Gallery 121 Member Ann Fales at the Quinte Quilters' Guild Show

Ann Fales' photo and text courtesy of Scott Pettigrew and EMC Newspaper

"Threads of Time" Quilt Show to be held at the Quinte Curling Club, 246 Bridge St. W., Belleville, on Saturday, April 30 from 10 to 5 and Sunday, May 1 from 10 to 4. The show is put on by the Quinte Quilters' Guild. There will be over 100 quilts and wall hangings on display, a silent auction, boutique and merchants' mall. Admission is $6 (husbands free!)."

Gallery 121 is very proud to announce the participation of quilt artist Ann Fales in the Quinte Quilters' Guild show titled "Threads of Time".  Ann's elegant, intricate and colourful work has graced the walls of Gallery 121 for many years.  Ann uses a wide variety of fabrics to create amazing depth in her work, and a subtle, yet playful, colour sense to develop dynamic and contemporary art quilts and wall pieces.  Detail is applied in complex stitching patterns that enhance the overall design.  This exhibition is a not-to-be-missed event featuring the area's finest fibre artists.

In Loving Memory of Tony Lassing

Gallery 121 artists, friends and family in the Quinte region and overseas, and the arts community mourn the passing of a dear friend, Tony Lassing.



"When you part from your friend, you grieve not;
For that which you love most in him may be clearer in
his absence, as the mountain to the climber is
clearer from the plain."
~Kahlil Gibran




"And let there be no purpose in friendship
save the deepening of the spirit."
~Kahlil Gibran




"And in the sweetness of friendship let there
be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.
For in the dew of little things the heart finds
its morning and is refreshed."
~Kahlil Gibran





Barbara Whelan - Solo at Gallery 121 - March 22 to April 30, 2011

Renown Quinte area artist Barbara Whelan is showing Something Old, Something New at Gallery 121 until April 30. 


Barbara Whelan chatting with her friends at Gallery 121.

  Beautiful etchings and monoprints team up with some new work in oil to tempt art lovers. Be sure to pay a visit - this is a show not to be missed!

UpstARTs Award Winners

Congratulations to the award winners of the UpstARTs competition:

Viewers' Choice Awards: Lucy Chapelle (Nicholson)
                                        Brittany Gibson (Quinte SS)

Jenny Cheng:  $500 Prize (Moira SS)

Jay Ding:  $500 Prize (Albert College)

Christine McLean:  $300 Prize (Nicholson)

Kate Tepylo:  $300 Prize (St. Paul's, Trenton)

Cindy Zhong:  $300 Prize (Albert College)

Congratulations to the UpstARTs Artists!

Last evening, Gallery 121 and the Belleville Art Association hosted a Gala Awards Celebration to recognize all of the young UpstARTs artists with whom we have collaborated during the past year.  The Empire Theatre provided the perfect venue, and the E Café provided delectable treats.  Congratulations to all the participants. Every one of these young artists is exceptional.  Deciding upon the award-winning pieces of artwork was a daunting task for our judges.  Award winners will be posted in the next blog entry.

Here are a few photos of the evening's events.  More photos can be found on the Gallery 121 Website.

UpstARTS Gala Awards Celebration - Tonight!

UpstARTS Gala - Feb. 24, 2011 at the Empire Theatre

Exciting news this month.
We are completing our UpstARTS program, an art competition for area high school students. Over the past year, students' work has been juried, and the selected pieces have been shown in Gallery One Twenty One and the Belleville Art Association gallery.
The final judging is taking place as we speak, and the winners of $2,500.00 in prizes will be announced at an Awards Ceremony.
We hope you will be able to join us at the Empire Theatre, Thursday evening, February 24 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The presentation will take place at approximately 7:30 p.m.
Leona Dombrowsky will be in attendance to present awards, as well as Lyle and Sharon VanClief representing the John F. Parrott Foundation.
There will be complimentary hors d'oevres and a cash bar.
This project has been supported by the John F. Parrott Foundation. Special thanks to the management and staff at the Empire Theatre for their support.

The following student artists will be honoured tonight:

Lucy Chapelle

Jenny Cheng

Jay Ding

Kathryn Purchase

Natasha Rowe

Kate Tepylo

Tess Reid

Kelli-Anne Johnson

Cindy Zhong

Brittany Gibson

Mikayla Gauthier

Here are images of some of the artwork that will be exhibited this evening.  Everyone is invited to attend and support our area's young artists:

Harry Farfan: Guest Artist at Gallery 121

Gallery 121 is excited to have Harry Farfan exhibiting his giant wooden birds as part of our Christmas show.  He was kind enough to take the time to participate in a short interview:

B.C.: How did you first become interested in your artform?

H.F.:  When you ask me when I got interested in my artform, I guess the only way to answer that is that I have quite a few artforms, or should we say materials, that I use to create my art.  I worked with most of the 2 dimensional arts, such as painting and drawing, for many decades.  I was fascinated by the ever present desire to make the drawings more three dimensional for my design and architectural work. Then I applied my architectural knowledge with my model making abilities and that spurred a whole different breed of art for me.  Architectural modelling is such an intensely interesting thing that combines technical knowledge, modelling know-how and purely artistic additions . Add a photo video into the mix and then things get really interesting.  As for my interests in wood: that started when I found a piece of driftwood on the beach near Sandbanks. I saw something in it, and used a chisel to hack out the shape of a deer’s head. Then I sanded it for days. I found myself dragging home all kinds of driftwood after that.  Realizing that it was very laborious and painful to use hammer and chisel, I started using a chainsaw, and was able to create enough art in a way that I find very rewarding . A few years ago I went through a stage that allowed me to make some huge chainsaw carvings, but problems that go along with a piece of sculpture that is impossible to move without help or machines started to become evident. This need for making a large artistic scenes,  realized more and more regularly by my sand sculptures, and more recently by my snow sculptures, has developed into regular municipal events and international competitions and exhibitions.

Thank you, Harry!

To read more of Harry's interview, visit the Gallery 121 website and click on the "Guest Artist" link.  Once at the site, you will find the work of all our gallery members, with information and images: 
http://gallery121artists.com/

To see more of Harry's work visit the Quinte Arts Council at:
http://www.quinteartscouncil.org/Qac/QAC/arts/farfan.htm