 to October 17, 2009
Time:3:00PM Sunday, September 27th
Location:Lafreniere & Pai Gallery
Lafrenière & Pai Gallery Exhibition images: Susie Osler Ofrenda; Patrycja Zwierzynska
Lafrenière & Pai Gallery
Patrycja Zwierzynska was born in Poland and moved to Toronto in 1995. An enduring interest in the arts and a desire to make things led her to pursue an education at NSCAD University, where she was first introduced to metalworking. She graduated in 2007 with a BFA in Jewellery Design and Metalsmithing and is currently i...n her second year of the artist-in-residency program in the metal studio at the Harbourfront Centre.
Artist’s Statement
In making jewellery, I explore various materials and processes to capture form and volume. The materials I use are integral to my work and are chosen because of their exclusive qualities, for example; metal for its ability to retain strong form and mylar for its weightless presence. These qualities determine the final look and feel of the piece. Jewellery making, for me, is a process of discovery; of finding a material’s possibilities and restrictions, it is a process of constantly asking “what if...” and of being open to the infinite answers.
Materials and Techniques
My work is made from thin sterling silver wire, which I tie into knots, solder together and flatten in a rolling mill. The flattened wire is then formed and once again soldered together to make a three dimensional form, or is left flat. To finish, I treat the metal with a process that brings the fine silver to the surface of the sterling; this is what gives the pieces the raw white look.
August 30 to September 19, 2009.
Time:3:00PM Sunday, August 30th
Location:Lafreniere & Pai Gallery
Lafrenière & Pai Gallery
Ofrenda
"In Mexico where I was traveling two winters ago I came across a huge flock of cowbirds. For half an hour they flew en masse from tree to sky and back to tree. Being in the midst of this sight and sound was pure magic. Their sojourns were also very rich for me metaphorically. Life is a cyclical journey, a sur...ge outward followed by a retreat inward followed by an outward surge again and so on. It is mirrored in the seasons, in the stages of our lives from birth to death, and subsequent generations of life - human or otherwise, in our relationships to others, and even in the creative process. We experience continuous cycles of departures and arrivals – our own personal migrations.
In Mexico I also discovered ceramic Trees of Life – a popular art form that felt very kindred in spirit to my own ceramic work. The tree, in many early cultures bridges all realms – the underworld in its roots, the trunk and branches that grow and support physical life, and the heavens, or spirit world towards which branches reach/stretch. In their early manifestations Mexican Trees of Life may have mimicked the incense burners and candelabras of the Catholic church. Historically, they have also been offered as gifts, and used in ritual as symbols of fertility and abundance.
The ofrenda is the name given in Mexico to the household shrine where offerings or tributes are made to honor ancestors and Saints. I continue to be taken by the ways that humans manifest a personal understanding or experience of place in the universe and within the continuity of life’s cycles and by the myriad practices of offering thanks for life. The work presented here is my gift, tribute, or ofrenda, to life, inspired by my time in Mexico."
Susie Osler obtained a BA in Communications and Film from McGill University (Montreal) in 1990, and a BFA from Emily Carr Institute for Art and Design (Vancouver) in 1999 where she studied under ceramic artists Paul Mathieu and Joan Bruneau. Susie returned to Ontario for a residency in the ceramics studio at Toronto’s Harbourfront Center where she worked on, and taught, ceramics for two and a half years.
Susie’s work continues to be exhibited and collected nationally and internationally. Her porcelain pieces were featured in 2005 in a garden designed by landscape architect Scott Torrance and furniture designer Heidi Earnshaw, for Canada Blooms (Toronto). She installed a wall piece in a room designed by Heidi Earnshaw in Toronto’s Gladstone Hotel (2006). More recently, in 2008, Susie initiated an on-going rural public art project called fieldwork in one of her fields. With the generous support of the Ontario Arts Council, fieldwork is now In its second year, fieldwork 2009/2010 features 4 seasonal, site-specific installations by 4 guest artists artists. (Visit www.fieldworkproject.com for more info).
Susie has been awarded numerous awards from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the Ontario Crafts Council. Now located in Eastern Ontario, she continues to teach and create innovative sculptural and functional work for sale and exhibition.
August 30 to September 19, 2009.
Time:3:00PM Sunday, August 30th
Location:Lafreniere & Pai Gallery
Lafrenière & Pai Gallery Tune into 'In Town & Out' on CBC Radio One at 6:15am this coming Saturday, July 18th for our interview with Amrita Singh (91.5 FM in Ottawa). Amrita recently paid us a visit to learn more about the work of Anna Williams and our 6th National Student Jewellery Competition. Visit http://www.cbc.ca/intownandout/ for the podcast.
Lafrenière & Pai Gallery
As a society, our increasingly fervent infatuation with the new and the now often leads to a denigration of and withdrawal from traditional values and customs. An acknowledgement of this withdrawal has led me to seek a renewed mindfulness for my surroundings. In my practice, I wish to incite the viewer to examine the...ir relationship to the animals and inanimate objects that inform our actions and yet are denied agency. Through the assignation of nomenclature, the constructed roles, associations and behavior are predicated as the relational boundaries between the marginal and the mainstream, the abject and the hopeful are widened and reinforced. These interactions in a presumptive world, with constructed meanings and predetermined endings, has caused individuals to be become pigeonholed and apathetic.
I use traditional materials, such as bronze, and representational imagery to create a broadly accessible foundation. In an effort to subtly subvert notions of a fixed reality, I often incorporate mixed media into the work, such as leather, paper, wood, fabric, etc., to offer a slightly skewed, yet almost believable sense of reality. I employ these strategies to stimulate the audience to engage with notions of constructed identities and fear in today’s culture, and to examine issues surrounding impermanence, loss and escapism. As the cacophonous and frenetic pace of post-modern life overwhelms, I seek to create mindful monuments to the daydreams and latent fears that dictate our actions while incorporating references to the stark realities we now face where birds become bombs and chickens take over the world.
Lafrenière & Pai Gallery
Having completed a degree in Fine Arts at the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, Allyson moved to Iqaluit in 1994 to teach jewellery making at Nunavut Arctic College.
Her own jewellery and sculptural pieces have since been influenced by images of the Baffin Island and western Arctic landscape: the juxtaposition of roc...k, vegetation, water and the vast Arctic Sky.
Allyson works primarily with stones from the Arctic in combination with silver & gold, paying special attention to detail, texture and inlay.
Having returned home to live and work in Nova Scotia, Allyson continues to travel and teach (and learn!) in the North and to produce work based on the Arctic Landscape.
Opening Thursday, June 11, 6 to 8pm.
Time:10:00AM Thursday, June 11th
Location:Lafreniere & Pai Gallery
Lafrenière & Pai Gallery
Paula Murray - Artist Statement
Examining the invisible boundary between the physical and spiritual worlds is central to my work. I am committed to the idea that powerful ideas can be made manifest through the work of the hands. I approach my work as an act of meditation- where work is an act of worship, giving form to ...feelings, honouring the earth, drawing attention to our connection to the cycles of life on this plane of existence. My vocabulary revolves around nature, both on land and in the sea- connecting to the inner life, but also nature as process, as forms in change or transition–the search to make sense of the process of living.
My home environment is the shores of Meech Lake in the Gatineau Park. For extended periods of time, throughout my career I have lived with my family on the water, sailing from Canada to South America. This ongoing relationship with the sea and the elements has intensified my appreciation of the ephemeral nature of our presence.
Opening Thursday, June 11, 6 to 8pm.
Time:10:00AM Thursday, June 11th
Location:Lafreniere & Pai Gallery
