Sally Ayre: Traces – Nick Novak Fellowship Exhibition

Each year, Open Studio awards three scholarship/fellowship residencies to artists of merit, as chosen through an annual juried selection process. The Nick Novak Fellowship is awarded to an artist currently involved with Open Studio as an Artist Member. The Donald O’Born Family Scholarship is awarded to an artist in the beginning stages of their professional career, who has graduated from a BFA or MFA program within the last one to five years, and who and has demonstrated an ongoing commitment to their practice during that time period, including an active exhibition practice, participation in artist residencies and successful grant awards. The Don Phillips Scholarship is awarded to a graduating student who has just completed an undergraduate art program with a printmaking major at an accredited Canadian institution and who will not be returning to full-time studies.

In addition to rent-free access to Open Studio facilities for a period of one year, materials assistance, professional development assistance, and tuition free access to Open Studio workshops, recipients present a solo exhibition of the work they have made during their tenure at Open Studio during our three annual Scholarship/Fellowship Exhibitions. An artist’s talk by each recipient accompanies the exhibitions. These exhibitions are a fabulous opportunity to see new work by both established and up-and-coming artists. The scholarship/fellowship recipients for 2012-2013, who will be exhibiting in October/November, are: Open Studio Gallery – Sally Ayre (Nick Novak Fellowship); Print Sales Gallery – Meghan Price (Donald O’Born Family Scholarship); and George Gilmour Gallery – Heather Smith (Don Phillips Scholarship).

Sally Ayre (Nick Novak Fellowship recipient) is a photo-based artist born in Newfoundland and living in Toronto. A graduate of OCAD (1990), she has exhibited her work nationally and internationally. Her most recent exhibitions include Boundless and Borderless (Station Gallery, Whitby, ON and Sydney Printmakers, Sydney, Australia) and Jumelage, (John B. Aird Gallery, Toronto, ON and Engramme, Quebec City, QC). She is active in the Toronto arts community as a member of Gallery 44, *new* gallery, and Open Studio.

During her tenure as Nick Novak Fellow at Open Studio, Ayre has developed Traces, a body of work that revolves around a collection of family letters, early 20th century botanical drawings by amateur botanist Agnes Marion Ayre and the artist’s collection of scanned objects and photographic images. The work is a further examination of her Newfoundland roots and the landscapes and objects that trigger, layer and construct the memory of place. Traces features a series of six 9”x12” framed botanical prints and two installation pieces. The framed prints are each a combination of historical and contemporary representations of botanicals by Ayre and botanist Agnes Marion Ayre. The first installation is based on imagery of the sea and consists of twenty-six rectangular screenprints with an approximate finished size of 120”x 40”. The second installation is of flower heads and consists of forty-four screen prints with an approximate finished size of 120” x 77”. The prints in the installations are printed on Inkenora, a translucent Japanese hand-made paper, and are installed to allow for movement from the air currents.

Exhibition Brochure: Download Brochure Here