Art Conversations with Lisa Jayne Irvine

Michelle Harton (b.1983) is an Irish artist who works mainly in acrylic and water soluble drawing materials. She has studied art at Fermanagh College in Northern Ireland, classical portraiture and figure painting and drawing at the private art school and international arts colony Studio Escalier in France, plein air painting with David Mynett in Majorca and is an alumni of the intensive Creative Visionary Program with Nicholas Wilton along with many years of self experimentation.

Her previous work has included a collection on the folklore and legends of her hometown Cavan and a large solo exhibition based on the “Fairy Stories of Oscar Wilde”, a book her Grandmother gave her as a child. Her most recent exhibition was at StART in the world renowned Saatchi Gallery in London and is now represented in the UK by Vache Bleue Galleries.  

Michelle is very interested in creating interactive art buying experiences.  Her first project of this kind "The Mystery Art Sale" saw her pre-sell 37 paintings in 30 days on social media to collectors who bought without knowing what their painting would look like. "The STOP PAINTING Project" handed the age old question of "When is a painting finished?" over to the art buyer through a constantly developing collection of 30 paintings that were painted over until they all sold. These projects have encouraged her to seek out newer, creative, fun ways to interact with art buyers. 

Her current work “The Land Of Gemini” is an exploration into the creation of mystical dream worlds for introspective art collectors as a place to escape to and meditate in to recharge their energy and spirit. Many of the works can be orientated in two directions allowing one painting to become two. The works are landscapes from a lucid dream world and the imagined wildflowers that grow there, with glimpses of a contemporary colourful take on the bucolic scenes of Ireland and countries Michelle has lived including Vietnam and Peru.

On today’s episode Michelle talks about her creative process and how Irish folklore has inspired her work. 

Interested in seeing some of Michelle’s work. Go to her website at https://michellehartonart.com/

Find Michelle on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/michellehartonart/

Find me on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/artconversationswithlisajayne/ or at my website at www.lisajayneirvine.com

Hello to all my listeners and thank you for your patience. If you're new here, I had a bit of a hiatus from the world of podcasting. So after a three month break from recording I am finally back. Listen in as I explain what happened, where I have been and why I had to put everything on pause for the past three months.

Also, I will give you a sneak peak into a few of my upcoming guests for April & May as well as a bit of the behind the scenes of what it takes to produce this podcast. I am excited to be back and look forward to continuing the conversation with you. So settle in, get a cuppa tea or coffee, and let us begin!

-Lisa Jayne Irvine

Lois Schklar's work has been shown in exhibitions throughout Canada and the United States. Her sculptures are in the Racine Art Museum, the Bronfman Collection, Claridge Investments, Idea Exchange Art Gallery and The Key Corporation. 

Lois has received grants from the Toronto Arts Council, Canada Council and Ontario Arts Council. Most recently, she received Ontario Arts Council Exhibition Grants for I am Here, a 2021 exhibition at Red Head Gallery and Prototypes (Loop 2019), an exploration of sound, narrative, light and audience participation. The latter exhibition was made possible through the generous support of Canada Council’s Explore and Create Grant (2018).

Schklar’s art practice consists of an ongoing series of drawing installations utilizing found and bought urban objects as “mark making” tools. She manipulates these diverse and often disparate materials, aware of the aesthetic relationship they have with one another and by implication, the physical and psychological space they occupy. Each drawing installation builds on the ideas of preceding installations and are site specific. 

Lois is a member of The Red Head Gallery (Toronto).

On today’s episode Lois talks about her creative process, installation work and how her Scottish residency inspired her work

Interested in learning more about Lois’s work? Check out her website at [email protected]

Find Lois on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/loisschklar/ 

Find me on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/artconversationswithlisajayne/ or at my website at www.lisajayneirvine.com

Kelly O’Neill is a sculpture/ installation, multimedia and textile artist who lives in Selwyn, ON. Working with assemblage and text, video and projection, and incorporating traditional textile methods with unconventional materials, Kelly creates objects and experiences that explore the fluidity and impermeability of embodied experience. 

Kelly’s  works with objects and materials that relate to the materiality of our physical beings. Often beginning from a personal experience, she searches for an image, substance or object that moves beyond the personal to the collective. Kelly creates work that dissolves the border between viewer and object and places the viewer within the experience of the moment. After completing an Honours BA in Philosophy and English Literature at Trent University in Peterborough, ON. Kelly worked as a Social Worker before having a family and staying home to raise her 4 children. Having an art practice throughout her life that often came second to other responsibilities, Kelly returned to school full-time and completed her BFA in Sculpture and Installation at OCAD University, Toronto, ON. (2018) 

Community building as creative expression is important to Kelly’s practice and has led to her involvement in the Community Art Project at The Mount Community Center and at Peterborough Regional Health Centre as well as membership in collectives such as Essential Relations and The Cloth Care Collective. 

Her work has been shown in galleries in Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia including J.B. Arid Gallery, Toronto; Pendulum Gallery, Vancouver; WKP Kennedy Gallery, North Bay; Art Mur, Montreal, and The Art Gallery of Peterborough.

On today’s episode Kelly talks about her love of natural materials, being a sculptor, her weekly sewing ritual and her recent exploration of indigo dying.

Find Kelly on Instagram at  https://www.instagram.com/kellyboneill/

Find me on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/artconversationswithlisajayne/ or at my website at www.lisajayneirvine.com

Sharifah Marsden is Anishinaabe (Ojibway) from the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation in Ontario. She began painting and doing beadwork when she was about 13 and was taught by her mother, who was also a painter.

Sharifah connected with elders in her community and began doing leather work, crafting moccasins and regalia. Then she took courses in Northwest Coast Jewelry at the Native Education College in Vancouver where she became skilled in hand engraved jewellery. She also trained for two years at the Vancouver Metal Arts School for goldsmithing.

Sharifah’s jewellery design is based on Ojibway floral art and geometric beadwork. And her paintings are inspired by her life.

Sharifah’s intricate jewellery, beadwork, weaving, and painting is sold on her website and through galleries, like the Latimer Gallery in Vancouver. She has also been commissioned to create colourful murals depicting Indigenous life and culture, including “Healing Quilt” to honour the loved ones lost from opioid overdose, and “Unconditional Love” with the Vancouver Mural Festival.

Sharifah’s painting series “Anishinaabe Motherhood” tells the stories of motherhood and of being a woman. It reflects her Anishinaabe heritage, in a contemporary context, and it includes her own personal experiences.

On today’s episode Sharifah talks about her love of murals, how her indigenous culture influences both her jewellery and painting, as well as her new drum series. 

Interested in learning more about SHarifah’s work? Check out her website at www.sharifahmarsden.com

Find Sharifah on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/thunderbirdlady/ or https://www.instagram.com/artbysharifah/

Find me on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/artconversationswithlisajayne/ or at my website at www.lisajayneirvine.com

Since 2009, Chrissy Poitras and Kyle Topping have been hosting a vibrant community artist residency and printmaking studio in their rural Ontario farmhouse. Spark Box Studio has welcomed over 400 visiting artists from around the world who have come to find time and space away from their routines to focus on a variety of arts ranging from painting and poetry, to music and film.

Above all else, they view Spark Box as a resource by artists for artists. It's a place to create, research and grow. A place to learn, develop and explore. However artists, community members and visitors engage with them, the goal is to provide artists with the tools and connections to successfully share their vision with the world.

Both Chrissy and Kyle are graduates of the Queen’s University Bachelor of Fine Art Studio Program. Both are practicing artists working in painting and printmaking. Through their positions at Spark Box Studio, and as a former professor in the Art and Design Foundations Program at Loyalist College, Poitras and Topping have organized, developed and run courses on a variety of studio arts and arts management topics. They are highly involved in their artistic community and have built a career that is rooted in creation, community and public outreach.

On today’s episode Chrissy & Kyle talk about what it’s like running their residency program at Spark Box Studio, the challenges of the pandemic, community arts and their new YouTube projects. 

Interested in learning more about the projects Chrissy and Kyle discussed on the episode. Check out the links below:

1. The Art Discourse video series. In this series Chrissy & Kyle answer art questions that have been sent to them over the years (mostly art business related).  http://sparkboxstudio.com/artdiscourse/

2. Flat Files series. Also Chrissy & Kyle been hosting live Instagram studio visits with artists. https://sparkboxstudio.com/flatfiles/

3. Love Letter videos to past residents. This was Chrissy & Kyle’s first entry point into YouTube land which they had to pause for awhile because the time it was taking to create them was too much, but they’re hoping to bring them back in 2022. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpvuHJVnldV6HxcpiSNSt4_awj_HX-OLC

4. Artist Confessional, a series that looks behind the scenes as Chrissy and Kyle work through projects at the studio. So far they have made one episode for this and have footage for more but haven’t had the time to focus on it. So stay tuned! https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpvuHJVnldV5jULptsDmDe6SQDe_eOZW4

5. The Spark Box Gallery, If that wasn’t enough to keep them busy. Chrissy and Kyle have opened a small gallery in Bloomfield! If you’re in the Prince Edward County area, check it out. 

6. Virtual Emerging Artist Award and exhibited the work of the award winners (paying them each an honorarium). Here is information about that show here: https://sparkboxstudio.com/2021-emerging-artist-award/

Find me on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/artconversationswithlisajayne/ or at my website at www.lisajayneirvine.com

Andrew McPhail is a Canadian visual artist. He was born in Calgary Alberta in 1961 and studied at York University where he received his MFA in 1987. Living in Toronto in the 1980's and 90's his work focused primarily on drawing, often with pencil crayon on a polyester film called mylar. After moving to Hamilton in 2005, his interest shifted towards three dimensional work and performance. His accumulative, craft oriented work reconfigures ephemeral materials such as  Band Aids, Kleenex, pins, sequins and post-its into large sculptures and installations often with a performative element. He has exhibited nationally and internationally and in 2013 was the recipient of the Canada Council International Studio in Paris. He is also cofounder, with Stephen Altena, of the Hundred Dollar Gallery and a founding member of The Assembly in Hamilton, Ontario and in 2021 received the City of Hamilton Arts Award.

On today’s episode Andrew talks about how his sequins work came about during his Paris residency and his love of text. 

Interested in learning more about Andrew’s work? Check out his website at www.andrewmcphail.com

Find Andrew on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/andmcphail/

Find me on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/artconversationswithlisajayne/ or at my website at www.lisajayneirvine.com

Kim-Lee Kho is a Brampton-based multidisciplinary artist, and longtime designer, exploring personal experience as a gateway to broader human concerns. The bi-ethnic daughter of a scientist and an artist, Kim's process and interests combine both influences, in sometimes unexpected ways.

A member of The Red Head Gallery collective since 2018, she presented her second solo show of 2019 there, called Heartspace, a multimedia installation exploring the human heart as anatomical structure, emotional repository and vehicle for metaphor. Kim has participated nationally in exhibitions, residencies, and mentorships; and won awards including grants from the Ontario Arts Council.

A popular and experienced art educator, speaker, and juror, who, since the first COVID lockdown, has offered free bi-weekly Virtual Studio Parties on YouTube, she teaches: online; at the Haliburton School of Art + Design; and at the invitation of groups around southern Ontario.

On today’s episode Kim talks about her residency with Harold Klunder, her creative process, and how life-drawing and the human form inform her practice as an artist.

Interested in learning more about Kim-Lee’s work? Check out her website at www.kimleekho.ca

Find Kim-Lee on Instagram at  https://www.instagram.com/kimleekho/ or join Kim-Lee for one of her Art Parties on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF9Rx4KeSJi7gsAhF26-D3w 

Find me on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/artconversationswithlisajayne/ or at my website at www.lisajayneirvine.com

Joanne Poluch is a well-established art consultant in Southern Ontario. She holds an Honours Degree in Art History from the University of Guelph and a Diploma in Art Marketing from Sotheby’s Institute of Art in New York. Joanne enjoys a quick paced and multi-faceted business which includes working with private and corporate clients to source and sell art. In addition, she currently hosts 2 TV regional arts-based shows in the regions of Waterloo, Wellington and Perth counties.

On today’s episode Joanne talks about being an art consultant, working with her clients and her recent move to mentoring artists during the pandemic.

Interested in learning more about Joanne’s art consulting business. Check out her website at www.remarqueartconsulting.ca

Find Joanne on Instagram at  https://www.instagram.com/remarque_art_consulting/

Find me on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/artconversationswithlisajayne/ or at my website at www.lisajayneirvine.com

Annis has been the Executive Director of Visual Arts Mississauga since 2014. She holds a Masters of Fine Arts from Goddard College and a Masters of Education from OISE/University of Toronto. She has had an eclectic work life in small and medium size businesses and not-for-profits. Her early days were in theatre, she was Administrative Director of a summer theatre, and stage manager. She worked in literary arts as editor, proofreader and typesetter, she has worked as an administrator for an opera singer, an entertainment lawyer, a South African wine importer, as a church secretary, a kinder gym instructor. She has been a lifelong artist and arts lover. She works in photography and mixed media mostly. Annis has a love of dabbling in new mediums and new ideas. 

On today’s episode Annis talks about the importance of community in the arts, her role as Executive Director at Visual Arts Mississauga and her love of sunrises. 

Interested in learning more about Visual Arts Mississauga, go to their website at www.visualartsmississauga.com

Also find them on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/visualartsmississauga/

You can find Annis on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/annisrck/ 

Find me on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/artconversationswithlisajayne/ or at my website at www.lisajayneirvine.com