Art Show - BUGS

Curator Nancy Draws, chose bugs as the show’s theme for the diverse ways in which we view them. A love-hate relationship with insects, the media has conjured flu bugs - smart bugs - doodle bugs- bad bugs. From portrayals of Jiminy Cricket to 100 foot spiders, artists have had fun exploring and creating on our hopes and fears. The exhibition by these prolific artists will continue until April 5th.

Nancy Draws diverse expression has been displayed through illustrative work in comics, outdoor installations, painting, animation and photography. Nancy works with multi-media, expressing an amusable, distorted, altered reality.

Fiona Smyth is a Toronto-based artist exploring popular and alternative cultural icons and imagery. Smyth's work always probes these timely societal, sometimes intense and always relevant topics with a sense of humour, wonder and catastrophic consequence. She also employs surrealist, abstractionist, spiritual, feminist and pro-sexual strategies to achieve her unique aesthetic. Her use of media also reflects this range of interest by using different formats from which to engage her audience including comics, illustration, painting, animation, music covers, web-based art and her fabulous murals. Smyth has exhibited in Taichung /Taiwan, Venice/ Lido, Jeollabuk-Do/ South Korea, New York City, Winnipeg and most recently The Virtuous at the now defunct SPIN Gallery in Toronto. Toronto artist Fiona Smyth's been rawking the brush since 1986. For upcoming gigs check www.myspace.com/fionasmyth

Vesna Mostovac was born in Terrace Bay, Ontario, and she is best known for her brainchild, Foolish Girl, established in 1995 in the underground comix and zine scene. Foolish Girl has appeared in publications such as Now, Exclaim!, Chart, Don't Touch Me and the Globe and Mail. In 2001, Vesna compiled and published Maow Maow: A Collection of Dreams, featuring work by her and thirteen other Canadian artists. CCI Entertainment approached Vesna with the idea of making Foolish Girl into a television series, and they have worked diligently to translate its spirit of urban, foible-ridden humour from print to animation. The pilot for the series aired on the CBC's Zed TV in the fall of 2005 and the series is currently in development. Vesna has extensive experience working in animation, including Mordecai Richler's Jacob Two-Two, and she is currently a Creative Director at Cuppa Coffee Studios in their Broadcast department.

Joey DAMMIT! is an award winning Toronto mixed-media Pop artist. His art has graced fine galleries, city streets, and department store windows everywhere. His work has been described as "Warhol in a head-on collision with David Lynch", by the Toronto Star. DAMMIT! is especially proud of being the first Canadian artist to be featured on the Naked News. Visit www.joeydammit.com

Runt has been a Toronto artist for over 20 years. His comic sensibility has graced many galleries and walls, and although Runt admits his work is spiritually bereft, damn it, it’s fun to look at.

Sam Ferrara immigrated to Canada from his native Italy in 1955. He had begun creating wire sculpture as a child. His first piece, a coat hanger man, won him first place at a competition at the Canadian National Exhibition. By the early ‘80s Sam was creating armies of “safety pin men”. He then began to expand on his “wire bending” with an opportunity in a group show at the “Here & Now Gallery in Toronto that led to his first solo show in 1987, which sold out opening night. Since that time, Sam has had many successful shows and his sculptures and mobiles are easily recognizable all over the city in permanent installations. His work has also been featured in national and international films and television commercials. In 1996, Sam was honoured as one of nine recipients of the Protégé Awards presented by The Arts Foundation of Greater Toronto. With every show, Ferrara’s work evolves. Since his early pieces, he has worked with obsolete computer hard drives, broken guitar strings, old cutlery, antique tools and discarded wood. “I like to use the material that people consider trash. I see shapes in things that are thrown away. To me they are forms of art and I make them into art that is appealing to my eyes. When I take wire, (or anything else I find) and turn it into sculpture, I feel as though I’m giving something obsolete a new life – a purpose. I believe art is in everything, it just depends on how you look at it. “

Serge Fortin is a Toronto-based metalworker whose work explores the fusion of art, metal and functionality.

The Gallery Opening will be on Friday March 20th from 6pm to 10pm. To attend, please RSVP to rsvp@steamwhistle.ca

Steam Whistle Gallery
Steam Whistle Brewing hosts monthly art shows and exhibitions in our Retail & Hospitality area to showcase local creative talent. Although many are established artists, some exhibitors are showing for the first time. Steam Whistle does not charge rent for our gallery space, nor do we take commission on any works that sell. At the close of each show, one piece from the exhibition, of the artist’s choice, is donated to our collection.

All exhibitions are open free to the public – Monday to Saturday 12noon to 6pm and Sunday 12noon to 5pm. Steam Whistle Brewing – The Roundhouse – 255 Bremner Blvd. Toronto. (just south of the CN Tower) 416-362-2337 x 246.