Opening reception for both exhibitions :
Saturday, March 31, 2:00 to 4:00 pm
Tour the exhibition with the artists at 1:00 pm

 

Gallery I
Tropicos Eternos   
Maria Luisa de Villa

In Tropicos eternos, Maria Luisa de Villa presents a series of visual correspondences that explore the complex relationship existing between nature, culture and her own lived experiences, both in Mexico and Canada.  Ideas of land, flora, habitat and migration are central to the artist’s work.  Through the genre of drawing and the use of handmade papers, the artist produces a series of visual analogies that examine notions of ritual migration and movement between the ancestral and the contemporary.  De Villa’s visual encounters of collective memory, cultural icons and sanctuaries of nature evoke layers of consciousness coalescing in the notion of place in a landscape of evolving relationships.

 
Bio - Maria Luisa de Villa

The AGS is pleased to welcome back Maria Luisa de Villa (Merrifield) to exhibit her latest drawings and conduct a master class workshop.  De Villa was active in the artistic community of Sudbury for 25 years.  She participated in many exhibitions and events connected with the then LUMAC, Laurentian University Museum and Art Centre.  Since 1974, de Villa has coordinated Mexico-Canada art forums and cultural exchanges.  Acknowledged for her support and contributions in the arts, de Villa has received several awards and grants, she is founding member of the CCIE Hispanic international multidisciplinary festival of the arts held annually in Toronto.  She has also worked in programming and community involvement with public galleries and museums.  Represented by: Galería Arte de Oaxaca and Galería La Mano Mágica in Mexico. Her work is represented in private art collections in Mexico, Canada and the U.S.A. Maria Luisa de Villa is currently living and working in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Gallery II
Being There
Sam Shahsahabi

This art work gathered under the title of Being There, is a collection of drawings and constructions which speak of the human condition.  His drawing reflects both moments of terror and observations on the absurd. Layers of drawing, colour and texture camouflage collected imagery giving acknowledgement to the universally human state of fragility and uncertainty.  His constructed works make magic of found elements and common objects. Assembled at times into enigmatic machines the viewer is challenged to interact and investigate.  The experience becomes akin to encountering a new acquaintance or a new culture.  With a title like “my chair my love my savior I wear you inside out every day” applied to one of these most simple constructs one realizes there is always more than what appears to the naked eye or the first encounter.

 
Bio - Sam Shahsahabi

Sam Shahsahabi is a visual artist whose creative life came to fruition in Iran where he studied both modern and classical arts and received his BFA from Azad University.  Since coming to Canada in 1997, he has received his MFA from York University, Toronto.  Shahsahabi came to northern Ontario in 2004 to teach at White Mountain Academy in Elliot Lake.  He has decided to settle in Sudbury and has worked with the AGS to teach adult and youth programs.