Born in 1969, I grew up in Pickering, Ontario, spending much of my childhood outdoors camping, skiing, fishing, gardening, exploring, and playing a variety of sports. In 1988, I moved to London, Ontario, to study Fine Arts at the University of Western Ontario, where I was privileged to receive instruction and mentoring from many nationally recognized artists such as Duncan De Kergommeaux, Sheila Butler, Wyn Geleynse, Colette Urban, Kim Moodie, Barbara Fischer and Helmut Becker. After schooling, I chose to remain in London and become an active member of its vibrant artistic community as an artist, arts writer (Scene Magazine), and arts administrator (Forest City Gallery, London Arts Council). Upon meeting my mother's birth mother; a painter residing near Syracuse, New York, I relinquished my arts administrative roles to become more focused on my own work, and so in 1992, along with Beth Stewart, opened up a co-op gallery in the Covent Garden Market called Axis Studios to facilitate my own creative production as well as assist other emerging London artists sell and showcase their work. In 2006, I attended Althouse College to attend Teacher's College and went on to complete my Visual Arts Specialist qualifications in 2009. For the last three years I taught visual and language arts at Matthews Hall Independent School, located in London, Ontario. With my recent move to Barrie, Ontario, I opened up my own studio in the downtown core. You will be able to find me working hard producing works for a series of shows slated for the 2011 exhibition year. I will also be showcasing work by other Ontario artists during the upcoming season as well as offering art instruction, workshops, consultation and mentoring services as the year progresses. Although my current work visually celebrates Canada's landscape tradition, it also explores the post contemporary realities of our global community. My mixed media / collage approach works to create portraits of our culture in that I combine recognizable iconography, text, maps, and local imagery of places, people and things to deliver a symbolic form of storytelling. With environmental issues being prevalent within my work, I am often attempting to communicate how nature and its’ power are being mapped and engineered by humankind, leaving no land untouched from technology, politics, media, and violence. Jill Price Studios 117 Lakeshore Mews, Barrie, Ontario 705-229-5211, jp@jillpricestudios.ca

When: Saturday February 4, 2012
Featured Artist: JILL PRICE
Jill Price
Open House
Sunday Feb 5 from 1 to 3
Continuing on with her series of "Fabricated Landscapes" recently shown at Double Door Gallery in Antem Mills, Ontario Jill Price will feature 5 new works that examine our rapidly changing landscapes.
These new pieces are in response to Barrie adjusting it's southern boundary to include 2,293 hectares of land currently in the Town of Innisfil, as well as Price's observation of undeveloped pockets of land nestled within our city limits that point to our rural beginnings.
Currently living two streets away from farmland, Price finds herself on the edge of suburban sprawl, something she has coined "RURBIA". Photo based these mixed media works visually investigate how our culture simultaneously mimics and destroys nature through its industrious design and development.

When: Wednesday February 1, 2012
Featured Artist: VICTORIA POTTER
Morningwhispers
Victoria Potter
Open House Sunday Feb 5th 1 to 3 pm
A Canadian Abstract Expressionism Artist.
Morningwhispers has had a great passion for art as early as a young teen.
Moringwhispers is driven by touching cultural, spiritual, economical, global and humanitarian issues.
She paints with her heart and soul and with strong conviction with hopes of reaching a wided audience on the importance of being equal and global awareness.
Morningwhispers has been in the public eye from 2007 and now has a wide interest in her unique art each one conveying an important message.
Morningwhispers uses a wide array of colours and media, and uses many recycled materials to encourage the longevity of our planet.
When: Wednesday February 1, 2012
Featured Artist: MASTERPIECES REVISITED
Members' Show
" Masterpieces Revisited"
Open House Sunday February 5th from 1 to 3
February 2012 Calendar of Events & Shows