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tLiving Library “Check Out” Your Favourite Art For a truly interactive reading experience, borrow a Living book!The Pickering Public Library and the PineRidge Arts Council have teamed up to provide a Living Library. Local artists have become “living books” for this special event. Each artist represents a specific art form or manages a business in the arts industry. Individuals may “borrow” a “book” from the Living Library and speak with them for 30 minutes.

At Central Library:Saturday, October 15, 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Auditorium Drop in and browse the “books” on October 15th or put a book on hold in advance. To place a hold, please call Kathy Williams at 905-831-6265 ext. 6251 or email her kathyw@picnet.org to make arrangements.

• Invisible Painting by Mark Fordam• Blue Moon Fabric Arts by Martha Brown• Bejeweled by Kirsty Naray• The Potter’s Shed by Deanna Jones• Little Big Band by Brian Rose• Meditation Painting by Janice McHaffie• Winning Portraiture by Gwen Williams• Choral Music by Cathy and Lou Schnippering• The Professional Photographer by Mary Cook

• Herongate Theatre by Ann Ward• SilverStone Gallery by Gary Faulkner• Kijimba and Wood Sculpture by Dorsey James• Abstraction by Laura Warburton• Animal Alphabet Adventure by Mala Mahabir• Ontario Landscapes by Robert Hinves• Is Graffiti Art? by Jeff Goring• Cultural Expressions by Esther Ford

As Artistic Director and owner of Herongate Barn Dinner Theatre, Ann is proud to take part in the Living Library Event.

Ann has been directing shows at Herongate Theatre for over 25 years and when she’s not busy in the rehearsal room, you’ll find her in the Herongate kitchen creating

delicious menu items for happy patrons! An award winning actress, Ann has a degree in Dramatic Arts from San Francisco State University and a graduate degree from The American Conservatory Theatre.

Ann invites you to see and taste her work at Herongate this season as they present delicious menus along with some very funny comedy!

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Brian Rose’s Little Big Band is a popular 11 piece band which is available for dances,receptions and concerts. The band’s aim is simply to play good, danceable music - jazz, swing, jive, pop, ballroom, Latin, and R&B - in a small ensemble. In other words, a little big band. The group has been together eight years, building a repertoire of more than 400 fresh, contemporary arrangements of popular tunes, including favourites from the thirties and forties, to the hits of today. The emphasis is on standards - songs that survive the test of time. Above all, “we take our music seriously - but not ourselves! We always have a good time playing the music we love, and therefore, so does our audience. As the song says, “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing!“

The band is comprised of musicians with extensive experience in jazz, big bands, concert bands, Dixieland music, R&B, and even choirs. Their combined musical influences are reflected in their performance, and make it easy for them to satisfy the diverse tastes of today’s audiences. “We have played for weddings, fund-raisers, galas, jazz and arts festivals, park concert se-ries, private and public functions, anniversaries, birthdays, rib fests, pub nights, retirement parties, older adult events and dances, theatre performances- both as fea-tured band and accompanying other per-formers-, awards banquets, street festivals and corporate events. We have played at golf clubs, yacht clubs, jazz clubs, service clubs, bistros, pubs, banquet halls, community halls, church halls, bandshells, gazebos, art galleries, showmobiles, arenas, and even a cemetery. Each location and event has been a unique and enjoyable experience for the band, and, I’m sure, - for the client(s)!

And we sure have come a long way from the begin-ning when a group of musicians got together once a week to rehearse and play arrangements for fun, no less.”Br

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Cathy and Lou Schnippering have studied and been involved in choral and instrumental music all through their lives. Over the years Lou has played a number of instruments with the HMCS York Navy Band, the North York Concert Orchestra, various small dance bands and most recently with the Pickering Community Concert Band.

They have both sung with the Etobicoke Centennial Choir, the Amadeus Choir, The Joyful Noise, and other small chamber choirs. They currently sing with the Durham Philharmonic Choir in Oshawa and the Dunbarton-Fairport United Church Senior and Chamber Choirs in Pickering.

For the past 15 years Cathy was also the Music Director and Producer for the Pickering Perennials, a 30 voice senior’s chorus and band where Lou sang, arranged music and played guitar and clarinet.

In 1994 Cathy and Lou joined the PineRidge (then Pickering) Arts Council, began publishing a newsletter, and are now highly active in the administration of the Council where Cathy is president. They also sit as consultants on the board of the Durham West Art Centre Foundation.

When Cathy and Lou are not making music, they are busy producing ArtScene, a bi-monthly 16 page tabloid for the PineRidge Arts Council.

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Deanna, a potter for longer than 35 years, now concentrates her pottery creativity in her studio workshop in Greenwood, Ontario. Passing on to others what she has learned over the years, she also teaches pottery at the DWAC Potters Studion in the Pickering Recreation Centre. In the past, Deanna has participated in such shows as the One of a Kind, the Toronto Outdoor Arts Exhibition, the Unionville Festival, the Markham Festival, the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival and a variety of other local festivals. Deanna’s work can be found in private collections across Canada, as well as in the United States, Europe and Australia.

She is especially proud that one of her pieces was chosen for presentation to then-Lieutenant Gover-nor Lincoln Alexander at the opening ceremonies for the new Pickering Civic Complex. While many of her creations are of a practical nature, Deanna enjoyed participating in a show of whimsical teapots at the Durham West Arts Cente. Additionally, she was commissioned to create a number of pieces for presentation to some of the more generous corporate sponsors of the Centre. Her creation TILL THE COWS COME HOME, won Deanna an award in a group show at the Whitby Station Gallery. Deanna’s work is availabe at her studio workshop and at the twice-annual shows put on by the Durham Potters’ Guild.

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Dorsey James, now Canadian, was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After four years as a jet aircraft mechanic in the US Air Force, he immigrated to Toronto and eventually studied Visual Arts and Education at York University. His sculptures have been exhibited across Canada as well as in the United States and Germany.

He lives with his family in Pickering, Ontario. He is retired from teaching Fine Arts at Markham District High School. Dorsey was awarded a commission by

the Ontario Trillium Foundation and the City of Pickering for his waterfront sculpture installation entitled “Home Place”. He was also awarded The Outstanding Service Award for 2003 by The York Region District School Board. Dorsey is currently commissioned by the City of Pickering to refurbish the Home Place sculpture which he installed in Pickering’s Alex Robertson Park as a year 2000 millennium project.

Dorsey is currently working with Visual Arts Ontario in Durham Region as well as with the Durham Region District School Board to teach at risk youth how to power carve. The finished product may reflect memories and/or significant aspects of their past, present or future. Is their own story, told by their hand via personal symbolism carved into wood.

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Esther Forde is owner and curator of Cultural Expressions Art Gallery, located in historic Pickering Village, Ajax, Ontario. As a strong patron of the arts, Esther is proud to promote new Canadian artists, photographic art, unique ethnic carvings, sculptures, and jewelry from a variety of countries and regions.

Born in Jamaica, Esther saw the lack of ethnic and cultural art in her community at home in Canada and identified the potential of opening a gallery. In an effort to make this dream a reality, she enrolled in a business training program and upon completion Cultural Expressions Art Gallery was born.

Opened in 2007, the Gallery gives artists of diverse backgrounds a local place to display their art. The Gallery highlights and

promotes established and upcoming artists from Canada and abroad, as well as artwork from Africa, the Caribbean and other countries. The Gallery has been highlighting a diversity of local artists through special presentations. It contributes to making arts and culture accessible to Durham Region through on-site exhibits, and in such public spaces as libraries, municipal offices and schools.

In five shorts years, Esther has work diligently to present a vibrant show of art and culture for such annual celebrations as Black History Month. The Gallery has also been part of the local Jazz Festival in Pickering Village and has made the Aboriginal Celebration Day in the Village a yearly event.

Esther’s goal is to make a difference in the community by providing art that showcases our diverse communities of Canada.

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Gary is a long-term resident of Ajax, a member of PRAC, Station Gallery and Society of Canadian Artists. As direc-tor of SilverStone Gallery in Pickering, Gary is proud of the numerous talented artists in Durham and is happy to dis-play the twenty-five artists who showcase their works in the Gallery.

His painting inspirations come from the beauty of nature and recently he seems to find satisfaction working more with oil. His love of painting and music keeps him busy throughout the year and fortunately Durham is becoming a great place to showcase both these artistic disciplines.

Gary is also a board member of Durham West Arts Centre Foundation working to fulfill the Foundation’s main goal of

building a performing and visual arts centre in Pickering. The centre will be a wonderful source of pride to the Durham area and benefit the area economically.

Gary has also been classically trained in voice in Toronto and has been performing for years at a variety of venues and events including Roy Thomson Hall, churches, variety shows, senior residences, private parties and fundraisers throughout the GTA. “The type of music that interests me is music that touches the heart and emo-tions in people” he says. A few years ago he produced a CD with total proceeds of over $10,000 going towards a Evangel Hall, a shelter for the homeless in Toronto.

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As an award winning artist for many years, Gwen’s work hangs in private and corporate collections in North America and abroad. Represented by several galleries in both Canada and New York State, her portrait commissions include animals as well as people.

While her love of portraiture is undiminished since retiring, she has rediscovered landscape painting and utilizes photography from her travels for inspiration. Gwen has expanded her choice of media to include watercolour, oils

and acrylics as a complement to her first love, pastels.

Gwen is involved in many aspects of the art scene. She is a member of Ajax Creative Arts and Durham West Arts Centre. She is also an Honourary Member of the Pin-eRidge Arts Council and holds the positions on their executive of Visual Arts Director and Vice President.

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Although Janice started in sculpture over 30 years ago and that was her love for years, she usually only paints now. However she has not left the texture of sculpting behind, as acrylics are now her favourite medium.

Janice likes to use colour to affect the subconscious mind, to enhance work or rest. She also teaches meditation painting as a healing art and loves working with children.

Janice would like to see a large arts centre added to the community to hang work created locally and to create a place to paint with other artists any day of the week. Painting with other artists stimulates different creative thoughts as opposed to painting by yourself. What she enjoys most about being a member of PineRidge Arts Council is that they are very community oriented – they allow us to live our art.

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The tag Christian graffiti artist might seem a little counter-intuitive or contradictory but that is precisely what life-long Pickering resident Jeff Goring calls himself.

Goring took art at Pine Ridge Secondary School, but it was a hook up with a musician with several CDs to his credit -- who encouraged his graffiti doodling -- that got him seriously started in the genre. He also began breakdancing and became so good that he was engaged by the East Shore Community Centre to give lessons to local youth. He was eventually hired by the City as youth coordinator, in charge of putting together programs of activities for kids and teens. His wife, Charity, runs a dance group and he

often accompanies her on junkets to international events in which she is a participant.

His own dancing and art has taken him to gigs in England, Sweden, Norway and widely across North America -- often to meet-ups with other graffiti artists with whom he co-creates murals on collaborative themes.

So what are the painting themes of a religious graffiti artist, you may ask? Well, Goring does the standard elaborations on names (his company name is Sonz of God) and he has added Biblical scriptures and imagery (the Book of Revelations is a great source) to his repertoire. He enthuses about the step up in technology

of the paint “bombs” that are now available -- paints that are in a kaleidoscope of colours and that spray thick and solid without running.

Courtesy of Pickering News Advertiser/Allan O’MarraJe

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Kirsty Naray’s work with glass began in 1979 when she attended a stained glass course at George Brown College in Toronto. She began her career making small objects and panels. Before long, as her skills improved, she made larger windows for residences.

Later, Kirsty developed a fascination for kaleidoscopes and added these to her repertoire. In an effort to make unusual inclusions for the object containers of her

kaleidoscopes, she experimented with bending glass in a flame and so began her favourite-to-date phase of glass working - making glass beads.

Angels, fairies, mermaids, perfume vessels, aquarium beads and a variety of floral beads are the cur-rent focus of her beadwork. She styles her beads into unique pieces of jewellery using sterling silver and gold-filled wire and beads to accent her work.

Kirsty has been included in such publications as Victoria magazine,

The Wire Artist Jeweller magazine (twice) and Wire in Design - Modern Wire Art & Mixed Media, by Barbara A McGuire as well as numerous glass publications.

“It is my hope that my art pieces provide many years of pleasure and enjoyment to their new owners.”Ki

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Laura is a Pickering based abstract artist with an academic background in psychology. Believing that artistic expression cannot be static, held or boxed, her entire body of work to date is nearly impossible to categorize under one simple title or style.

Whether the painting is a delicate, flowing and well blended piece or a strong, bold linear piece, the use of textures and mediums provides a raw organic like feel.

Brushed, sprayed, carved, splattered, scraped or poured, the large scale, (<4 ft) paintings are what has become termed as Loft ArtWork.

Her paintings have exhibited in Canada/ the USA and can be found in corporate /medical offices, private collections in Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, continental USA and Hawaii.

Loft Artwork paintings have been debuted on HBO set designs, featured in staging for real estate showings/magazines and are exhibited at the Distillery Districts’

RedEye Studio Gallery in Toronto.

As a self taught and self represented artist, Laura has found a wonderfully creative, original spot within the art world all while creating in her home studio in Pickering, Ontario .

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Mala Mahabir’s work revolves highly around children and their literacy skills as she believes reading is an essential asset for success. She has been a creative writer from a young age, and thrives on inspiring others to do their best, be their best and give their best!

Through her volunteer work with the Pickering Reading Program and Frontier College Literacy Workshops, she observed many children having difficulty with basic letter and sound recognition. She took on the challenge

to create a way for children to become engaged and have fun while learning to read. Out of this challenge came Animal Alphabet Adventure which concentrates on the vernacular of sound via story telling and alphabet letter recognition. The alphabet stories on each page are accompanied with artwork created by Tasha Maraj, which makes each letter come to life for the reader.

Her life’s travels have taken her on many personal and professional ventures. She always knew she wanted to bring about positive change to the lives of others and give something back. When she made the decision to write Animal Alphabet Adventure she knew in an instant this was the type of work she wanted to share with children.

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Mark Fordam studied Fine Art at York University and the Ontario College of Art in the early ‘70s before moving on to study dissections and advanced anatomy at the U of T. His first exhibition was at Canada’s oldest established gallery, The Roberts Gallery. He has also shown at the Drabinsky Gallery, the David Mitchell Gallery and the Illuminary Gallery.

Mark emerged in the New York scene exhibiting at the Gerold Wunderlich Gallery. As a figure in the Canadian realist movement, Mark played a pivotal role in creating a strong interest amongst the New York dealers, which enabled many Canadian realists to

have their first opportunity to show their work outside of Canada.

His immersion into the world of Visual Effects was inevitable, crediting the likes of Ray Harryhausen and Albert Whitlock for his interest. After teaching several courses at the Ontario College of Art and world-renowned Sheridan College, Mark began instructing artists in drawing, sculpture and realistic creature design at Calibre Digital Pictures.

Mark displays his instinctive way of seeing the subtlest nuances of colour, atmosphere and light in landscape and architecture and brings this insight to the screen in a dramatic fashion.

Mark has been accredited with several prestigious awards including an Emmy nomination for the

WWII event mini-series Haven (d. John Gray), a Gemini award for the war-torn Germany recreation in Nuremberg (d, Yves Simoneau) and an impressive nomination from the Visual Effects Society for Best Matte Painting in The Man Who Saved Christmas (d. Sturla Gunnarson).

Mark is a member of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television and the Visual Effects Society.

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Martha Brown is internationally recognized for her award-winning art quilts, signified by dramatic imagery and an eye for colour. Martha’s work has been in over 50 shows and exhibitions, won over 20 awards and has been purchased by over 200 collectors, in Canada, the US, Switzerland, Japan and Germany.

Her work has also been featured in gallery Solo Exhibitions, and for several years at the One of a Kind Christmas Show in Toronto. Her degree in Art focused on figure drawing and painting.

In recent years, her focus has turned to three dimensional figura-tive sculptures in the form of original art dolls.

Born in Rochester, NY, she has lived in several areas of the United States. In 1999 she married a Canadian, and now lives in Pickering, Ontario.

She will have several of her dolls on display for the day and will be happy to answer any of your questions.M

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Mary Cook was a professional photographer in Pickering from the late 70s until recently. The majority of her work was with film but she enjoys the freedom digital now provides.

Over the years she has photographed sports and school groups, family portraits

and weddings. Some of her commercial clients included City of Pickering, OPG, Mazda and Subaru. She now is most often seen pointing her camera at her three grandchildren, PineRidge Arts Council members and the SilverStone Gallery.

In her spare time she works with Angie Littlefield on the provincial project Reading and Remembrance.

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Robert has always had an interest in art from an early age. He pursued his interest by attending a 4 year Art Course at Danforth Technical School in Toronto and one year at the Ontario College of Art & Design.

His passion has been Ontario Landscapes. He started off painting in oils, but later turned his efforts

to pen, ink and watercolour. It’s not unusual to find him trudging through a field with camera in hand. Once a scene or subject appeals to him, he then recreates it paying close attention to composition.

As an alternative to the rigid disciplines of his realistic work, Robert takes a break and loosens up with a series of textured abstracts in acrylic on masonite.

Robert is currently on the Board of the PineRidge Arts Council. He also is a member of the Oshawa Art Association and the Art Guild of Scarborough.

Robert has been involved in many different Art Festivals throughout Ontario. His work can be found in many private collections throughout Ontario, United States and England.

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