Meaford Tree Trust Exhibition & Auction

Alicia Laumann | Lion in the Winter | 8×8″ Acrylic | reserve $120

Born in Bueno Aires, Argentina, I have started painting as a young chlid and taken numerous courses, among them at the OCAD in Toronto and with various artists in Ontario. A one-month find arts course in Paris, Frnace remains as a very special experience.
I am a past member of the Toronto Watercolour Society and present member of Marsh Street Artists and BMFA. As a painter I am interested in the beautiful landscape of Georgian Bay as well as the luscious scenery of South West Florida, where I spend my winters since retirement. My paints represent the countryside around me, in an abstract & colourful way.
The story of Tom Thomson is compelling. When visiting his gravesite in Leith, I was impressed by the big tree and imagined what the conversation would be between Tom Thomson and the tree. I have named my painting “Lion in the Winter”, to make the viewer question who is the real “Lion”. Perhaps the tree, perhaps the tragic and soulful artist who left us too soon.
Trees are very special to me and hope that my participation at Meaford Hall will help support Tree Trust.

Mary Anne Young | Untitled | Framed Photograph

Barbara Allan | Aging to Perfection | 16×20″ Acrylic | reserve $200 | current bid $325

I use photography as a means of telling a story. I am drawn to detail, places and moments in time. I appreciate simplicity, things historical, the joy and beautiful of nature and the majesty and inspiration of fine architecture. I am captivated by the experiences of those who have gone before and left us with things to ponder on, to wornder about – pieces of themselves that continue to enrich our present day experience. Light, darkness and scilence, in their myriad forms, guide me, encourage me and compel me to see with my camera and capture moments in time.

Trees, like this noble oak, watching over Tom Thomson’s gravesite, are one of the great gifts nature has bestowed upon us.

Along with photography, I also paint with acrylics and construct collages.

Bonnie Gardiner | Beneath at Leith | 12×16″ Acrylic | reserve $200 | current bid $175

I am a lifelong resident of Grey County and have resided for the past 20 years at A Brush With Words, a four acre property east of Chatsworth. I am a full time member of the Owen Sound Artists’ Coop. My work can be viewed there; also at Matilda Swanson Gallery in both their Clarksburg and Stratford locations; Southampton Art Gallery in Southampton, Arts On Ten Gallery & Boutique in Flesherton; Woodhouse Gallery in Port Dover; and also at my home studio.
My loose, free flowing style leans toward the abstract but still has a clear story to tell. Through brush strokes on the canvas, I endeavour to convey my feelings of seeing the beauty in the simple things around me and transcending them to another level.
I am a self-published author of several children’s books and three collections of vignettes & poetry, “Growing in Grey”, “Human Beings Being Human”, and “A Brush With Words”. A certified yoga instructor, I strive to invoke my reverence for life into my art. I draw from the area’s plethora of everyday miracles.
I find being an artist – the written not so much as the visual – is a life of solitude and being given the opportunity to share my work is a way to attempt to connect with others. It’s an opening of the doors to my soul and initiating an invitation to my personal world. I am happiest when I am creating.
As soon as I learned about this opportunity to paint this historic oak overlooking Tom Thomson’s grave, I packed up my art supplies and sketch book and set out on the half hour drive to Leith Cemetery.
It was the first time I visited Tom Thomson’s grave. I didn’t expect to have the emotional reaction that I did seeing his headstone. The combination of the paintbrushes and notes left by admiring visitors, the years in art class learning about the importance of this famous Canadian landscape painter and the mystery surrounding his death, made the experience feel profound. Such loss, the magnitude of it hit me and I felt a surge of sadness. I gazed upward and the long shadows of the magnificent oak stretched out over the surrounding graves giving a sense of protectiveness. For that reason, I call this painting “ Watching Over Tom.”
I revisited the tree several times since to witness it in each season. Each time, I was struck by the grace and beauty of the tree and how it has stood as a sentinel to the passing of time.

Tom is in the air, the sunshine, the tree. His spirit lives on.

Cheryl Ann Smith | Untitled | Framed Photograph | reserve $45 | current bid $150

Cheryl Ann Smith always enjoyed the world of art from a young age. May it be sewing, photography, quilting, fibre art, or acrylic painting.

As an adult, photography has come back into my life. Being able to capture wonderful images in this beautiful area I live in.

Charly Baxter | Old Growth | 16×27″ Gesso on found Metal | reserve $400 | current bid $350

Charly Baxter received her BFA from OCAD University in 2016. Based in her hometown Meaford, Ontario, her passion for nature and art has grown with her. Depicting trees as dominant subject matter with intersections of human intervention, her artwork aims to inspire admiration and respect for the earth.

I visited this tree on a cold winter day. I followed others foot prints and made my own, circling the tree, admiring it from all angles; observing the spaces between the branches and how they’ve growth together yet apart. I thought of Tom Thompson and the old growth Oak tree living their own unique lives simultaneously. I thought of old growth as synonymous with experience. Both trees and humans reach stages of maturity in their lives, displaying a deep knowledge and understanding of existence and evolution. Both are rooted in purpose, thus illustrating the interconnectedness of all beings.

David Marshak | Untitled | Painting | reserve $800

David Marshak is a Canadian artist and painter known for his lush landscapes, richly detailed urban images, and meditative skyscapes. Born in Toronto, Ontario in 1970, he attended The Ontario College of Art where he met several members of the artist’s collective DRAWNONWARD. They spent 1992 living and painting together in Florence, Italy, and have been traveling, working and showing together ever since. David has also had successful solo shows in St. John’s, Toronto and Vancouver.

David’s art has been added to many corporate and private collections including Scotia Capital Markets, the Molson’s, Eaton’s, and the Weston family. David’s paintings have also been purchased by Canadian musical giants Gord Downey, Sarah Harmer, Ed Robertson, Hayden and Don Ross, as well as media personalities including Shelagh Rogers , Laurie Brown , Terry O’Reilly and Paul Kennedy of CBC.

He currently lives and paints in Kimberley, Ontario with his artist/herbalist wife Sarah Tacoma, their three children, and a border collie named Timppa.

Deanna Sager | Untitled | 12×12″ Watercolour | reserve $120

Deanna expressed her early creativity through sewing. She loved bright fabrics and taking on new challenges. She won Honourable Mention in Simpson’s sewing contested entering a suit and shirt that she had made for her husband. She went on to teach a night school course on sewing men’s clothes. She designed and made her daughter’s wedding dress and all the wedding attendants dresses. She has made a number of quilts and duvet covers… always vibrant and colourful.
As a child she was not encouraged in art or drawing and only began painting in her 50’s after taking Betty Edwards’ course Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. Her pictures from the course are in the second edition of Betty Edwards’ book. She chose watercolour as her medium because the magi in the flow of the colours and how they mix and change as she paints. Over the past 30 years she has studied with many different artists and travelled the world on painting holidays. Deanna particularly enjoys painting landscapes, waterscapes, and florals. Her paintings are rich in colour. She has entered a number of juried shows and one of her paintings has been voted ‘People’s Choice’. She in on the board of the Blue Mountain School of Landscape Painting.
“When I paint it is like entering another time and space… Time stands still and when I look at my finished work I am always surprised that I have created it.”
Deanna expressed her early creativity through sewing. She loved bright fabrics and taking on new challenges. She won Honourable Mention in Simpson’s sewing contested entering a suit and shirt that she had made for her husband. She went on to teach a night school course on sewing men’s clothes. She designed and made her daughter’s wedding dress and all the wedding attendants dresses. She has made a number of quilts and duvet covers… always vibrant and colourful.
As a child she was not encouraged in art or drawing and only began painting in her 50’s after taking Betty Edwards’ course Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. Her pictures from the course are in the second edition of Betty Edwards’ book. She chose watercolour as her medium because the magi in the flow of the colours and how they mix and change as she paints. Over the past 30 years she has studied with many different artists and travelled the world on painting holidays. Deanna particularly enjoys painting landscapes, waterscapes, and florals. Her paintings are rich in colour. She has entered a number of juried shows and one of her paintings has been voted ‘People’s Choice’. She in on the board of the Blue Mountain School of Landscape Painting.
“When I paint it is like entering another time and space… Time stands still and when I look at my finished work I am always surprised that I have created it.”

Ema Scholtz | Untitled | 12×12″ Acrylic | reserve $180 | SOLD

Heather La Rue | Watching over Tom | 20×24″ Oil | reserve $875

As soon as I learned about this opportunity to paint this historic oak overlooking Tom Thomson’s grave, I packed up my art supplies and sketch book and set out on the half hour drive to Leith Cemetery.
It was the first time I visited Tom Thomson’s grave. I didn’t expect to have the emotional reaction that I did seeing his headstone. The combination of the paintbrushes and notes left by admiring visitors, the years in art class learning about the importance of this famous Canadian landscape painter and the mystery surrounding his death, made the experience feel profound. Such loss, the magnitude of it hit me and I felt a surge of sadness. I gazed upward and the long shadows of the magnificent oak stretched out over the surrounding graves giving a sense of protectiveness. For that reason, I call this painting “ Watching Over Tom.”
I revisited the tree several times since to witness it in each season. Each time, I was struck by the grace and beauty of the tree and how it has stood as a sentinel to the passing of time.
Tom is in the air, the sunshine, the tree. His spirit lives on.

Helen Solmes | Untitled | 11×14″ Photograph | reserve $100

What a thrill to exhibit one of my photographs during an exhibition of Tom Thomson’s photographs! The Old Oak of Leith has been both a challenge like few others and a pre-occupation since Meaford Tree Trust announced its call for artists. The Old Oak of Leith is an intriguing subject not only in its history spanning more than 100 years and its proximity to Tom Thomson’s headstone in the Leith Historical Church cemetery, but also in its shear size with limbs sprawling out some 15 feet both sides of its towering trunk that looms tall above the church and cemetery.

Photography is a passion of mine that has been evolving from my early black and white film days to digital and, of late, infrared photography. Photography served as a working tool during my career in communications. It has been the focus of three residencies. It is an ongoing creative outlet and a never-ending challenge.

There is a quality to infrared light that is dazzling when trees like the Old Oak of Leith are in bud in spring and before they form a dense canopy of leaves that masks a tree’s structure. I trust I have captured that unique quality in this image.

Jackie Spandel | Untitled | 14×26″ Mounted Photograph | current bid $230

Jacqueline Boyd | Morning Light | 12×12″ | reserve $350

In the early hours of the morning, beautiful sunlight shines onto the Leith Church and Cemetery. The light shines from behind the 110-year-old oak tree to cast its large shadow onto the green grass below it. What was meant to be a quick visit to gather reference images for this acrylic painting ended up being an hour of wandering and thinking about the past generations who have spent time in this very place, enjoying this tree and paying their respects to Tom Thomson. I noticed a variety of paint brushes placed by Tom’s headstone. Some new and some used and worn… it was when I turned around to head back towards my car that I noticed Tom’s view of the tree with the beautiul sun casting it’s warm glow from behind the tree that I knew this was the view that I wanted to capture and include in this piece.

Born and raised in Meaford, ON, Jacqueline’s love for painting and creating began in middle school. Growing up she had a keen interest in horseback riding and agriculture which then lead her to study Equine Science and Agriculture at the University of Guelph, Keptville Campus. Jacqueline, her husband and young daughter own and operate a farm outside the small community of Rocklyn, where they raise cattle and grow crops. After a busy 12 years she has picked up the paint brush to regain some solitude in her life. Jacqueline is continuing to develop her self-taught techniques through local workshops, reading books, and watching videos.

Janet Saunders | Loving Winter Blues | 10×20″ | current bid $100

Janet Saunders | Looking Up | 12×12″ | reserve $150 | current bid $150

Janice Schutz | Under the Shade of the Old Oak Tree | reserve $450 | current bid $150

Jennifer Popp | Mother Tree | 14×26″ Stained Glass | reserve $1250 | current bid $500

To stand under an ancient oak, like this one, is to feel the loving embrace of nature. If you let yourself be still for a moment and listen as the breeze rustles the leaves, you will know peace and connection. Oak trees will only start making acorns once they reach the age of 40. A tree like this one could produce millions of acorns in its lifetime. It would be a benefit for all creatures to let them grow alongside their mother tree. I often embrace nature’s power to convey beauty in my glass work, just as I have done in this piece, which commemorates a beautiful oak tree that stands guardian over one of the greatest artists of our time.

My name is Jennifer Popp, owner of Woodland Stained Glass and I work as a full-time professional stained glass painter and mosaic artist in Flesherton, Ontario. The essence of my work always reflects a deep respect for, and love of nature, especially the animals and plants found here in Canada.
The pure saturation of colours and play of light; that is what drew me to stained glass art, over twenty years ago. I am on an amazing journey of learning and creating, having done a variety of custom work for clients and making so many unique art pieces. I am extensively knowledgeable in the complete process of glass painting, including work in portraiture as well as the technicalities of staining, enameling, and kiln firing. After 20 years, I continue to push the limits of my media, combining all of my skills into my work.

Judith Shields | Untitled | 12×12″ Oil | reserve $175 | current bid $30

Art has been a part of her life since early childhood. Her parents recognized her ability and sent her for art instruction at the age of ten. She says these classes were the base for her thirst to create. She has also been fortunate to have lived in some of the most beautiful inspirational places in Canada.

Her work is a reflection of her love of nature, animals and colour. The style is realistic, the media of choice is mostly acrylic but she also does watercolour and various media.

Karen Kelly | Untitled | Painting

Katherine Kennie | Untitled | 22×30″ | reserve $1200

Katharine Kennie is an oil painter living and working in Grey County, ON. Born and raised in the Kitchener-Waterloo area, she moved to West Grey in 2014.

“My current work explores the unique landscape surrounding my home in rural Grey County. I try to walk every day, and I also pay close attention to the passing landscape while driving. I stop at any place that captures my attention. Sometimes I make a quick sketch on site, and often I take photographs to reference later. While spending this time outside I try to be as present as possible with the sights, sounds and smells around me. I hope to internalize the essence and atmosphere of these natural environments to later create paintings in the studio.”

“For this particular project for the Meaford Tree Trust, I made several drawings on site to capture the complex shape of the oak tree. I wanted another element to represent this special place without showing the gravestones, so the figure of Tom Thomson and his dog (inspired by a photograph of him) was included- a friendly spirit visiting this special place.”

Krista Jones | Canopy Crepuscule | 20×24″ Steel & Copper | reserve $585 | SOLD

Krista grew up among the mountains, cliffs and trees of British Columbia and Ontario. It’s in these havens she recharges mind and soul and draws her inspiration.
An aspiring visual artist; alumni of the University of Guelph with a BA in Studio Art, alumni of Conestoga Continuing Education. Art has been a passion for her entire life, a degree pursued in University, a career path through Graphic Design, and continually engaged in entrepreneurial showcases. She has donated a variety of pieces to Be Local, Buy Local auctions for the United Way over the years, showcased and auctioned several pieces for various Environmental movements including the Water Watchers, and has been a seller at The Handmade Den in Guelph. As a member of both the Guelph Arts Council and Milton Arts Community, Krista has participated in local events that bring awareness of arts in the community on a level that is accessible to anyone.

“It brings me great joy to be part of nature and then take that immense feeling of tranquility into my works so that I can share it with kindred souls. This is something that sparked the challenge to create pieces in metal that balances lightness with boldness, an airiness with weight, and a curiosity to keep coming back and looking at it with fresh eyes over and over.”

As fleeting as the dappled light through the canopy, the mixed metals and found items incorporated are as unique to the piece as the journey to creating it; Traditional metalsmithing techniques combined with electroforming and acid etching brings with it a memory of the process in the finished piece.

Laurie Coish | Untitled | 18×24″ Painting

Laurie Coish is an Owen Sound Artist that celebrates the area through artistic impression. Her works of art envelope the spirit and energy of the landscape through beautiful seascapes and colourful abstracts that convey the beauty of the land.

Marg Harrison | Untitled | 8×12″ Photograph | reserve $25 | current bid $75

I am a photographer, living in the Meaford area for the past 25 years. My area of interest in photography is “anything nature”, but especially flowers and trees. Also, my interest is not restricted to the warmer climates, but I enjoy all four of our seasons, including winter (as evidenced by my submission to this display).

For this image, I went out the day after one of our major snowstorms, trudged through snow to get to the base of the tree, then laid down in the snow and shot up through the branches toward the cloud-filled sky. Post processing contributed to the variety of colour in the sky.

Mary McTaggart | Tom’s Protector | Watercolour | reserve $225 | current bid $150

Mary was born in The Netherlands in 1952 and immigrated to Canada with her family at the age of five. She painted from her childhood to college but then pursued a career in nursing. Twenty years ago she became passionate about painting once again, and attended many art classes and workshops. She continues to take classes to improve her skills. Most of her inspiration comes from the beautiful local Ontario countryside. Mary is a local Meaford resident.
Mary is an avid Watercolourist but also paints using other mediums.
She is the President of the Meaford Creative Arts Association (MCAA). Mary is also the workshop co-ordinator for the club and has facilitated the annual Art Show and Sale at The Rotary Harbour Pavilion four years in a row and continues to do so.
She has won several awards, and her paintings are found in many private collections in Canada and internationally. She has had solos shows in several prestigious galleries. Her work is featured in the “Great Canadian Masters Cookbook” sold at museums and art galleries across Canada celebrating 150 years of creative excellence.
She has two favorite charities, Cystic Fibrosis and the Canadian Hearing Society, which she donates artwork to for their annual fundraisers.

Michael Storey | Untitled | current bid $300

Michael Storey is a Canadian Artist living in the Blue Mountains of Ontario. As well as being a veteran Cinematographer in film and television for the last 37 years, he is also an Impressionist Artist working with oil on wood.

Though Michael began painting later in life, the transition from film as an art to painting is a fairly natural one – both having to be interpreted and then resolved, just in different mediums.

“What I create on a film set using light and dark, colour shapes and composition, comes from

observations in the real world. Using a paint brush, paint and a canvas, the same is true. Just different tools and mediums”.

Nancy Jackman | Untitled | 11×14″ Watercolour | reserve $75 | current bid $75

Ofra Svorai | Untitled | 20×20″ Painting | reserve $300

Born and raised on a kibbutz in Israel, Ofra has always been surrounded and inspired by nature.
After moving to Canada in 1973, she enrolled in Sheridan College School of Design, graduating with honours in 1977. A career as a full time artist began as Ofra exhibited at numerous art shows and galleries. Her paintings represent an appreciation for the beautity of nature around Georgian Bay and the Neaver Valley where she resides.
Painting on silk using dyes and resist is challenging and rewarding at the same time. For the past 15 years a shift to larger oil paintings has taken place, allowing for a new direction of creativity and expression.
Over the years Ofra received 14 awards and honourable mentions. Ofra’s work can be viewed at galleries, her own studio & showroom in Kimberly, ON, and on her website.

Patricia Churchill | Enchanted Guardian | 30×40″ Acrrylic | reserve $1800

As an artist my goal is to interpret and share the world as I see it. Encouraging the viewer to engage in that vision, creating an appreciation for conversation and preservation of the land and all it sustains.
Biking the trails, hiking, nordic skiing & kayaking not only inspire me byt have a calming affect on my mood. Traveling with camera in hand, photographing and documenting my experience for future works in the studio.
Putting paint to canvas, capturing the light, shadows & colours using a variety of layering techniques to achieve an expressionistic effect. Sharing the beauty of visual imagery through my eyes for the viewer to enjoy.

Pattie Harper | Untitled | 12×12″ Acrylic | current bid $60

My name is Patricia (Pattie) Harper. Painting is a new hobby for me.

I’m a member of the Artists Group, meeting at the Marsh Street Centre in Clarksburg every Tuesday. I’ve met so many talented artists here, painting is now my passion. I’m honoured to present my painting of the Old Oak Tree at Leith.

Shira Benson | Untitled | 40×60″ Oil | current bid $125

Using a highly personal approach to gestural abstraction, my work engages with both the natural environment and historical artifacts in a textural language that implies elements of both, as channelled through personal experience and the painting process itself. With sgraffito, palette knives and other impasto-developing approaches and tools, the complex surfaces thus created function analogically, not as depictions of their sources but as responses to them, working with both the initial inspiration and the unplanned. The imagery in my work replicates the elemental structures, forms and colours I see around me, in passages filled with frenetic activity as well as areas of calm. In every instance, I encourage the viewer to encounter the work from their own perspective, in order to allow for variations in interpretation.
Shirra Benson graduated from Georgian College in both Fine Art and Design in 2007, and has exhibited widely throughout central Ontario in (Owen Sound, Meaford, Thornbury, and Collingwood) Her work is held in many collections.

Shira Benson | Untitled | Oil on canvas

Using a highly personal approach to gestural abstraction, my work engages with both the natural environment and historical artifacts in a textural language that implies elements of both, as channelled through personal experience and the painting process itself. With sgraffito, palette knives and other impasto-developing approaches and tools, the complex surfaces thus created function analogically, not as depictions of their sources but as responses to them, working with both the initial inspiration and the unplanned. The imagery in my work replicates the elemental structures, forms and colours I see around me, in passages filled with frenetic activity as well as areas of calm. In every instance, I encourage the viewer to encounter the work from their own perspective, in order to allow for variations in interpretation.
Shirra Benson graduated from Georgian College in both Fine Art and Design in 2007, and has exhibited widely throughout central Ontario in (Owen Sound, Meaford, Thornbury, and Collingwood) Her work is held in many collections.

Sue Davies | The Old Oak at Leith | 12×12″ Acrylic | reserve $200 | current bid $250

I strive to create art that inspires others to appreciate the true wonder and beauty of the natural world.

Sue Davies was born in Toronto, Ontario and has been passionate about art since early childhood. She received an Honours B.A. in Visual Arts and a Bachelor of Education in Art and Drama from the university of Western Ontario in 1980. Sue moved to Owen Sound in 1990 and taught Elementary school with the Bluewater District School Board for over 20 years.
Since her retirement from teaching, Sue has been an active member of the Studio Twenty Group of Painters led by Peter John Reid. She has participated with the group in seveal art projects to help raise funds for local chariable organizations. Since 2011, She’s paintings have been exhibited in shows throughout the Owen Sound area, including Wiarton, Meaford Thornbury, Southampton, Cargill and on Art Banners along the Owen Sounds Harbour.
Sue won the ‘Visionary Award’ for her painting ‘Cotton Candy Sky’ in the ‘Feast For Your Eyes’ show in Southampton and a ‘Sponsor’s Choice Award’ for her painting ‘Standing Guard at Port Dover’ in the ‘Paint Ontario’ show in Grand Bend in 2021.
Sue has a home on the Sydenham River and receives much of her inspiration from the surrounding environment. She works mainly in acrylics from her own photographs and the beauty and splendour of nature is reflected in her peaceful and detailed paintings of wildlife and the Canadian landscape.

Sue Turton | The Tree at Leith | 12×15″ Watercolour & Ink | reserve $100 | current bid $150

I am an amateur artist living in Thornbury, Ontario

I enjoy painting local scenes in watercolour and acrylic, and also scenes from our travels abroad. We are so fortunate to live where we do!