This exhibit ran from August 31 - October 2, 2024.
Whether it’s a farmer’s field stretching into the distance, a vast apple orchard or the shimmering waters of Georgian Bay, this is a place of big skies and far horizons.
Five painters, Dorothy Embacher, Michelle Languedoc Fleming, Brian Fray, Dean Raeburn-Bell and Paula Rivers have all been captivated and inspired by this beautiful area and have come together to share their visions.
Not only have they been motivated by the horizons around them, but by the internal horizons, the ones that inspire and challenge each one of them to create their art.
The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.
The Artists
Brian Fray
Brian attended Queen’s University, Kingston and The University of Guelph, majoring in painting, sculpture, printmaking and art history. He graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Fine Art degree.
He participated in group shows in Ottawa and had a one-man show at a gallery in Yorkville, Toronto.
Realizing that he could not survive on painting alone, he developed Brian Fray Design, offering freelance illustration. His business grew, but the demands of commercial work took more and more time away from his painting.
Brian is also an avid cartoonist and in 1980, created a syndicated cartoon strip, running in over 100 papers in Canada, the United States and Europe. The character was licensed by Staffordshire Potteries in England for a line of cookware.
He was also the art director and editorial cartoonist for the fledgling weekly newspaper, The Guelph Tribune. He worked as their editorial cartoonist for thirty years. In 2011 Brian was given the Cartoonist of the Year award by the Ontario Community Newspaper Association.
At this time, Brian also ran a graphic design business, Brian Fray Design, that kept him very busy. And, yet again, left little time for him to pick up the paint brushes.
After retiring as an editorial cartoonist, Brian moved to Meaford. Having come full circle, he has happily found time to paint and draw again. The landscape in the area takes his breath away. Although his landscape paintings are somewhat abstract, he draws his inspiration from the beautiful scenery that surrounds him. He is especially enthralled with the big skies and vast horizons the area has to offer.
Brian has painted realistic landscapes, but the challenges of creating more abstract works, using composition, form and colour, are what interest him most. The sense of landscape is still there, but in a more abstracted form.
Dean Raeburn-Bell
Dean always enjoyed drawing and painting and, with the help of artist mentors, primarily Michelle Fleming, he came to discover the importance of risk-taking, fundamental in exploring the creative arts. For years he was excited by the visual artwork of others. He thought how amazing it would be to make those shapes, with such colour, in that particular way and put it into the world.
In 2016, his introduction to Michelle came at just the right time. Her expertise and teaching methods have been transformative for him. He paints and feels the joy of embracing the creative spirit that resides in us all.
Dean is a long-time resident of Grey County where he established a career in teaching grades 1 through 12, primarily in the Social Sciences and Humanities. In 2016, he retired from helping others learn to focus on his own artistic development.
Much of Dean’s work is inspired by his interaction with the beauty found in local gardens, on trails and the waters of Georgian Bay region. Others are inspired by traveling with family throughout Canada.
Dorothy Embacher
Dorothy is an impressionistic landscape artist from Meaford, Ontario. Her art is influenced by the waters of Georgian Bay and the terrain of the Bruce Peninsula.
Now retired, she dedicates her time fully to her art practice in her home studio. As an environmentalist, she advocates for sustainable living through her art practice.
Her intent is to bring awareness to the earth’s beauty, its oddity and the often unseen, while encouraging others to do the same. Nature’s patterning influences her mark making, choice of medium and brush strokes. Dorothy’s practice continues to evolve as she embraces all possibilities.
Michelle Fleming
Michelle is an artist living in the Southern Georgian Bay area. She graduated with honours from the Ontario College of Art and Design and received a BFA from Guelph University.
Michelle has taught painting for over 30 years, first in Toronto and then in the Southern Georgian Bay area. For eight years she was the Head of the Art Department at Pretty River Academy in Collingwood, Ontario.
In 2006, Michelle founded The Bay School of Art, offering a variety of art classes for all ages. Michelle retired from her position as Director of The Bay School of Art and teaching full time in 2016 so she could devote more time to painting.
Paula Rivers
Paula is a landscape artist who can be found painting from her home along the shoreline of Southern Georgian Bay.
Being active outside and surrounded by nature was always a very important part of her upbringing. She spent her summers at a remote family cabin in the wilderness of Northern Ontario and winters on the ski hills of Southern Ontario. A freak circumstance out in nature changed the direction of her life. She now explores the extraordinary beauty of the landscapes she loved in a very different way through a new creative outlet, painting.
Paula uses oils to capture the memories of moments in time and the feelings surrounding them. Her style has emerged with painterly brush strokes, use of colour and attention to contrast.
She attended The Bay School of Art in Collingwood from 2011- 2016 and is currently expanding her knowledge of painting techniques in classes with Michelle Fleming.
She has participated in numerous group shows around the escarpment, and her work is in private collections throughout Canada and the United States.
