My recycled plastic wall installation, “Shea’s Victoria XXIV”, was on view at Galerie Borchardt and BAID Architektur in Hamburg, Germany. Due to popular demand, the BAU KUNST! group show was extended until April 2024.

Significantly, Jan Kage from Berlin curated the eight-artist show as part of Hamburg’s Architektursommer 2023. The festival promoted the collaboration between artists and architects. You can see more detailed images of the installation on my webpage here. As I have noted, my installation comprised hundreds of recycled plastic vacuum-form packages and cardboard.

Wall installation

My 9-by-6-foot wall installation comprised hundreds of discarded plastic vacuum-form packages and cardboard collected by me and my local community. I aimed to inspire social awareness about sustainable art practices.

Paintings also on view

The gallery showed four of my recent acrylic paintings from my Blueprint series. Here are my paintings “in situ” on location in the architectural offices of BAID Artchitektur.

Gallery view with “Shea’s Victoria XIII (lines)” 2021 acrylic on board 20 x 16 inches. Price: Euros 2500.

Architecture office view with (left) “Shea’s Victoria XIV (water)” 2021 acrylic on board 24 x 30 inches. Price: Euros 3900 and (right) “Shea’s Victoria XVI (yellow)” 2021 acrylic on board 24 x 30 inches. Price: Euros 3900.

Architecture office view with “Shea’s Victoria XXII (red)” 2021 acrylic on board 20 x 16 inches. Price: Euros 2500.

Contact me for more information about these paintings, which relate to my public artwork, “Shea’s Victoria”, in downtown Toronto.

Exhibition newspaper as a PDF

A PDF of the newspaper created by Galerie Borchardt and BAID Architektur is available below. It is written in German.

BAU KUNST! exhibition

My recyclable plastic wall installation, “Shea’s Victoria XXIV”, is on view at Galerie Borchardt and BAID Architektur in Hamburg, Germany. Significantly, Jan Kage from Berlin curated the eight-artist show as part of Hamburg’s Architektursommer 2023. The festival promotes the collaboration between artists and architects. You can see more detailed images of the installation on my webpage here. As I have noted, my installation comprises hundreds of recycled plastic vacuum-form packages and cardboard.

Studio work in progress

I created “Shea’s Victoria XXIV” in my studio, working with recyclable plastic, which the local Toronto community and I collected. Afterwards, I dismantled it into six separate panels and shipped it to the gallery in Hamburg.

Paintings also on view

The gallery is showing four of my recent acrylic paintings from my Blueprint series. Contact me for more details about these paintings, which relate to my public artwork, “Shea’s Victoria”, in downtown Toronto.

To help tell the story, here are some photos from the event.

Photos from the event

Curator Jan Kage (crouching down because he is so tall!), myself, and gallery owner, Peter Borchardt.

As the evening started, Isabel Hueppe and I posed in front of the recycled plastic wall installation.

Later on, Julia and Rik Reinking dropped by from Woods Art Institute (WAI). Unquestionably, this dynamic duo run one of the most impressive private art centres I have ever visited. In addition, Rik Reinking is among the most knowledgeable and forward-thinking art collectors in the world. He fosters an inspirational place with his multi-talented wife, Julia, both of whom I am honoured to call my friends. The WAI private collection allows deep contemplation about culture and humankind.

On opening night, our good friend, Isabel Hueppe, myself, and my husband, Clemens Sels, finally relaxed with a refreshing drink.

Exhibition newspaper as a PDF

A PDF of the newspaper created by Galerie Borchardt and BAID Architektur is available below. It is written in German.

MAKING WAVES silent art auction + exhibition in support of clean water

The event took place in June at Receiving Door No. 1 in Toronto.

Making Waves

MAKING WAVES art auction and exhibition supported Water First initiatives, dedicated to championing clean drinking water in Indigenous communities in Canada. The organization accomplishes this through education, training, and meaningful collaboration. Proceeds from the auction were donated to Water First.

Twelve accomplished Canadian artists

Twelve accomplished Canadian artists created unique works of art on beautifully crafted NORQUAY canoe paddles made sustainably from FCS-certified cherry wood. These paddles are meticulously hand-painted, signed by each artist, and offered in the silent art auction. The featured artists include Shelley Adler, Matt Bahen, Benny Bing, Steve Driscoll, Joe Fleming, Rhys Farrell, Graham Gillmore, Katharine Harvey, Rob Nicholls, Anders Oinonen, Pascal Paquette, and Stanzie Tooth. The paddles are exhibited at Receiving Door No. 1 in the Stockyards district of Toronto.

My design

I based my paddle design on my recent painting series Blueprint which in turn is based on my recent public artwork, Shea’s Victoria. The large hand-painted windows are located at 25 Richmond Street East in downtown Toronto. Shea’s Victoria Theatre once stood on this site – a Beaux-Arts vaudeville playhouse designed in 1908. My paintings take their inspiration from the theatre’s blueprints. I capture fragments of century-old motifs and liquefy them into a riot of curving shapes and colour-saturated lines. These flourishes provide a jumping-off point to reference Toronto’s built history.

Paddle sold to the highest bidder!

A private collector in Toronto bought my paddle. Swipe through the photos to see my paddle hung “in situ” in the art collector’s home.

Origins

Canadian artist Joe Fleming and Greg and Steve Rodriguez, owners of The Bait Shop, initiated the Making Waves art auction. I extend my gratitude to the other artists and the sponsors — NORQUAY, Receiving Door No. 1, Legs Florentine, General Hardware, Ice ASAP, Ace Hill, and Kings Lock — for their outstanding collaboration and support.

Water First

Water First Charitable Registration No: 83852 5269 RR0001 www.waterfirst.ngo

Drone Show

Free Event

On November 12th, 2022, Northcrest welcomed the community to the Downsview Airport Lands. The free evening of illuminated wonder showcased my drone show, “Turning In The Light”. In addition, the event offered complimentary hot beverages, DJ Elegance music, and Shadowland Theatre Company entertainment.

Northcrest Developments

“The Downsview Airport Lands are poised to become Toronto’s next destination for innovation, jobs, and vibrant public spaces. Furthermore, Northcrest was thrilled to welcome back the people of Toronto for Canada’s largest artistic drone show to date,” said Mitchell Marcus, Executive Director, Site Activation & Programming at Northcrest Developments. “Significantly, the event attracted many families plus tech and cultural enthusiasts to this free event at the normally restricted airport lands. We lit up the sky with a breathtaking display of aerial art!”

Mystery of the Cosmos

“Turning in the Light” is a twelve-minute drone light show with 108 independent drones enacting eight scenes in the sky, some based on my recent paintings. I explore the mystery of the cosmos as interpreted by architectural space. Using their expert vision, Northstar Drone Shows programmed the flight paths of the drones to paint each artistic image in the sky. For those unfamiliar with this technology, imagine fireworks set to music without loud explosions, air, or noise pollution. Afterwards, we welcomed the public to see the drone field up close and talk to the flight crew. An Ontario Arts Council grant partially funded the artist’s creation.

A dream comes to fruition

“I was so excited that my dream of painting magic in the sky came to fruition after two and a half years,” says Katharine Harvey. “Aerial cinematographers, Hexwing of Montreal, captured the show. Afterwards, I created a short film for the public and will create a series of paintings based on it.”

Northcrest Developments presents “Light Up Downsview” as part of an ongoing free cultural series. For more information, please visit www.northcrestdev.com/whats-on.

About Northcrest Developments

Northcrest Developments is a Toronto-based real estate developer leading the planning and redevelopment of the Downsview Airport Lands. Northcrest is wholly owned by the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments), one of Canada’s largest pension fund managers, which manages funds for the Public Service of Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canadian Armed Forces, and the Reserve Force.

About Luminato Festival Toronto

Luminato Festival Toronto is a convenor and catalyst for significant, bold contemporary works of art. Each June, Luminato kicks off the summer with a festival to welcome the world to Toronto, presenting, producing, and commissioning exceptional Canadian and international artists. Throughout the year, Luminato works with artists from the diverse cultures and communities of the city region, supporting creative development and bringing their art to the world stage. We connect local voices with global conversations and ground our work in equity, inclusion, accessibility, and sustainability. Most importantly, we believe in the power of art to start conversations and inspire audiences.

About North York Arts

North York Arts (NYA) is one of six Local Arts Service Organizations (LASOs) in Toronto whose purpose is to deliver on the City’s social, economic, and cultural goals outside of the downtown core. NYA addresses the needs and interests of artists, arts organizations and residents in North York.

This year, 406 entrants from around the world submitted their public artworks.

CODAworx, based in the U.S.A., is an online community for artists, design professionals, and industry resources. The community can showcase their work, collaborate with one another, and find the creative resources they need for future projects.

“Florae” consists of two large-scale ceramic mosaics and one colour digital print. The art glass appears on the windows above the station’s main entrance. The mosaics show the innovative use of hand-glazed ceramic tiles. These stationary wall works have a sense of movement and wind blowing seeds into the sky. Realistic depictions combine playfully with abstract interventions. This technique pushes the mosaic medium in a new direction. The architecturally integrated art glass appears above the entrance. The super enlargement of flowers expands into clouds and heavenly bodies. Mosaika of Montreal (Quebec) fabricated the mosaics, and Pulp Studio (California) produced the PIX imaging art glass.

Doors Open Toronto features the 6-minute film, “Shea’s Victoria”, as a virtual experience (scroll down the page to “Shea’s Victoria”). Sarah Keenlyside created the film at inkblot media: https://vimeo.com/inkblot.

Great Gulf commissioned me to create a series of large-scale lightboxes. Their condominium development is located at 25 Richmond Street East in downtown Toronto. Renowned glass and mosaic studio Mayer of Munich fabricated my designs. Three areas of the building feature 420 square feet of hand-painted float glass. Three panes of glass, arranged inches apart in depth, appear to move when the viewer walks past the art. The glass designs recall the elaborately decorated Beaux-Arts theatre, which stood on this site from 1910 to 1956.

You can also watch my film HERE. It is an intriguing short film about the conception, creation, and installation of the public artwork, “Shea’s Victoria”.

The public can view the glass artworks 24 hours a day at 25 Richmond Street East at Victoria Street in downtown Toronto.

I searched for original blueprints at the City of Toronto Archives. I found drawings dated 1909 from the elaborately decorated interior of the vaudeville theatre. The art glass drawing above the ticket wicket depicts a harp and laurel motif. The symbol, dating back to Ancient Greece, denotes an entertainment theme.

Around the corner on Yonge Street stands the historic Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre. The Ontario Heritage Trust oversaw the restorations of the Centre in recent years. Its interior features the same rich Beaux-Arts ornamentation that would have been found inside Shea’s Victoria Theatre. The stained glass windows above the main doors reveal the same harp and laurel symbol I found in the historical blueprints.

A podcast about public artists in Canada. Access Episode 105: HERE or search for “Art in the Open” or wherever you get your podcasts.

ART IN THE OPEN

From Shelley Miller’s studio: “Toronto-based artist Katharine Harvey joins me via Zoom to share her experiences creating public art, both permanent and ephemeral. She has worked on percent-for-art programs and with private developers and public art consultants. She shares her inspiration, her motivation to initiate a mentoring partnership, and lessons she has learned along the way.”

SHELLEY MILLER

Shelley Miller is a Montreal-based artist who works both in public spaces and with the public. She has created permanent commission artworks and ephemeral sugar murals and community engagement projects. Working with sugar as a medium for nearly 18 years, she uses it to address ideas of taste, desire, consumer culture, excess and greed. Her work with sugar evolved to include murals that address the not-so-sweet history of sugar and its roots in slavery and colonization. She continues to use sugar as a material for its richness in cultural meaning, addressing systems of power and corruption.

Rooted in feminist art practices, Shelley is always looking for ways to give women a bold visual voice in public spaces. She often subverts decorative craft practices traditionally associated with women. Sugar is off the cake, and quilts are out of the house, instead being prominently displayed on city walls. Shelley has created permanent artworks within the healthcare, education, and transportation systems, as well as for private corporations. The artist’s working process is one of inclusion and collaboration. She always considers her audience and the users of a particular space.

http://www.shelleymillerstudio.com/

INTERVIEWS

In this podcast about public artists in Canada, Shelley interviews Peter Gibson (AKA: Roadsworth) and Philippe Allard, as well as co-owner of m3beton, Claudia Croteau, who, with her brother, runs a specialized concrete company in Montreal that creates unique urban design products, and Melissa Proietti, the backbone of Montreal’s Under Pressure Grafitti Festival that has been running for 26 years.