“The 11th Annual Juried Art Show saw 189 entries and we are delighted to be able to exhibit 68 of them in the Atrium of the McLean Community Centre, Ajax” says PineRidge Arts Council President, Cathy Schnippering. About 100 guests at the Friday Opening Reception were entertained by Meagan Turner, violinist and Kevin Odorico, cellist and mingled with the artists.

This year a photograph by Emily Martin from Uxbridge won the PineRidge Arts Council's Best in Show Award along with a cheque for $1000. In the Jurors’ Statement, jurors Maura Broadhurst, Curator of the Latcham Gallery, Stouffville, and Olexander Wlasenko, Curator at Station Gallery in Whitby, said that the submissions as a whole presented a diverse collection to consider, often making their decisions very difficult.

Thanks to the support of the community a total of $4500 in prizes were given out through the sponsorships of Russell David Johnson, Ontario Power Generation, Pickering Nuclear, Veridian Corporation, Optimist Club of Ajax, the Jurors' and the Mayor’s Awards. Helping to make the Awards of Excellence and Honourable Awards possible were Ajax Creative Arts, Rotary Club of Ajax and Dr. Sharon Peterkin D.C., Pickering.

The show, a partnership between the Town of Ajax and PineRidge Arts Council, continues until November 28 and is in the public area of the 95 Magill Drive, Community Centre. Photos of the Opening Reception are on-line at www.pineridgearts.org and click Opening Reception Photos.

Thank you to our 2009 sponsors.

Rick Johnson (Russell David Johnson) | Optimist Club of Ajax

Ajax Creative Arts | Rotary Club of Ajax |Dr. Sharon Peterkin D.C.

OPTIMIST CLUB OF AJAX BEST IN YOUTH AWARD

• Livia Tsang ~ Ajax

MAYOR’S YOUTH AWARD

• Meagan Mather ~ Whitby

SPONSOR’S AWARD OF EXCELLENCE - YOUTH

• Trevor Pogue ~ Stouffville

HONOURABLE MENTION - YOUTH

• Taylor Gundry ~ Whitby

Jurors' Statement 2009

It was a great privelege for us to be jurors for the PineRidge Arts Council 11th Juried Art Exhibition. We were excited to see the large number of submissions that included a wide range of media and subject matter. The strength of portraiture and photography was pronounced right from the start. The presentation of the submissions was clean and neat allowing us to focus on the work itself. Based on our previous experiences as jurors, the quality was noticeably high, reflecting the strength of the Arts Council's membership. The submissions as a whole presented a diverse collection to consider, often making our decisions very difficult. Many of the submissions had a contemporary and engaging feeling, breaking from conventional visual art representation. The quality of the selected work surpassed art enthusiast levels. The skill, technique and conceptual consideration were well-represented in the selected pieces, with the award-winning works being the most resonant. The award-winners pushed boundaries further, making the medium and stylistic approach complement one another. Together this exhibition presents contemporary visions of our world, allowing us to engage with different art forms and asking us to reflect upon our own lives. We thank all the entrants for their work and effort and congratulate all those in the exhibition.

Maura Broadhurst and Olexander Wlasenko
Jurors

Dates to remember:

• Opening Reception ~ Friday, October 30, from 7 to 9 p.m.

• Show Closing and art pick-up ~ Sunday, November 29, from 1 to 4 p.m. (please bring your receipt)

Our Jurors for 2009

Maura Broadhurst is the Curator of the Latcham Gallery, the public art gallery in Stouffville, Ontario. Maura received her Master's in ArtHistory from Concordia University in Montreal in 1997 and her Bachelor's in Art History and Cultural Management at the University of Waterloo in 1995. Prior to the Latcham Gallery, she worked in a variety of positions at a number of public galleries in Ontario including the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, the London Regional Art and Historical Museums and the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga. She has also taught courses in Museum Studies and Curatorial Practices at the University of Western Ontario in London and has sat on the National Advisory Council of the centre for Cultural Management. She has juried numerous exhibitions throughout southwestern Ontario.

Olexander Wlasenko has based his studio practice in Oshawa after earning a Master of Fine Art at The University of Western Ontario in 2000. Prior to this, he graduated with distinction from the Ontario College of Art (OCA) in 1994, going on to complete a degree in Fine Arts at the University of Guelph. In his final year at OCA, Wlasenko was awarded the Eric Freifield Award. In 2001, he won top prize at the national juried drawing exhibition organized at the John B. Aird Gallery. The artist was awarded Canada Council for the Arts Creation / Production Grants in 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2008, also regularly receiving grants from the Ontario Arts Council since 2001. In 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2006 the artist won Best Drawing Award at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition. A solo exhibition of his drawings premiered at Barrie, Ontario’s MacLaren Art Centre in fall, 2007. Wlasenko has exhibited extensively in Toronto, nationally in Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Dawson City, Yukon, and internationally in Florence, Italy and Kyiv, Ukraine.

After completing his graduate studies in the fall of 2000, Wlasenko worked as Assistant Curator at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery (RMG) in Oshawa, Ontario. There he organized over twenty photography exhibitions featuring vintage prints which document the historical development of his hometown of Oshawa. Wlasenko has organized four biennial exhibitions of early-career artists at the RMG. In the spring of 2007, he curated a traveling solo exhibition of artist Vera Jacyk entitled, Chysto, Chysto, Chysto. Wlasenko’s most recent curatorial projects include Broken Promises: Soviet Photography in the Age of Stalin, unveiled the MacLaren Art Centre’s recent Sovfoto acquisition in Barrie, Ontario. Olexander has been the Curator at Station Gallery in Whitby since early 2008.

Current sponsors. Interested in supporting the arts? Download our sponsorship package. You can create an award in your name!

Rick Johnson (Russell David Johnson) | Optimist Club of Ajax
Ajax Creative Arts | Rotary Club of Ajax |Dr. Sharon Peterkin D.C.