If you haven’t got your tickets yet, now is the time to do it! Get them HERE
or visit the box office at the theatre:
Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts,
10268 Yonge Street
Richmond Hill, ON – Canada
Over 150 of our finalists’ watercolours from over 80 countries around the world have been selected from both our ‘A Symphony in Watercolour’ and our ‘150 Ways to Celebrate’ Exhibitions and will be projected on a huge screen behind the Richmond Hill Philharmonic Orchestra as they play a selection of music inspired by art and nature, which embraces cultural diversity. We will also have two master artists Andy Sookrah and Bonnie Steinberg interpreting the music live as we listen and watch. It is an evening not to be missed!
Art and music bring people together regardless of race, religion, culture, or distance. Let’s embrace that together!
This Saturday night, at the Symphonic Watercolours performance by the Richmond Hill Philharmonic Orchestra, we will have two master watercolour artists painting, live, during the performance! These two painters, Bonnie Steinberg and Andrew Sookrah, were both personally invited by the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour (CSPWC/SCPA) president Rayne Tunley, to demonstrate at this event. They are both elected members of the CSPWC as well as other prominent societies, as you will see in their biographies below.
Artists’ Statements:
Bonnie Steinberg SCA, CSPWC, TWS
My watercolours encompass a variety of subject matter, with architectural detail, being my latest achievement. Ordinary “slices of life” are other choices for subject matter. My use of high-keyed colour and dramatic light are the trademarks of my work.
A recent exhibit of my work covered paintings ranging in a variety of subject matter, from Architecture, to landscape, to still life. The “passion” that I hope to convey through colour, design and light are the essence of my work. My objective could be summarized by the following passage:
“My visions encompass my views of the world and will aim to give the viewer a glimpse into this world. If this relationship occurs then the painting has been successful.”
Andrew Cheddie Sookrah CSPWC, OSA, SCA, PSC
All of my work is the result of an intense interview between my existence and that of my subject.
I would hope that the result be informed more by knowledge rather than mere belief.
Below are examples of Bonnie’s and Andrew’s recent work:
A Lawren Harris Mystery House. Watercolour by Bonnie Steinberg.Clogher. Waves. Dingle. Watercolour by Andrew Sookrah.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Andrew and Bonnie very much for their unique contributions to this multimedia presentation, which will be the closing event of our month-long exhibition. We are in for a treat! This event takes place at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts.
If you would like more information about Andrew and Bonnie, they have graciously provided their bios below, or you can go to their websites (Andrew’s website ; Bonnie’s website):
ANDREW CHEDDIE SOOKRAH CSPWC, OSA, SCA, PSC
Andrew Sookrah
Andrew Cheddie Sookrah is a Canadian professional artist living and working in Toronto. He is an elected member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour, Society of Canadian Artists (Lifetime, Mentor), Ontario Society of Artists, Portrait Society Of Canada.
Sookrah is a raw colourist whose free brushwork is confident and powerful. His strengths can be seen in his strong sense of design, exquisite use of effective composition, and confident presentation of bold colours.
His is a masterful expression of the unity of nature.
He has shown his Artist Project 2017, 2018, presenting work from painting trips to Sable Island, Killarney, Algonquin, the Canadian Arctic.
His body of work includes landscape, portraiture, figurative paintings, ceramic sculpture as well as conceptual / multimedia including “Can Religious Beliefs be Identified From Examining DNA?” Nuit Blanche 2012.
Sookrah’s work is in Corporate and Private Collections in Canada, the US and China.
TEACHING:
Andrew teaches painting in watercolour, acrylic, oil and at The McMichael Art Gallery (Kleinberg), the Richmond Hill Art School (Markham), Loyalist College (Belleville), The Town Of Richmond Hill, Luc Sculpture Art School (Toronto) and ARTiculations, (Toronto)
WORKSHOPS:
Andrew conducts 1-day, 2-day and 4-day painting workshops periodically.
CURRENT AND RECENT EXHIBITIONS:
CSPWC / FWS, Avignon, France
Open Water, Aird Gallery, Toronto (Winsor Newton / Currys Award)
The Artist Project 2018, Aird Gallery, Toronto
The Artist Project 2017, Toronto
The 3Rd International Art Festival, Nanjing, China
Current Connections, Toronto, Buckhorn
Opening of Wang Jianhua Museum, Suzhou, China
BONNIE STEINBERG CSPWC, SCA, TWS
Bonnie Steinberg
THORNHILL, ONTARIO watercolours@rogers.com
ARTS EDUCATION
York University, Toronto, Ontario. (Hon Bachelor of Fine Arts.)
Selected courses at:
Seneca College:
Atkinson College (York University): Ontario College of Art and Design1972-82
Margaret Roseman, Jack Reid, Jane Champagne: Brent Heighton, Stephen Quiller,
SOLO EXHIBITIONS (partial list)
Kathleen Gormley McKay Art Centre, Unionville, Ontario
2007 Roselawn Theatre and Art Centre, Port Colbourne,Ontario
2007-04 Thornhill Visual Artists’ Studio Tour, Thornhill, Ontario
2002 Illuminary Gallery,Toronto, Ontario
2001, 1999, 97
Daruma Gallery,New York , New York
1993 Delta Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
Gallery Beaux Arts, Toronto, Ontario
JURIED EXHIBITIONS (partial list)
2018 SCA 50th Juried International Open Juried Exhibition at the Papermill Gallery.
2018 IWS Canada /CSPWC (A Symphony in Watercolour) Exhibition
2018-1990 Toronto Watercolour Society – Aquavision Spring and Fall
2009, 01 Haliburton School Of Art, Faculty Show, Rails End Gallery
2007-01
2000 Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour – Open Water – John B. Aird Gallery
2000 Fourth Annual Members Show / Art Dialogue Gallery, Buffalo, N.Y., Western New York Artists’ Group
1999
Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour – 75th Anniversary Exhibition at the Roberts Gallery, Toronto
Society of Canadian Artists – Fall Show – John B. Aird Gallery
Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour – 75th Anniversary Exhibition at The Arts and Letters Club, Toronto
AWARDS(partial list)
2016-platinum level of distinction for 50 juried shows for fall and spring TWS(Toronto Watercolour society)
2016-25 year membership award for the Toronto Watercolour Society
2015-spring watercolour show: Aquavision 2015 for Toronto Watercolour Society
2014-Award for excellence in transparent watercolour _the Bruce Snell Award for The Toronto Watercolour Society
2010-silver Medal for Toronto Watercolour Society
2010 Award of distinction for the Toronto Watercolour Society(Gold, silver and bronze)
2002 -1997 Toronto Watercolour Society-Award of Merit, Best Architectural, Best Still Life, Jururor’s choice and Artists’ choice awards.
COLLECTIONS(partial list)
Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia
Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
Cedars Sinai Hospital, Los Angeles
Pettle Foods Canada
IBM Canada
Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto
M. Tan Associates, Toronto
Colm (Phantom of the Opera) Wilkinson
Mr. Justice Howard Wetston (Federal Court of Canada), Ottawa
Delta Gallery
Lotus Corporation
Permanent Collection – Heintzman House, Markham Ontario
Italy: Painting tour of Venice, Tuscany, and Florence2011
Italy: Painting tour of Florence, and the Amlfi coast-2013
Sedona Arizona-September 2012
PEI School of the Arts, North Rustico, Prince Edward Island, Canada
Dundas Valley School of Art Dundas,Ontario
Loyalist College, Belleville,Ontario
St. Lawrence College: 100 Islands Summer School for the Arts, Kingston,Ontario
Cornell University, Ithica, New York
Halliburton school of the Arts, Haliburton,Ont.
Visual Arts Mississauga,Ontario
Thornhill Seniors Centre, Thornhill,Ontario
Sunbury Shores St. Andrews by the Sea,: New Brunswick
Burlington Centre for the Arts ,Burlington :Ontario
Southampton Art School: Southampton, Ontario
Wellington County Museum and Archives: Elora Ontario
Williamsburg Watercolour Society: Amherst New York
Pumphouse Gallery,: Niagara-on-the Lake, Ontario
Mc Conoughy Seniors” Centre, Richmond Hill, Ontario
Seneca College,King Campus, King City, Ontario
Victoria, British Columbia
Our brave leader Ona Kingdon has been extremely busy these past few days, moving our exhibit out of Boynton House, re-organizing, and putting a selection of the paintings up at Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts in the Foyer, Lower East Side and Upper East Side Galleries (click for HOURS), in anticipation of the concert which will be held there to close the exhibit on October 27. Luckily she had some help from Tiina Price, Nola McConnan and Michelle Zikovitz for the physical work!
The paintings selected were those of the award winners, the invited guests, and people who contributed significantly to the event.
It’s lovely to see that no matter where we put this exhibit, whether it is in a heritage building with a homey, comfortable atmosphere, or in a modern, sophisticated theatre, the watercolour paintings look beautiful and add so much to the space they are in. See for yourself!
Here is how the exhibit looked at Boynton House:
Just before the opening…
And here is how it looks at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts:
As noted in our last post, the entire exhibit is currently located at Boynton House in Richmond Hill (at Richmond Green). The exhibit at Boynton House will close as of October 15, when all paintings will be taken from there, and some will be selected to relocate to the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts.
In the meantime, there is plenty to enjoy at Boynton House and it would certainly be worth your while to get there before the end of this weekend! Our exhibit has been so popular that over 1100 people have visited as of Tuesday afternoon!
View the now over 90 paintings on exhibit, (combining those from Burr House as well.)
Experience the magic of Ona Kingdon painting live daily.
Try a watercolour activity this weekend.
See IWS Canada’s “Love Around the World” paint video preview.
Come join in the celebration of watercolour!
Notes from last weekend:
We had a wonderful day today letting the children of our local community in Richmond Hill experiment with Watercolour. Hope you enjoy looking through our Symphony in Watercolour Children’s album, just a small selection from all the paintings created at Boynton House on Richmond Green on Saturday the 6th and Sunday 7th October:
Thank you to Da Vinci Paint Co. for providing a few of your dot palettes for the children to experiment with. They LOVED creating their own #DaVinciMoment and to DeSerres for providing the paper for this activity. You are both AWESOME sponsors of our Symphony in Watercolour.
Just a note to keep everyone apprised of the current locations of our ‘A Symphony in Watercolour’ international exhibit. While up until today, paintings were at two locations, Boynton House and Burr House in Richmond Hill, the ones at Burr House are moving today to Boynton House, so that the entire exhibit will be located there.
Later on in the month, some of the paintings will be moving to the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts, in anticipation of the special performance there at the end of the month (October 27).
Richmond Hill’s Pumpkin Fest is on all weekend from 10 am to 6 pm. The exhibit at Boynton House will be open today and tomorrow from 10 am to 5 pm. A perfect outing for everyone. Please click the links in this post for more information about Pumpkin Fest. And then please come and visit us in Boynton House as well. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
For all of our exhibition hours, please click this LINK.
One week ago today, our exhibit opened and we had a wonderful turnout for the event which was a contribution to Culture Days as well. Thank you to all 200+ who came out to Boynton House! Many of our visitors posted their photos and videos on Facebook, (#SymphonyinWatercolour if you’d like to draw our attention to yours!) and for that we are also grateful. Plus, we have uploaded many of our own to our Facebook page as well, and more recently, a few to our Twitter account.
Here are a few you may not have seen:
Behind the scenes preparations…One of our sponsors and Ona, also preparing…
Just before the opening…Some of the sponsor booths…
The crowd (faces blurred or blocked to protect privacy)
Presentation of certificates and awards!Presentation of certificates and awards!Presentation of certificates and awards!
International Artists Gather For Cultural Event in Richmond Hill
Tomorrow, watercolour artists from all over the globe will gather in Richmond Hill, Ontario, just north of Toronto, to celebrate the opening of ‘A Symphony in Watercolour’.
The exhibition, jointly presented by the International Watercolour Society of Canada (IWS Canada) and the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour/La Société Canadienne De Peintres En Aquarelle (CSPWC/SCPA), will feature the work of 95 watercolour artists from Canada and around the world. From a total of 320 entries from 32 countries who entered the competition earlier this year, 80 finalists were juried into “A Symphony in Watercolour” by Anne McCartney CSPWC, Peter Marsh CSPWC, and Rainbow Ze (youth juror). The other 15 artists are winners from last year’s IWS Canada online exhibition and attending jurors, as well as presidents and vice-presidents of the presenting societies.
The five day festival opening the exhibit will continue the next day with a presentation merging painting, video and photography by renowned artist David McEown, winner of IWS Canada’s 2017 online competition ‘150 Ways to Celebrate’, a Canada 150 event. This presentation will take place at Richmond Hill Central Library as part of the Canada-wide Culture Days event. In addition, “Experiment with Watercolour” activities will be set up so the public can try it out.
Other activities for the five day festival include field trips to various places in the area for plein air painting, photography, and general tourist enjoyment, such as the Oak Ridges Moraine, Black Creek Pioneer Village, the David Dunlap Observatory, Toronto Island, and the CN Tower 360 restaurant. Some of these activities are free, others will have costs associated with them. Of special note is a field trip to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, which the gallery is providing to the IWS Canada and CSPWC/SCPA group as a sponsored event for this festival. Further information for all of these activities is available at IWSCanada.ca.
A very special part of this exhibition will be a live performance by the Richmond Hill Philharmonic Orchestra, called ‘Symphonic Watercolours’, which will take place to close the exhibit, on October 27, 2018, at 8 p.m. A slide show of the beautiful watercolour art in the exhibit will accompany music specially selected to enhance its viewing. In addition, live interpretive painting will be performed by Andrew Sookrah and Bonnie Steinberg. The theatre will also display a selection of actual paintings from the exhibit. It will truly be ‘A Symphony in Watercolour’.
Where: Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada – various venues – mainly Boynton House and Burr House
Who: The International Watercolour Society of Canada (IWS Canada) (A Branch of the International Watercolor Society (IWS Globe)) and the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour/La Société Canadienne De Peintres En Aquarelle (CSPWC/SCPA)
When: September 28 to October 27, 2018
What: ‘A Symphony in Watercolour’ – an international exhibit and festival of watercolour art
Why: To celebrate the medium of watercolour, and how diverse cultures can be brought together through their enthusiasm for common interests, while appreciating their differences.
The painting in the featured graphic at the top, Colour of Music, is by one of our jurors, Anne McCartney CSPWC, AWS, TWSA
The painting in this graphic is ‘Inner Symphony’ by Ona Kingdon, CSPWC, NWS, TWSA, IWS Master – President of IWS Canada. (Subject is Jessica Kun, the artistic director of the Richmond Hill Philharmonic Orchestra.)
IWS Canada would like to once again sincerely thank our sponsors!
Booths and exhibition will be open from noon until 5:00 pm within the garden area of Boynton House.
12:00 – 12:15 pm: Welcome speeches and official ribbon cutting ceremony by the Presidents of IWS Canada, IWS Globe & CSPWC/SCPA on the porch of Boynton House
The following events will then take place in booths in the fenced garden area of Boynton House or on the main porch of Boynton House: 12:15-12:45 pm Demos of products/talks by QoR and Da Vinci 1:00-1:30 pm Demos of products/talks by Winsor & Newton and RockWell
1:45-2:45 pm Demos by IWS Master watercolour artists Ze Ze Lai (vice president of IWS Globe)
and Rainbow Tse (youth juror for our show)
2:30-3:00 pm Live music by the Hill Chamber Players on the porchway of Boynton House
3:00 pm Award presentations and speeches on the porch of Boynton House
3:45-4:00 pm More live music by the Hill Chamber Players 4:00-4:30 pm Demos/talks by Daniel Smith and DeSerres
4:30-5:00 pm Chance to talk to people at booths and see exhibition at your leisure.
6:00-8:00 pm: An informal gathering of artists and art lovers; a time to relax, socialize and see the rest of the exhibition. Watch the Burr House spinners, weavers and potters at work. Tea and scones will also be available at a small charge.
Saturday, Sept. 29.
Richmond Hill Central Library, 1 Atkinson St., Richmond Hill, ON L4C 0H5
10:00- 3:00 pm 3rd floor of library: Try your hand at watercolour, an activity sponsored by DeSerres, where we can give back to the local community. Connect with people from Richmond Hill and experiment with simple techniques for painting in watercolour. 10:00-10:50 am Watercolour demo by Michael Solovyev, IWS Canada International Director. Watch him create a painting and ask questions.
10:55- 11:50 am Watercolour demo by Atanur Dogan, IWS Globe President and Founder. Watch a painting come to life before your eyes.
12:00-1:15 pm Take in David McEown’s presentation: ‘Water & Light, an Artist’s Journey from Antarctica to the North Pole”. David narrates an entertaining digital show that merges painting, video and photography inspired from travels in the Great Bear Rainforest, Africa, Antarctica and the North Pole. Stories of chance encounters with many creatures including polar bears and emperor penguins are woven together with reflections on the environment, and the inner creative process of painting with watercolour. 2:00- 3:00 pm Watercolour demo by Vera Bobson, CSPWC
As you can see, there is plenty to keep an artist interested. These watercolour artists that are demonstrating, are some of the best in the whole world. Almost like attending a workshop only without the fee! Both days are registered Canada-wide Culture Days events.
Those are just the first two days of the exhibition. All information that you could possibly want, including maps, are on the home page of our website iwscanada.ca.
Gather a friend or two and have a fun field trip!!
IWS Canada 