Tag Archives: art

“Truth” comes to Gananoque via the O’Connor Gallery

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The painting “Truth” by Jan Traversy, which measures 6 feet by eight feet, will be on display at the O’Connor Gallery in Gananoque until the New Year. Lorraine Payette

(Gananoque, ON – November 24, 2025) “Truth” has come to Gananoque in a very big way at the O’Connor gallery. The black and white painting by Jan Traversy measures 6 feet by 8 feet in size and depicts a scene from her imagination that brings home all the horrors of the war in Gaza and especially the deprivation experienced by the children there.

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Before the Summer Art Show and Sale coming to Gananoque

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Painters (l-r) Rosalyn Insley and Valerie Spence-Hounsell brought a selection of landscapes to the Before the Summer Collectible Art Show and Sale held at the Firehall Theatre in Gananoque in 2024. Lorraine Payette/for Postmedia Network

Martha Stroud of the Before the Summer Art Show and Sale has gone out of her way to invite another group of artists to Gananoque to participate in this annual event held at the Firehall Theatre, 185 South Street, Gananoque, Ontario. Starting as in 2016 as Art at the Inn at the Gananoque Inn and Spa, the event has grown and changed and moved to its present location. In their official tenth year (although not the tenth show thanks to COVID shutting them down for two years) Stroud feels that they have surpassed their standard of quality, and they continue to bring the best artists to Gananoque.

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Kin Club of Gananoque joins GAN in teaching arts to kids

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  • Jonah works on texturizing hid hand-build clay project during the Kin Mud Club held at GAN on July 6. The program runs throughout the summer and participation is free. Pre-registration is required, and seating is limited. Lorraine Payette/for Postmedia Network
  • Sal gets a few pointers from Barb Bakker during the Kin Mud Club held at GAN on July 6. The program runs throughout the summer and participation is free. Pre-registration is required, and seating is limited. Lorraine Payette/for Postmedia Network
  • Logan and Sal get a few pointers from Anneka Schagen during the Kin Mud Club held at GAN on July 6. The program runs throughout the summer and participation is free. Pre-registration is required, and seating is limited. Lorraine Payette/for Postmedia Network
  • At the first session of the Kin Mud Club held at GAN on July 6 each participant received a plan for a project, materials, and a special “Rock Star” medal for their work. The program runs throughout the summer and participation is free. Pre-registration is required, and seating is limited. Lorraine Payette/for Postmedia Network
  • Working together, the Kin Club of Gananoque and the Gananoque Arts Network are bringing the Kin Mud Club to Gananoque for July 6 through August 24. L-r, Dennis O’Connor, GAN; John Hodges, Kin Club; Pat Lalonde, Anneka Schagen, and Barb Bakker, GAN. Lorraine Payette/for Postmedia Network
  • There’s a special feel to the clay when working on a wheel during the Kin Mud Club held at GAN on July 6. The program runs throughout the summer and participation is free. Pre-registration is required, and seating is limited. Lorraine Payette/for Postmedia Network
  • Instructor Beatrice Eberhard helps Mikaela learn to use the wheel during the Kin Mud Club held at GAN on July 6. The program runs throughout the summer and participation is free. Pre-registration is required, and seating is limited. Lorraine Payette/for Postmedia Network
  • The hand build piece may be textured or smooth depending on the individual’s taste during the Kin Mud Club held at GAN on July 6. The program runs throughout the summer and participation is free. Pre-registration is required, and seating is limited. Lorraine Payette/for Postmedia Network

(Gananoque, ON July 7, 2024) There’s something timeless about playing in the mud and clay may be one of the most popular muds around. Squishing it in the fingers, moulding it into different shapes, seeing exactly what it can and can’t do. Staining clothes and skin and hair all in the search for creative expression. Whether making a free form art piece or a functional utensil, its versatility calls people of all ages to come out and explore.

“Gananoque Arts Network (GAN) was looking for funding to provide free hand-build and wheel pottery classes for kids and youth through the summer months,” said Dennis O’Connor, chair of GAN. “Because of their previous generosity to this not-for-profit community art center, I approached them with the Kin Mud Club project.”

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Corey Ceccarelli’s VITA now showing at O’Connor Gallery

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One of the many abstract pieces by artist Corey Ceccarelli which are on display as part of VITA. The show opened at the O’Connor Gallery in Gananoque on June 16. Lorraine Payette/for Postmedia Network

(Gananoque, ON – written June 18, 2023)

VITA has opened at the O’Connor Gallery in Gananoque, bringing with it a room full of canvases covered with exotic shapes and the vibrant colours aficionados have come to associate with artist Corey Ceccarelli.

“In the arts, it is essential to network with other creatives to share ideas and techniques,” said Dennis O’Connor, proprietor of the gallery. “This is important to the growth of an artist and unquestionably the growth of the arts itself. VITA is Italian for LIFE. Corey’s latest exhibition represents exactly that through all the stages of life, from conception to death. His medium is pastel and acrylic paint. He does an excessive amount of research before creating his work and is greatly influenced by both ancient and contemporary art. I’m sure we will see much more of Corey Ceccarelli in the future.”

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Student painting banned from exhibit at local high school

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The painting “In Celebration of the Mother” by student Skye Hunt was ordered removed from the Earth Day display at Gananoque Intermediate and Secondary School. Lorraine Payette/for Postmedia Network

(Gananoque, ON – May 1, 2023) One student believes censorship is alive and well in Gananoque Intermediate and Secondary School (GISS). She produced a special painting – “In Celebration of the Mother” – to be hung in the school front foyer for Earth Day, but it was hardly up before she was told to remove it.

“When I heard about Skye’s painting not allowed in the show at GISS I was shocked,” said Dennis O’Connor, proprietor of the O’Connor Gallery. “It’s 2023 and it’s an image of Mother Nature painted for Earth Day. The painting is quite a statement not only on our beleaguered planet but the continued suppression of women. Censoring it is taking yet another giant step back in women’s rights.”

The work shows a topless woman rising from the living soil. She is proud and strong, a mother looking out over her realm. Her stretch marks crack her stone outer surface to reveal the pure gold beneath, and she has all the marks normal adult women can identify with – hip dips, cellulite, comfortable fleshy rolls, breasts. Her hair is made up of dark clouds swirling around her head, and water flows from them nourishing the ground below. Moss creeps up her hips as it does many boulders rooted to the earth, clothing her in life itself. She is powerful, an image representing not only the planet we depend on for our very survival, but all women and all mothers everywhere.

“I usually work in acrylic paints, and for this piece I really wanted to normalize our ‘flaws’, as the media calls them – things like stretch marks, hip dips, cellulite, rolls – and breasts in general,” said artist Skye Hunt. “I think it was really important and when I hear ‘Earth’ I think ‘mother’ and women. Earth is ‘woman’. I think this piece really helps display that.” 

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