Henry Mitchell - Painter of Excellence

I've only seen a few of Henry's works, but have been impressed by his ability to paint minimalistically, realistic works. Henry cuts to the chase and presents intriquing paintings with figures that often seem distantly, unknowable like playing card figures. Not only that, but the works I have seen have created more questions then answers.

Henry painted from the age of 12 but really wanted to be a fighter pilot. (What boy wouldn't?) Unfortunately Henry found that one eye didn't cooperate with the other and his dream was erased.

Henry's life has been filled with such experiences as being a compositor, proofreader, supervisor, assembly artist, CSR salesman, art studio owner, studio manager, typographer, graphic designer and part time fraud detective.

Henry says: "Yet I could paint and now I do - all the time"
And surely this is a dream many of us wish we could share with him.

Henry can be reached at his studio art gallery on 13 McGill Street in Trenton, Ontario. 613-394-3485.

Should Toller Cranston's Figure Skating be considered a visual art?

See the title embedded on this You Tube Video? It leaves no room that whomever posted this video considers Toller's skating to be an artform.

But where do the visual arts begin and end? I have taken a rather traditional view that art is what is produced by the hands of the artist. And, its tangible. It can be held and looked at and stepped back from. It can sit on display on a coffee table, or hang on a wall.

Then along comes someone like Toller Cranston who challenges my understanding of the visual arts, by moving his interpretation of life into athleticism and instead of hanging it on a wall, he puts it into the television screen in the corner of the room.

Toller Cranston, is arguably the best male figure skater that Canada has ever produced even though he never won an Olympic Gold. He came along when male skaters had arms that stuck out like airplane wings. Toller used his total body to express himself and he used the ice as his stage.

Toller Cranston turned figure skating for men into ballet on ice.

Later when his days of skating ended, he became known in the traditional sense an artist. But yet, I find it almost impossible to separate the two - for Toller challenges us by pushing our limits of understanding of what the visual arts really are.

Join me now, to watch this video of Toller at work on the ice. I will follow this in later weeks by presenting his paintings.

Brian Lorimer: Art Makes A Difference

Brian is an artist who beleives that art can make a difference. And how? Well, he is partnering with an organization called City2Sunrise. Brian writes about this partnership of their plans: "Together we are planning on making a difference in the lives of children in the world and our first stop is Cambodia. In January, I will be joining my friends from Australia on an extraordinary journey through South East Asia. It promises to be a trip of a lifetime, that we hope will bring awareness to the plight of the children in the Sunrise Children’s Village Orphanage. They will be riding motocross bikes over 14,000 kms to raise funds for for the Orphanage. My contribution is going to be a show of my work that will be about the Trip and the Orphanage."

Brian was born in Belleville, and studied at the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Ontario College of Art and Design. His custom murals can be seen in the Toronto Zoo, Hard Rock Cafe, O'Charley's Restaurants, and Labatt's Breweries. He now paints from his home on Missassagagon Lake.

Brian had a recent showing at Gallery Artplus in Belleville, On, and before that at Lorimer Studios in Toronto, and at Art Auction, in Barrie, Ontario.

Click here to visit Brian's website.


Brian