gallery

Cross Cut exhibition at Scarborough’s Cedar Ridge Creative Centre Gallery

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Rob Niezen’s exhibition of linocuts reflecting on traditional songs from Ontario with a contemporary perspective will be showing at Cedar Ridge Creative Centre Gallery in Scarborough.

Traditional music came to Ontario with European settlers. Lyrics and tunes were adapted to local experiences and the personal preferences of the players, which offer a reflection of society at different moments in history.  The underlying themes are of a timeless nature, as they deal with human existence: love, deception, politics, war, immigration, work, leisure, murder, death, etc. Folk songs make global issues accessible to everyone, as they are created and sung by real people telling real human stories.

Cross Cut invites viewers to reflect on the lives of Canadians from the past and today; superficially things have changed, but the human conditions for people now are not that different from 100 or 200 years ago. Rob Niezen’s linocuts use both the traditional method of carving the material, and contemporary and experimental ways of mark making, including laser engraving and etching.

Cross Cut is a multi media project that also includes a songbook with linocut illustrations and a music album. The Cross Cut songbook covers a selection of song lyrics, their history and basic chord progressions. Historian and musician Dr. Allan Kirby and Rob Niezen are co-producers of the book. Traditional music group Backwoodsmen created contemporary arrangements for the songs, and recorded a double CD with twenty-three songs.

Cedar Ridge Creative Centre
225 Confederation Drive
Scarborough, ON M1G 1B2

Cross Cut at Art Gallery of Bancroft

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The Art Gallery of Bancroft hosts the Cross Cut exhibition from September 4 to September 28, 2024, with an opening reception on September 6, starting at 7:30 pm. The Art Gallery of Bancroft is at 10 Flint Avenue, Bancroft.

Cross Cut is a series of linocuts reflecting on traditional songs from Ontario with a contemporary perspective. The exhibition aims to connect our recent history and today’s society, and invites viewers to reflect on what’s happening with them and around them. Has life improved, or is progress only on a materialistic level? Folk songs make global issues accessible to everyone, as they are created and sung by real people telling real human stories. 

Rob Niezen thanks the Ontario Arts Council and the Province of Ontario for their support.

Temiskaming Art Gallery hosts Cross Cut

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After Minden and Lindsay the Cross Cut exhibition is moving up north to the Temiskaming Art Gallery. Special to the area is the visual interpretation of The Cobalt Song:

You may talk about your cities and all the towns that you know,
With trolley cars and pavements hard and theatres where you go.
You can have your little auto and carriages so fine,
But it’s hob-nail boots and a flannel shirt in Cobalt town for mine.

The exhibition opens on Sunday, September 24 and runs until November 3, 2023. Artist talks and presentations on Saturday, October 14 from 1 to 4 PM. You’ll find the gallery at 325 Farr Drive, Haileybury, Ontario

Kawartha Art Gallery in Lindsay hosts Cross Cut exhibition

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Cross Cut is a series of linocuts reflecting on traditional songs from Ontario with a contemporary perspective. Rob Niezen has selected 23 songs and placed the original narrative in a contemporary context by ‘crosscutting’. Crosscutting is a technique borrowed from film editing used to illustrate a narrative action that happens in several places at the same time, or in one place at different times. The exhibition aims to connect our recent history and today’s society, and the issues we face as citizens of Ontario and Canada, and invites viewers to reflect on what’s happening with them and around them. Has life improved, or is progress only on a materialistic level? Folk songs make global issues accessible to everyone, as they are created and sung by real people telling real human stories.
Rob Niezen gratefully acknowledges the support from the Ontario Arts Council.

Opening reception on Saturday July 15, 2023, from 2:00 to 4:00pm at Kawartha Art Gallery, with the artist talk at 2:30 pm.
The gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.
190 Kent Street West, Second Floor, Lindsay ON K9V 2Y6

Cross Cut exhibition at Agnes Jamieson Gallery in Minden

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The second Cross Cut exhibition at Agnes Jamieson Gallery runs from May 4 to July 1, 2023.

Started, in 2019 and continued into 2022, Cross Cut is a series of twenty four linocuts that are a contemporary response to traditional songs (circa 1800-1940) collected by CBC’s Edith Fowke in rural Ontario during the 1950s and ’60s. The underlying themes of these songs are of a timeless nature, as they deal with human existence: love, deception, politics, war, immigration, work, leisure, murder, death, etc. The linocuts use both the traditional method of carving the material, and more recent and experimental ways of mark making, including laser engraving and etching. The work invites viewers to reflect on society in the past and today; superficially things have changed, but the human conditions now are not that different from 150 years ago.

Check it out at 176 Bobcaygeon Rd, Minden, ON.

 

Rob Niezen again participating in the Kawartha Autumn Studio Tour

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Sandy MacFarlane and Rob welcome you to their studios during the Kawartha Autumn Studio Tour on September 25 and 26, from 10am to 5pm, for a view of what they have been up to the last few years.

Last year we could only do this by appointment, so it is a relief to be able to open up. To make everyone feel safe and at ease, we will follow COVID-protocols as laid out by the Peterborough Public Health Unit and the Government of Ontario.
• Masks are required while visiting the studio
• Physical distancing measures will be in place
• Hand sanitizer will be available
• Maximum capacity for the total of our studio spaces is 12 persons
• Visitors are required to complete COVID-19 screening questions and contract tracing prior to entering the studio

As always the event is curated and organized to perfection by the Art Gallery of Peterborough, and you can find all you need to know about the studio tour, including an interactive touring map and a printable map, as well as artist links and bios on the gallery’s website.

Fire and Ice receives Honorary Mention

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At the Art Gallery of Bancroft’s 37th Annual Juried Exhibition, jurors Laura Culic and Marc Gagnon, awarded Fire and Ice an honorary mention in the Still Life category. This 24 x 24″ oil painting shows the last light shining through a glass of white wine and two water glasses with lots of ice; through the window we see a downtown Tucson, AZ street with a yellow umbrella and woman on her phone: a moment of reflection. The painting was created as part of Rob Niezen’s Celebration series. The exhibition of close to a hundred artworks at the Art Gallery of Bancroft runs through December to the end of January 2020.

Shows in Fall 2019

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This fall is turning out to a busy and exciting time, with a solo exhibition at the Art Gallery of Bancroft titled Nocturnal Reflections, opening November 1st, and participation in a number of other shows.

Also opening November 1 is Squared, a 50/50 fundraiser for the Art School of Peterborough. Six of my Celebration pieces, ranging from 6×6” to 24×24” are on the walls looking for new homes and supporting the art education programmes for this not for profit organization.

November 7 will see the opening of PRINT 2019 at the John B. Aird Gallery in Toronto, for which one of my Heads & Tales linocut-mixed media prints was accepted. This is a promising exhibition for fans of printmaking.

Five of my oil paintings are part of A Holiday Art Market at the Colborne Street Gallery in Fenelon Falls. This show runs from Thursday, November 7, 2019 until Sunday, January 5, 2020, with a reception on Thursday, November 21.

On November 23 and 24 I’ll be participating in the Jamaican Self-Help Artisan Show and Sale in Peterbrough with linocuts and my Heads & Tales works, as well as doing demonstrations. Funds raised during this show will support education and community development programmes in Jamaica, and in the inner-city of Kingston in particular.

And lastly, my most recent Nocturnes can be found at Studio22 Open Gallery in Kingston and at Meta4 in Peterborough.

Rob Niezen opens studio during 2019 Kawartha Autumn Studio Tour

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Sandy MacFarlane and Rob Niezen invite you to their studios in Douro, just east of Peterborough. Get the brochure issued by the Art Gallery of Peterborough, that you can pick up at the gallery and at many other locations, and  map-out your itinerary.
We hope for some fine fall days for a drive in the country, and are looking forward to seeing you Saturday September 21st or Sunday the 22nd.

Rob Niezen Artist