Artworks by David Robinson, Susan Collett, and Sandra Ledingham
June 25 – July 28  

Zoom Artist Talk with Susan Collett, Saturday, July 03 at 3:00 pm PST 

Join HERE

Winchester Galleries is thrilled to announce our upcoming exhibition Gestures and Structures to mark the beginning of summer 2021. This exhibition is a collection of artworks by David Robinson, Susan Collett, and Sandra Ledingham. This exhibition focuses on a variety of forms from human gestures to abstract architectural structures. This collection indicates the pursuit of Mankind’s search for his identity and sense of belonging through shapes, colours, and textures.

David Robinson

Vancouver-based artist David Robinson studied at Langara College and then at the Ontario College of Art where he became an Honours Graduate in the Sculpture Program. Robinson uses mixed media to create his works. His pieces often include psychological and mythological themes to illustrate the complex nature of human life. He skillfully embeds symbols and imagery so that they are accessible to his audience.

Over the course of his career, Robinson has been featured in both solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally. His works are featured in establishments such as the Four Seasons Hotel Resort in Whistler, Painted Rock Estate Winery, and Vancouver General Hospital.

Sandra Ledingham

Sandra Ledginham completed a BA in Sociology & Fine Arts and ceramic studies at the University of Regina. In addition to her formal art education, Ledingham’s time abroad in Paris, France, Japan, Central America, New Zealand, Europe, and North Africa has informed her stylistic choices as an artist. Following her travels around the globe, Ledingham taught ceramics and design at institutions such as Concordia University, the University of Saskatchewan, and the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology.

Ledingham has taken part in numerous exhibitions such as the 2020 Taiwan International Ceramic Biennale. In 2020, she also participated in an online exhibition entitled “Ceramics of Change.” She has recently been accepted to the 2021 Korean International Ceramic Biennale.

Susan Collett

Susan Collett earned a BFA in printmaking with a minor in ceramics from the Cleveland Institute of Art in Ohio. Since 1993, she has worked out an art studio in Toronto. Large-scale clay sculpture and printmaking comprise many of Collett’s works. While her clay pieces are created using paper clay and are multi-fired to yield a range of textured surfaces, her prints are printed from plates consisting of industrial-grade roofing copper.

Collett’s works have been featured in exhibitions around the globe, including shows in the U.S., Canada, Korea, Taiwan, Hungary, and France, just to name a few. Additionally, Collett’s artworks have appeared in various publications such as Ceramic Review, Ceramic Art & Perception, and Ceramics Technical.

Sandra Ledingham
Turquoise Curved Plane
Clay, Glaze
15 x 14 x 12 inches

New Art Collection, November 2020

Winchester Galleries is pleased to announce a new art exhibition at the Oak Bay Beach Hotel in November 2020 composed of works by local artist Lesley Finlayson. Finlayson’s enchanting works depict the diverse natural beauty of Canada’s West Coast.
Spending time surrounded by the natural landscapes of Vancouver Island allows Finlayson to fully experience the elegance of the scenery that she portrays in her works. Finlayson begins her artistic process by creating drawings while she is outdoors. While working in her Victoria studio, she alters her paintings from memory and with the help of her drawings, but without the use of photographs. Although Finlayson begins her works on-site, she does not aim to create realistic depictions of the natural environment. Rather, she strives to achieve somewhat abstract, elegant interpretations of her surroundings through her use of colour, light, and texture.

Winchester Galleries is pleased to announce a new art collection at Bellewood Park Presentation Centre. This collection is a selection of abstract and still-life works by well-known Canadian artists, Joseph Plaskett, Mitchel Smith, and Greg Murdock. Joseph Plaskett became known for painting intimate, everyday scenes such as interiors, still lifes, and portraits of friends and models. Mitchel Smith is best known for his colour-field works that rely on vibrant colours and simplicity. Greg Murdock is known for his fresco-like mixed-media works that elegantly explore surface, space, and form with references to both external and internal worlds.

JOSEPH PLASKETT
Born 1918, New Westminster, British Columbia
Died 2014, Suffolk, England
Joseph Plaskett received a BA in history and a teaching certificate from the University of British Columbia in 1939. He went on to study with Jack Shadbolt and B.C.
Binning at the Vancouver School of Art and with A.Y. Jackson at the Banff Summer School. In 1946 he was awarded the first Emily Carr scholarship. Canada’s most
beloved painter now has his own foundation which awards similar scholarships. Known for his figurative and still-life paintings, Plaskett is highly collectable. Prior to
his death in 2014, Plaskett was still painting, exhibiting on two continents, and collecting awards including Officer of the Order of Canada and several honourary doctorates. Plaskett exhibited extensively in Canada as well as in London and Paris. His work is included in every major museum collection in Canada from Victoria to Charlottetown.

MITCHEL SMITH
Mitchel Smith is an abstract painter living in Canada. His work expresses the belief that the surfaces of pictures, the facture of the things, are what is integral
to the esthetic experience of painting. Large blocks and lozenges of rich textured colour jostle and abut against each other in a struggle which creates an intense and satisfying pictorial unity. Mitchel Smith was born in Liverpool, England. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Alberta in 1982. Smith’s pictures require the viewer to apply attention and discrimination, but then all art does when you get right down to it. Their originality often lies in their colour which tends to be layered and seems to float in an atmospheric way that contrasts oddly with the frank physicality of their surfaces. Textural incidents – surface ridges and passages of sweeping brushstrokes – sit behind the colour, evidence of an accumulative process that is apparently part of a long struggle. This seems part of their character, too – this sense that they’ve been wrestled with and with great effort brought to life.

GREG MURDOCK
Greg Murdock was born in 1954 in Saskatoon. He credits a trip to Europe following high school for kindling his passion to become an artist. When he returned from Europe, he enrolled in the faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Saskatchewan. Studying ceramics, sculpture, and drawing. He then travelled to Mexico to study bronze at the Instituto Allende in San Miguel Allende. In 1979 he moved to Vancouver to study at the Emily Carr College of Art and Design. There, he expanded his architectural vision and imagery, created installations, and discovered the potential of “spackle” as a medium and surface to explore in both his two- and three-dimensional works. He is known for his fresco-like mixed-media works that elegantly explore surface, space, and form with references to both external and internal worlds. His work can be found in the Vancouver Art Gallery, Musée d’art contemporain, Montreal, and the Art Institute of Chicago.