Basic Black on Washi - Sherway Gardens Gallery in the Garden until July 5, 2008 May 30, 2008

Sherway Gardens’ (Hwy 427 & the QEW) current Gallery in the Garden exhibit, entitled “Basic Black on Washi”, is on display until July 5 and features silkscreen, wood engraving and woodblock prints by artists Wesley W. Bates, Wendy Cain and Elizabeth Forrest. For more information call 416-621-1070 or visit www.sherwaygardens.ca.

Sherway Gardens’ Gallery in the Garden joins 35 other galleries in the Toronto area for the World Washi Summit, a nine-day awe-inspiring conference exploring Japanese culture, from June 7-15, 2008. The summit features creative works with Washi by 120 Canadian and international artists and offers hands on workshops, lectures, artists’ demos, performance art, Washi bazaar, fashion shows and papermaking by a trio of Japan’s finest craftsmen. Visit www.worldwashisummit.com for more information.

’Washi’ is the name for the exquisite sustainable paper that has been handmade in Japan for 1400 years. The craft is sustained by just some 300 papermakers in Japan and by artists in Ontario and around the world who understand its creative potential as an important medium for their fine art. These works in Basic Black on Washi use the unique quality of the paper as a fundamental element of the work.

Wesley W. Bates lives in Clifford, located in the heartland of South Western Ontario. His studio and gallery are on the main street and feature his drawings, paintings, wood engravings, solar etchings, as well as his newest adventure, glass engraving. Born in Yukon and raised in South Western Saskatchewan, Wesley left Mount Alison University in 1977 to pursue a career as a Painter and Printmaker in Hamilton where he had numerous exhibitions. In 1981, he took up Wood Engraving and freelance illustration. He also established West Meadow Press a small private press through which he has illustrated and published limited edition books since 1983. Wesley has worked for major publishing houses such as McClelland & Stewart, Penguin, Random House, HarperCollins, Larkspur Press, Porcupine¹s Quill, Bird & Bull Press and Gaspereau Press. He has illustrated books by such authors as W.O. Mitchell, Wendell Berry, Ed McClanahan, Richard Taylor, Stuart McLean, Timothy Findley, Russell Smith, and Don McKay. Wesley’s work is represented in public collections including The Art Gallery of Hamilton, Laurentian University, Glenbow Art Gallery, Grimsby Public Gallery, University of Kentucky, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library and San Francisco Public Library - Special Collections. His work is held in private collections in Canada, the United States, England, Ireland, Australia, Spain, Japan and China.

Wendy Cain has an Honours BA in Fine Arts from the University of Toronto and is an Associate of the Ontario College of Art, Honours. She has taught in the Printmaking Program at OCAD since 1978, first as an instructor, then as Associate Professor, Printmaking then Chair of Printmaking. From 1993 to 2005 Wendy taught at various workshops including Japanese Paper Place in Toronto and Loyalist College in Belleville. It is the amazement she experienced when first seeing paper pulp being used as a painting medium that draws her back into the studio again and again. Wendy’s work resides in many collections including the Agnes Etherington Arts Centre, Cambridge Library and Gallery, Carleton University, The National Library of Canada, The Bank of Canada, and the Toronto Dominion Bank. She has participated in over 180 exhibitions from 1972-2005 across Canada and internationally. Wendy’s solo exhibitions include the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum, Almonte in 2004, the Grimsby Public Art Gallery in 1997, Grimsby, Carleton University Art Gallery, in 1996 and Kyoto Seika University and Galerie Maronie, Kyoto, Japan in 1991.

Born in Vancouver, Elizabeth Forrest was raised in Montreal, Toronto and Mississauga. Elizabeth completed a BA at York, as well as a BEd at U of T, which lead to teaching for several years. Eventually, Elizabeth returned to school to study art, specializing in printmaking at the Ontario College of Art and Design. Working in woodblock since the early 1980’s, she has almost exclusively used washi papers since that time. In 1988 she went to Japan to research Japanese (water-based) woodblock printmaking and papermaking. While in Japan, Elizabeth completed part of her “straw series”, which relates to her observations about Japan’s culture. Having married a native of Japan, she continued developing her work and exhibited there frequently until 1999. Elizabeth’s work has been accepted to the Tokyo-based CWAJ International Printmaking Competition five times, and she has received four Canada Council Project or Travel grants. Public collections include the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery and the National Library of Canada. Elizabeth now resides permanently in Toronto, where she has continued her work, and is an active member of Open Studio printmaking facility.

Sherway Garden’s Gallery in the Garden was established to showcase local artists. The Gallery in the Garden operates all year round and each exhibit is on display for approximately 6 weeks. The Gallery in the Garden is located at Sherway Gardens’ door 3 entrance.

Official Website: http://www.sherwaygardens.ca