22nd Annual Autumn Art Sale

Applications are now being accepted for the 22nd Annual Autumn Art Sale.

Applications are available to be filled in online HERE (to save you the cost of postage), or as a printable PDF version HERE.

The Application deadline is May 31, 2012

Good luck to all applicants!

Volunteers celebrate after 2011 Autumn Art Sale

Thanks to everyone who helped make the 21st Annual Autumn Art Sale a great success. Our 50 artists and sculptors sold over $133,000 worth of art, raising over $40,000 for volunteer initiatives.

Browse our pages to find out more about the McMichael Volunteer Committee, our programs and initiatives, and how you can become involved.

Congratulations to this year’s top artists. Peter Rotter was Best in Show (for the second year in a row), Florence Chik-Lau was our Top Sculptor, and our Top Ten group included Mike Smalley, Jeremy Browne, Tim Packer (Best in Show 2007/2008), Deborah Gibson, Janet Bailey, Lorne Winters, Doris Pontieri (Best in Show 2006), Stephen Yau, and Jamie MacLean.

Rural landscapes with an urban eye

Realist painter Peter Rotter discusses his lifelong passion

By Lina Nijmeh

In Peter Rotter’s brightly lit basement studio stands an easel where his latest canvass sits. Below is a large bin filled with tubes of oil paint, while scattered on a white futon are dozens of bent and wrinkled photos he’s taken of the area surrounding his cottage. This is where he conceptualizes the landscape he’s going to paint, incorporating elements from one or more photos.

Although half of Rotter’s landscapes are made this way, his vision is only realized once it’s finished. “You can say I Frankenstein them together,” he said of his style. “I don’t need to go far. I love light, and I love lack of light.”

At his cottage in the Kawartha Lakes region and in his home studio in downtown Toronto is where the Scarborough native documents Ontario’s beautiful scenery on canvass. This dichotomy is not obvious looking at his paintings: A young urban dweller who exclusively paints landscapes and has no interest in painting anything city-oriented.  

The recent move to the basement from the main floor of his house was, in his words, to spare his wife and new baby from the paint fumes – and to avoid distraction. Leaning on the basement walls are empty canvasses awaiting his attention, including a partially painted one he lost interest in and abandoned in 1990. He won’t dispose of it because he thinks he just might get back to it one day, while the paintings he outright doesn’t like find a home at his mother’s house.

“I still haven’t mastered oils yet so I still got to keep working on it,” Rotter humbly admits. “And I just like the feeling of them. I like how they’re not dry the next day. In a way they’re messy, but in a way they’re not messy.”  

For admirers of his work, Rotter believes it’s a subconscious familiarity with the scenery that grabs their interest. “I think people are drawn to my work because of the sensitivity of it. I think they like the way I design it,” said the realist painter. I think they know it’s not fake and it comes from a place.”

Rotter was just 12-years old when people began to take notice of his talent. His summers were spent at art camp in Bancroft, Ontario where his teachers recognized the quality of his work.

“They wanted you to draw the scenery. I was really good at it and the teachers were impressed and wanted to see more. I stuck out. I always did it [landscapes] after that,” Rotter muses. “I used to do them for Christmas presents.”

While the photos he takes allow him to sketch out his subjects, Rotter uses his iPad to keep the images organized and to narrow in on the details.

“It actually helps me make it simple instead of guessing and actually overworking,” Rotter explains. “Seeing more detail actually makes me do less detail – it’s nice. It’s a weird thing my head does. I don’t have to fake it.”

In his current piece, inspired by the work of Jackson Pollack, lines he calls “spaghetti” are spread in different directions. But he sees similar design elements in other artists’ work, like Gustav Klimt, that guide his hand. “He influences me a lot. He was the same way; he didn’t have to go far–right out of his backyard–to get inspiration. I take what I see around me,” Rotter explains. “The Group of Seven is always an inspiration, too.”

One can draw parallels between Rotter and the Group of Seven. He is part of the artist collective City Field North Shore–a group of friends he occasionally exhibits with and who serve as support for one another. Rotter fulfills the North, while Stewart Jones (City), David Grieve (Field), Joe Sampson (Shore) complete the group.

“Being fulltime artists is kind of lonely, so we need to have a network, but we don’t need to be in the same room together,” Rotter said, pausing. “You just get lonely.” The group all paint individually but speak regularly to break the solitude and keep each other motivated. Rotter also regularly visits galleries to recharge after a show. “I kinda need to be alone,” he said.

After studying design at the Ontario College of Art and Design and computer animation at Sheraton College, Rotter worked as an illustrator for the award-winning preschool TV program Hoobs, which was created and produced by The Jim Henson Company between 2000 and 2002. “It was the best. They still play the crap out of it,” Rotter said excitedly.

Since then he’s been a dedicated artist, working six-hour days­–painting winter landscapes in the summer, and fall and summer landscapes in the winter. “I think what it is with my work is, I still have that illustrator mentally in my head of everything has to be organized so I design everything. I think it’s subconscious,” he muses. “There are certain things that I have to organize and that’s the obsessive compulsive part of me. Everything has to be in threes. I like three.”

He points to the trees on his canvass, ones he obsessively counts to ensure they aren’t even in number. As he’s describing his technique, the painting doesn’t look so abstract anymore but carries a sense of design and structure.

Although he’s been painting for most of his life, he never loses passion for painting landscapes. “I would be doing this even if I had a fulltime job; I’d be doing it at night,” he said passionately. “And I’d be working so hard, that I’d want to quit my fulltime job. That’s the way it’s always gonna be with me, it’s never gonna change. I’ll keep doing landscapes until they’re irresistible.“

The land of peaceful coexistence

Sculptor Florence Chik-Lau uses animal subjects to express her message

By Lina Nijmeh

In the last decade, Prince Edward County is where sculptor Florence Chik-Lau has found the inspiration for her work. Her surroundings, including the animals that inhabit the space beyond her backyard, serve as subjects for her clay sculptures, which carry a deeper meaning than what they first seem to convey.

Each sculpture begins with a message, which is then delivered through the grouping or expression of the animals.

“I try to create different characters–do different things than just the animal themselves,” Chik-Lau explains. “The shape is the animal but the sentiment is very human.”

The universal message carried in all her pieces is one of peaceful coexistence. Each of her anthropomorphized subjects, carry a general impression of the breakdown of communication between individuals, which is something Chik-Lau wants to draw attention to. Her sculpture of two rabbits standing back to back is representative of this breakdown.

In the ‘Utopia’ series, she joins different species and positions them in various ways leaving it to individual interpretation.

“Just through the gesture, the expression on the face of the animal, it conveys a message– it’s a very subtle message and people get different things from it,” Chik-Lau explains. “Everybody who liked my work always told me that each piece–each animal has a different expression and it’s whatever you take away from it.”

Before moving to rural Ontario with her husband and two children, Chik-Lau studied graphic design at the Ontario College of Art (OCAD) and worked as a graphic designer in Toronto for several years. Born in Hong Kong, she admits her exposure to art was limited save for painting lessons she fondly recalls taking with the full support of her parents. But she always knew she wanted to be an artist and art school is what drew her to Canada.

Chik-Lau bashfully laughs as she admits she wasn’t very good at the standard method of shaping clay on a wheel,” but became inspired by animal sculptures. “The first piece I did of the animals worked out well and people started asking me to buy it,” the self-taught potter says.

Working in her small home-studio, Chik-Lau takes an unconventional approach to sculpting, which allows her sculptures to remain unique. Each piece begins as a 22 by 22-inch slab of clay, which she pounds it into a flat piece before shaping it and adding features using photo references. Once the clay is dry, she brushes the details with ceramic stain before it gets fired for its final step.

“My technique is slightly unusual. I don’t do what people normally do with a block of clay,” Chik-Lau says. “All my animals are hollow inside.”

Chik-Lau is a very positive person despite the darkness underpinning some of the uplifting messages she wants to convey. All her sculptures are optimistic and she surrounds herself with the same positivity in her workspace, where a print of Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ hangs.

“There is only one piece I have done, even though the message is kind of sad [of] three different animals–the rhinoceros, elephant, and polar bear [because they] all are endangered.”

Once piece which represents her work well is ‘Bear, dear, fox’ – an idyllic scene of Canadian forest animals, stacked one on top of the other. “The bear is a Celtic symbol for the animal goddess, Artio–she’s a Celtic goddess of the animals and she usually takes the form of a bear,” Chik-Lau explains. “So the bear being very protective of all the other forest animals.”

Protection is an underlying theme that also appears in the many mother and child pieces she attributes to her years working full-time raising her children.

Along with her general sculptures, Chik-Lau also creates masks, ornaments and jewellery of the same nature. Without the use of molds and because the clay is soft and collapsible, Chik-Lau admits not every piece comes together given the process.

“Because of the method I use is really organic, sometimes it happens right away, sometimes it’s a struggle to get it going,” Chik-Lau says. “Even after eleven years and hundreds of animals, I never could tell whether this is going to work or not, and then you keep working on it and suddenly, it happens.”

Chik-Lau‘s work is in many private collections across Canada, the United States, Europe, and Australia.

Thanks to everyone who helped make the 20th Annual Autumn Art Sale an outstanding success. Our 50 artists and sculptors sold over $147,000 worth of art, raising over $50,000 for volunteer initiatives.

Browse our pages to find out more about the McMichael Volunteer Committee, our programs and initiatives, and how you can become involved.

A: We always put on a good evening, and this year will be no exception. We have complimentary hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar, and a wonderfully festive feel. Feel free to get as dressed up as you would like (it’s not black tie, and you don’t need to wear gowns, but that outfit in your closet that you keep for special occassions – this might be the time to dust it off)

Q: Can we bring people to the Gala Opening?

A: Absolutely – the more the merrier – especially if they come prepared to purchase works of art. We are expecting over 600 people that evening, and a large portion of our sales comes on this evening…

Q: Is there a charge for people to see the art sale?

A: There is no charge for visitors to view the works for sale in the Grand Lobby. If they do wish to view the works in the gallery spaces, they will need to pay admission. The gallery itself is not open during the Friday night gala, but is throughout the weekend.

Q: What does it cost to park?

A: Parking is $5 for visitors (free for members). Artists park for free over the weekend – your name will be on a list with Security/Parking.

Q: Is it true that there will be a meal provided for the artists and volunteers on Friday before the sale?

A: Yes. We will supply a light dinner in the gallery restaurant on Friday Oct. 21 between 4:30 and 5:30 pm. This is last year’s menu – this year’s should be similar.

Q: Can my spouse/mature child/friend help over the weekend?

A: Absolutely. Let us know who you’re thinking of bringing so we can print up a nametag. If their desire to help extends past just helping you (their favourite artist), send an email to artsale2011@mcmichaelvolunteers.com and our volunteer coordinator will get back to you with opportunities.

Q: What do you mean by "size" on the works form submission – image size or framed size?

A: Give us the image size, as it will be printed on the work label. Purchasers can mentally add in the framed dimension.

Q: How should I price my works? What kind of prices have sold in the past?

A: The majority of the pieces sold are under $1,000, but we have sold a number at higher levels. Click Here to view the breakdown of sales by price range for the last five years.

Q: Is is true we have to stand all weekend?

A: No, we are just severely limited with space constraints, so we have to be creative. You may bring a small stool (check out Canadian Tire or Dominion for their $10 wooden stools), but anything larger will impinge on the display space of others, and act as an obstacle for the browsing public. If you view the images of the display space slideshow, you’ll see some examples of what artists brought last year.

Q: Is is true we are not allowed to bring portfolios to show our other works?

A: Again, we are just severely limited with space constraints, so we have to be creative. You may bring a SMALL portfolio that you can show to prospective purchasers to help show the depth and breadth of your work, especially if it helps make a sale. (Small, as there’s no real place to hide it at your panel, and it can look like a dog’s breakfast if we have portfolios, purses, bags, and coats laid at the base of your panel.) If a patron was interested in purchasing one of the works from your portfolio not on display in the sale, we would ask that you still honour the 65%/35% split.

Q: Kleinburg, eh. So just where exactly is that again?

A: The village of Kleinburg is located in the City of Vaughan, about 30 minutes north of Toronto. Click the link below to have Google Maps help you find us.

View Larger Map

Q: Any suggestions on where to stay for the weekend?

A: Click this link to view the accommodations page from the McMichael web site.

Q: Excel – what’s that? I don’t have that on my computer, so how can I submit my works list to meet the October 1 deadline?

A: Just about ANY program will work – even a regular email message. Excel simply makes it easy to keep things in columns. If you use a word processing program – just insert one tab (and only one tab) between columns. We’ll be able to copy it and paste it into our cumulative list. If you have any questions, let us know (sooner, rather than later).

Q: Is it true that there will be sales during the day on Friday?

A: Yes. We started this a couple of years ago, and it has proved successful for us. It allows McMichael staff working during the day (who wouldn’t normally stay for the evening) to get a crack at your works, as well as McMichael visitors. Last year, we sold almost $7,000 during the day. Artists are not expected to be at the gallery during the day on Friday. Please check your panel upon arrival on Friday evening in case you have to replace any works sold during the day.

Q: I see where you state that artwork must be "professionally framed and wired for hanging. What about "gallery stretched canvas"?

A: Works on gallery stretched canvas do not need to be framed, as long as they are properly finished on the sides. The essense of this requirement is that our patrons must be able to bring home their artwork and immediately hang it on the wall. View this link for framing samples.

Q: Do artists have to provide their own lighting?

A: Each panel (6′ wide x 7′ tall) already has two lights – you will not need to bring your own. View this image.

Q: What hanging system will we use?

A: We use adjustable hooks on aircraft hanger wire. To begin with, each panel will have four wires (and as many hooks as you will need. Extra wires are available if necessary. See this image for the hooks.

Click here to see an analysis of sales by price range for the last five Autumn Art Sales.

The essence is that our purchasers must be able to hang their purchased pieces once they get them home.