Gallery 78’s latest exhibition series features paintings by Cliff Turner and Amber Young, and work by five metalsmiths alongside new additions by Colin Smith, Ann Fillmore and several others.
Matt Carter
Gallery 78 knows how to celebrate the spring season. This week welcomes new exhibitions in painting and metal works representing some of the region’s finest in their fields.
Leading this month’s new work is the exhibition Near/Far exploring New Brunswick’s natural beauty as captured by painters Cliff Turner and Amber Young. Turner, originally from South Africa, moved to Canada when he was nine. He obtained a degree in Fine Art from the University of Toronto and currently resides in Saint John where he devotes most of his time to his craft.
Amber Young holds a fine arts degree from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design with a focus on painting. She lives in Hampton and teaches art at Saint John High School.
“My work grows out of nature,” says Young. “Issues of simplicity, complexity and emotional response to the environment are the underpinnings. Painting for me is about the present moment. Experiencing, noticing, processing clearly and with feeling my direct experiences. The intention behind my work is not to create realistic representations of nature but to capture what it feels like to be part of nature, from within. Presence, connection, immediacy, and calm.”
Interpreting nature through their own unique approaches to colour and composition, Near/Far finds compliment and contrast in the work of these two New Brunswick based artists.
Brooches, pins, and sculptural works define the gallery’s second major exhibit of the month. Pinned features work by Kristen Bishop, Kristyn Cooper, Brigitte Clavette, Audrée Hamelin-St. Amour, and Erica Stanley, who together form the Metal Six Collective. The pieces in this exhibition tackle questions related to our footprint on the environment, on how value is developed, and how beauty can be found in simplicity.
Whether drawing inspiration from walks through the woods or along seaside beaches, or memories associated with time spent surrounded by nature’s all-encompassing splendor, the works featured in Pinned challenge us to take notice of shape and colour in new and exciting ways.
New works by Colin Smith, Ann Fillmore, Scott Jackson, and Newfoundland’s Charlotte Jones round out what’s new this month at Gallery 78.
The public is invited to drop by the gallery on Friday May 12 between 5-7 p.m. for the official opening of these new exhibitions, or visit online anytime at gallery78.com
And just as a reminder, NBCCD’s Jewellery/Metal Arts program’s end-of-year exhibition, Sterling, is still on display in-person at the residence of the Lieutenant Governor at 51 Woodstock Road, where it will run until June 2.
