An Exhibition featuring RED
Martin Blank,
Dale Chihuly,
Laura Donefer,
Susan Edgerley,
Greg Fidler,
Irene Frolic
Jeff Holmwood,
Tanya Lyons,
Jeff Mack,
Markian Olynyk,
Marlene Rose,
Thomas Scoon,
Toots Zynsky

A chance meeting with Dale Chihuly in November 1988, crystallized into him opening my gallery in the Exchange Tower in May 1989. From the beginning, it was meant to be; initiating a 23-year professional collaboration and friendship that has enriched the Canadian art landscape. It has been my honour to present Chihuly's work and to mark every gallery milestone with him.
In September 1999, I opened an exhibition of his large-scale installations in the Exchange Tower on the eve of his Chihuly in the Light of Jerusalem exhibition in Israel.
I followed that with a spectacular gallery opening in the historic Distillery District in November 2002.
In June 2005, I was delighted to be one of the first galleries to exhibit Chihuly's new seriers of work, Mille Fiori, in the Distrillery Gallery.
And now with my latest gallery venture, partnering with Chihuly again, we unveil artwork bringing a new energy to my space at The Warehouse Gallery.

Blue Mille Fiori (Thousands of Flowers)

This spectacular glass garden was created originally for exhibition at the Musée Magnelli, Musée de la Ceramique. Dale Chihuly's exhibition at the museum Chihuly in Vallauris, Wonders in Glass in 2007 was a culmination of the many elements and forms he has worked with over the past 40 years of his stellar career .

Incorporating a multitude of media in his sculptures and wall pieces, Joseph Rossano is reflecting on our relationship with our natural environment. Having grown up spending time on the Catskills Mountains, Rossano draws inspiration from both historical and natural sources. The fragile, glass animals, perched up against a black and white landscape on a cedar background, are suggestive of the growing need for society to guard the wilderness and subsequently prevent both ours and the environment's disappearance. As a master glassworker and woodworker, Rossano has created pieces that are nostalgic for fading traditional craft and tools. The duality of juxtaposing these crafts with photography into a cohesive whole is symbolic of society's connection with the natural world. Under our present conditions, Rossano is creating awareness of our heightening codependence with nature. "Everything White" focuses on the polar bear and its glacial surroundings- and simultaneously refers to the consequences of nature's continued exploitation.

Artist will be in attendance.

Sandra Ainsley Gallery proudly presents a solo exhibition featuring sculpture and photography by New Brunswick artist, Peter Powning.

Winner of the 2006 Saidye Bronfman Award (now a Governor General Award), Canada's foremost distinction for excellence in the fine crafts, Powning is an internationally-renowned artist in full stride.

Using a range of materials for his work, Powning presents a cohesive exhibition of large-scale outdoor sculpture and pedestal-sized pieces in bronze, stone, glass and steel complemented by his sensuous photographic "Waterbook" series.

Powning juxtaposes raw and industrial materials with glass, creating a discourse of strength and fragility in his work. Furthermore, by placing his sculptures outdoors, Powning has added a complexity and richness to the sculpture that time and sitting improve upon. His work becomes artifacts that evolve and withstand.

The "Waterbook" photographic series once again suggests the force of the natural elements. Using books as his subjects, Powning depicts the delicate pages submerged in water, or burnt so slightly as to keep the form intact. He then captures the fleeting beauty of the books' destruction.

Sandra Ainsley Gallery presents an exhibition featuring two internationally recognized artists: Jon Kuhn and Paul Stankard.

Through a painstaking process of cutting, grinding, and polishing glass, Jon Kuhn creates highly integrated sculptures suspended in optical glass. The result is an awe-inspiring diamond-like quality that reflects and refracts surrounding light.

Paul Stankard is best known for creating impossibly life-like depictions of flora and fauna encased within crystal. Transforming the traditional paperweight, Stankard's forms contain tiny insects, blossoming flowers, and out-stretched branches with a realism that deceives the eye.

Together, Kuhn and Stankard will be showing new and exciting bodies of work exemplifying their craftsmanship and the beauty produced by their fascinating techniques. The centerpiece of the exhibition will be a collaborative piece that reveals the true talent and expertise of these masters of their craft.

Sandra Ainsley Gallery is proud to showcase the conceptual installations of Montreal artist, Tanya Lyons. Lyons combines natural and found objects with clear glass elements to create compositions that resonate with meaning and reflect on moments in time. This exhibition of her latest work, which ranges from small hand-held objects to large indoor and outdoor sculptures, allows for an intimate look at the artistry and notions embedded in her craft.

…to Survive is a reflection of society, the state of our minds and our quality of living, forming a personal comment on the material objects and immaterial ideologies that make up our existence.

I have created a variety of freestanding sculptural forms and hanging, wall mounted installations representing an introspective look at societal possessions and the alternative necessities for survival.

-Tanya Lyons

Sandra Ainsley Gallery is proud to exhibit the unique work of internationally renowned Japanese artist Hiroshi Yamano.

Yamano received his education attending such prestigious schools as the California College of Arts and Crafts and the Tokyo Glass Art Institute in the mid-1980s. He then went on to instruct at the Pilchuck Glass School in Washington State and the Grand Crystal Museum in Taipei.

The artist is best know for his life-like fish, which are draped and suspended over colourful and fluid blown bowls and discreet metal hangers. Upon closer inspection, entire schools can be found etched on the vessels, swimming with their glass counterparts and adding further depth to each work. Yamano's technique and style gives full meaning to his latest grouping of works entited Nagare, which means flow or current in Japanese.

On Sunday November 11, 2007 Yamano will be demonstrating his skills at Harbourfront Centre.

Sandra Ainsley Gallery is proud to exhibit the distinguished work of ten internationally recognized Czech artists working in glass.

A Glass Opera – in Three Acts

For some time now our work has run in multiple directions. We have always remained consistently devoted to a classical "vessel" form, using this object as our primary source for exploring colour, cut, pattern, shape and subtleties of light. Twelve years ago, we began experimenting with the vessels - pulling them, stretching them, bending them and playing with their linear motion. From this was born our "guardian" and "courtesan" standing pieces.

Three years ago we embarked on a whole new body of work, the "Circus of Spheres", based on the simplest and most ubiquitous of universal forms; the sphere. Combined and strung like pearls on undulating metal strands, this process allows us to explore glass as free-form sculpture. We are neither limited by size or shape and remain reverentially associated with all that we know and love in glass. Whether blown hot or cut cold, it can be combined into stories, ideas, and themes from the world around us.

The line from a simple vessel to a piece like "The Gateway" traces a journey, with a kind of musical score - an operatic story of our two lives in glass. There are high notes and high drama - a true theatrical ambiance - with dialogue, laughter, surprise and spectacle. The opening of this exhibition will mark twenty-five years and four days since we began blowing glass in our own studio. It's a celebratory moment, and we are delighted to make this celebration in Toronto with our dear friend Sandra Ainsley.

Alex Gabriel Bernstein's work is a bold and refreshing exploration of visual form and story telling. Bernstein skillfully combines metaphor through the impact and optical quality of glass. His powerful cast and cut sculpture applied with fused steel is deliberately ambiguous and aims to trigger our thoughts to nature on both a macro and micro scale. Abstracted yet representational, his work evokes myriad textures and surfaces, from jagged canyons to rippling water.

For this exhibition, Bernstein aims to unite two distinct themes into a single body of work. The first topic explores the energy of growth and expansion within the natural world. The emphasized verticality of the pieces highlight the theme of growth and gives his work an active quality. The second theme is more introspective. He has deliberately incorporated colourful passageways throughout the heavily carved works. Bernstein invites the viewer to 'journey' through the space of his sculpture and discover the cavernous depth of its material.

Katherine Bernstein will exhibit six sculptures alongside her son, Alex. Katherine has been a glass artist for over thirty years and works closely with her husband, William Bernstein. For this exhibition, Katherine and Alex have combined their talents to produce a piece of art that showcases their distinct styles.

The Sandra Ainsley Gallery is delighted to present new works by glass artist, Beth Lipman.

Comprised of clear, hand-sculpted glass, this evocative show offers a refreshing and contemporary spin on the tradition of vanitas ("still life") painting popularized by Dutch Baroque artists during the 17th - 18th centuries.

While the still lifes of old depict objects in the round within a two-dimensional space, the vitreous fruit, animals and miscellaneous items of Lipman's still lifes are tantalizingly three-dimensional. What was consumed by the eye is now a water-filled goblet ready to be sipped. And yet, tangibility remains out of reach. Colourless and inorganic, the still life persists as an illusion. Sight is superceded by touch as the object is distilled to its essence of form and shadow.

Accompanying Lipman's glass still lifes are a series of chromogenic reproductions of the sculptures themselves. After constructing the physical objects, photographs are taken of each piece. These images are subsequently scaled to the objects' actual size. The glass is then either destroyed or recycled. The object is once again defined by the image as the glass becomes inaccessible and unattainable.

The Sandra Ainsley Gallery invites you to attend the exhibition as it promises to delight, bemuse and inspire.

June 8 - August 12, 2006

Sandra Ainsley Gallery is pleased to present the award winning work of international glass artist Peter Powning.

"My work is meant to have the feel of the artifact. An emotional artifact made solid. A cultural artifact from some future or past, that is reconstructed or guessed at."

Since 1970, Peter Powning has lived and worked as an artist in the hills of southern New Brunswick. Powning's remarkable work is imbued with qualities distilled from a life lived close to the silence, space and seasonal rhythms of his home, the fields, forests and shorelines of Canada's east coast. Powning works in mixed media, including bronze, stone, raku clay, glass, and various metals.

Saturday May 11 – June 10, 2006

Opening Reception Thursday 11 May, 2006

From 6:30 – 8:30

Sandra Ainsley Gallery is proud to exhibit the renowned work of international glass artist Latchezar Boyadjiev.

Known for large-scale cast glass sculpture in dramatic shapes and vibrant colour, Latchezar commands global attention with his bold cutting-edge design. His inspired creations are cast in the Czech Republic where he is able to select the most precise glass colour and desired consistency. Latchezar then sandblasts and completes each piece at his California studio. Latchezar's sculpture can be found in private and public collections around the world, including Eastern Europe, South America, and throughout North America.

"twelve hundred degrees" is an exciting exhibition of glass work from the graduates of Canada's preeminent glass program at Sheridan College. The show boasts a broad range of technical applications including blowing, kilnworking, hot casting, flameworking and coldworking. From the functional to the sculptural, the students' works demonstrate superior skill, diverse aesthetic styles and a dedication to the material of glass.

For almost 40 years Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario has been nurturing artists in the disciplines of glass, clay, fibre, and wood. Sheridan's program is hailed as one of Canada's finest for Craft and Design, and many of its alumni have achieved national and international prominance.

Located in the Historic Distillery District, Sandra Ainsley Gallery represents the works of major contemporary Canadian, American and Internationally recognized artists working in glass and mixed media. Sandra Ainsley has focused on building enduring relationships with a world-class roster of artists, while continuing to search out and develop some of the very best emerging talent.

Exhibiting Artists: Beth Bennett, Nicholas Chase, Marcia Christie, Kasia Czarnota, Cheryl Dunsmore, Tara Gilchrist, Julia Hillyer, Izik Levy, Meg MacKenzie, Einav Mekori, John Raynard, Andrea Ripley, Daniel Sullivan, Paula Vandermey, Mariel Waddell, David Williamson.

Also opening on May 4 in the Distillery are the graduate shows for: Furniture at fluid living; Ceramics at distill and Textiles at Arta Gallery.

April 8, 2006 - May 20, 2006

Artist Lecture:
Saturday April 08, 2006 at 5:00 pm

Reception:
Saturday April 08, 2006 from 6:30 - 8:30 pm

Sandra Ainsley Gallery is pleased to announce two concurrent exhibitions with internationally renowned glass masters, Jon Kuhn and Paul Stankard.

Jon Kuhn will showcase his most recent work. On exhibit will be his signature diamond-cut glass cubes, circle forms, and crystal optic table. Jon Kuhn's work can also be seen at the National Museum of American Art, Washington, Musee Des Arts Decoratifs, Switzerland, and Museo Del Vidrio, Mexico.

Paul Stankard will exhibit the newest in his series of floral paperweights. With organic interiors meticulously created in glass, these pieces are an intricate marvel. The Palais du Louvre, Paris, Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Japan, and The Art Institute of Chicago are just a few of the numerous places Paul Stankard's work can be found.

Both the works of Jon Kuhn and Paul Stankard can be found in The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Royal Ontario Museum, in addition to being in private and permanent collections across the Americas, Asia, and Europe.

April 8, 2006 - May 20, 2006
Homage to Nature: Flowers Interpreted in Glass

Artist Lecture:
Saturday April 08, 2006 at 5:00pm

Reception:
Saturday April 08, 2006 from 6:30-8:30

HONEYBEES

By Paul J. Stankard

Thursday March 9, 2006 - Monday, April 24, 2006

Sandra Ainsley Gallery is pleased to announce an exciting exhibition of new work by Seattle-based artist Martin Blank. The opening event will take place on Thursday March 9, 2006 from 6:30pm-9:00pm. During the event, Martin Blank will perform a drawing demonstration using life models as inspiration. This is a unique opportunity to view the artist within the creative process.

Blank has admired the grace and flow of human form since childhood, digging into clay at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts at age 13. After earning a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1984, under the tutelage of Richard Harned, Blank trained with Dale Chihuly. There, he earned a place as an integral part of that team for 11 years before opening his own studio.

For this exhibition Martin Blank presents his latest series, 'Mirroring Abstract Forms'. This body of work uncovers Blank's personal evolution from the basic study of form and motion to a sensual dance with textures, shapes and energy that reflect the subtle, yet powerful resonance of human landscapes. Blank is quickly emerging as one of America's most significant figurative sculptors and his work is exhibited in museums and personal collections worldwide.

"I would call myself an intuitive artist rather than a conceptual one. I work on the way forms relate to each other to cut a line in space that flows, turns and carries the eye around the piece."

Blank's work is on display in galleries throughout the United States and featured in international exhibitions including the Millennium Museum in Beijing, China, the Shanghai Museum of Fine Art and the American Embassy in Slovakia. In 2001 he created the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation "Access to Learning Award" for the recipients in Finland, Argentina, and Guatemala. In July of 2003, Honolulu Academy of Art acquired a Martin Blank sculpture for their permanent collection.
For further information, please contact the gallery.

Sandra Ainsley Gallery celebrates its third anniversary in the Distillery Historic District with the Canadian premiere of Mille Fiori, an exhibition of new work by renowned U.S. glass artist Dale Chihuly. The exhibition will also highlight baskets and seaforms dating back to 1978 from Chihuly's personal collection.

Mille Fiori, Italian for 'a thousand flowers', is inspired by the organic shapes of exotic flora. The exhibition features four individual fiori, three larger fiori platforms, a chandelier, drawing wall and numerous small and medium sized setworks, resulting in a glass garden of bold and unexpected forms that are rich and vibrant in colour. This exhibition revisits and refines many of the forms and techniques that have appeared throughout Chihuly's career. These styles have been used in his outdoor exhibitions in Finland, Venice, Jerusalem and in Chicago's Garfield Conservatory. Combined with exciting new elements, he has created spectacular installations that are described as true gardens of glass. Mille Fiori was initially exhibited at the Tacoma Museum in Washington state and the Marlborough Gallery in New York.

Chihuly's work is included in more than 200 museum collections worldwide including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Palais du Louvre, Paris, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning.

Sandra Ainsley Gallery presents new work by American artist Bennett Bean. Porcelain and encaustic paintings, Tibetan-inspired rugs and Bean's signature decorative ceramic vessels will be displayed in the gallery.

The central core of Bennett Bean's work is ceramic vessels, which are richly coloured in acrylic paint and embellished with gold and transparent glazes. Bean's 'new wing series' shows his latest explorations in this form and experimentation with the application of new decorative patterns.

Bennett Bean's new rugs blend elements of contemporary imagery with ancient knotting techniques. His porcelain and encaustic paintings use Chinese paper offerings, which were designed to be burned at graves in order to provide on'e ancestors with items they might need in the afterlife (such as paper replicas of money, clothes and cars.)

Bennett Bean's work is displayed in numerous permanent collections such as, the Whitney Museum, New York, the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Bean has had solo-exhibitions at the Jewish Museum, San Francisco, The White House Collection of American Crafts, Washington, the Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio and the National Museum of Ceramic Art, Baltimore.

Please contact the gallery for further information.

As an artist I manipulate form and content through my work, drawing inspiration from both historical and natural sources. My most recent works combine ancient Douglas Fir or Western Red Cedar with sculpted glass, found objects and photography created using antique camera equipment. Throught the combination of these varied media, I seek to express the ephemeral and sometimes fragmented quality of our human experience and our relationship to the natural world.

My iconography is inspired by my experiences within nature which began with childhood visits to my uncle's farm in the Catskills Mountains. Objects relating to activities such as beekeeping and water witching reflect my nostalgia for the fading traditions and crafts I first experienced as a child. For the last dozen years I have lived in the pacific north west and have developed an affinity for the rugged beauty of its temperate rainforests including its world-class trout rivers. The waning arts arts of fly tying and bamboo rod making are two crafts I practice which also play an important role in my visual art. Additionally, handcrafting tools help me feel a connection with the natural world and develop a sense of place within the landscape. In this way the images and objects within my compositions reflect both a personal sense of creation and a longing for a time when a connection with nature was more a part of our daily existence and industry of survival.

Throughout my artistic life, I have been fortunate to work closely with highly accomplished artists including William Morris, Dale Chihuly and Dan Dailey. Each of these individuals has contributed something to my technical development and appreciation for the formal elements of art making. Most recently I have operated in a creative position with Waterford Crystal to infuse new artistic sensibilities into their traditional forms and techniques of glass-blowing and cold working. As with any collaborative process my aesthetic sensibilities are consequently inspired by my appreciation for the artistry and its focus on visual clarity and elegant formal properties.

Sandra Ainsley Gallery is pleased to announce a special showing of new work by Americn artists William Carlson and Steven Weinberg and French artist, Antoine Leperlier. Carlson exhibits his wall pieces, while Leperlier and Weinberg display pedestal pieces.

Carlson's wall pieces consist of small glass and metal elements that are grouped together to create a larger form. His sculptures show concern for issues such as interior space, geometry, texture and colour.

Antoine Leperlier explores themes of memory in his pate de verre sculptures. For Leperlier, glass is a substance of memory and he inscribes words into his sculptures, which are linked to the idea that an object can contain a memory within it.

For Steven Weinberg art has always been about gaining control over his environment. He finds peace in the process of making art juxtaposed with the uncertainty of everyday living. His cast glass sculptures often assume the shape of vessels, reflecting Weinberg's life by the sea.

Alex Gabriel Bernstein grew up amidst the American Studio Glass movement - both his parents are established glass sculptors and instructors.  However, Bernstein was always encouraged to diversify his interests outside of art.  As a result of his fascination with the human condition he studied psychology at university and later worked in a children's psychiatric hospital.  Bernstein continued working in a glass studio and in 2001 he completed his MFA in glass sculpture from the school of American Crafts at the Rochester Institute of Technology.  Bernstein still explores his interest in psychology and human emotion through his sculpture.  He believes that art captures individual perspectives and is a personal form of communication.

Bernstein has experimented with almost every type of glass making technique.  The works on display at Sandra Ainsley Gallery are primarily bullseye and cast glas that is cut and carved.  Rusty steel is often used to add an additional layer of surface texture and intertwine with the colour of the glass.

Bernstein uses the metaphor of a poet to explain his work.  "A poet does not write the same poems, but they might use some of the same vocabulary in different poems.  This is true with my sculpture.  With every piece I make, I try to create something new and different, keeping some techniques constant yet still exploring other variables.  I have developed a distinctive stye - my work looks like "my work" but I am still pushing and changing it in hopes of keeping it fresh, new and interesting."  This constant re-examination of his own work has made Alex one of the most significant sculptors of the next generation of glass artists.