Left: Art by Ginette Legaré, Desous de Table, 1998
Oct. 9, 2003, marked the launch date of Painting Promises, a weekly guest speaker series in York’s Department of Visual Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts. Since then, several leading Canadian artists, critics and curators have enlightened audiences about their work and their vision of painting today.
On Thursday, Jan. 22, Toronto-based artist and York alumna Ginette Legaré (MFA ’85) will headline the program, explaining her artistic achievements. Her work shows the potential everyday objects have as art.
Right: Scoop detail from Feeding Disorders Series, 1998
Legaré’s creations deal with the sculptural potential of commonplace objects and with formalizing various materials into concrete objects. She has confronted the medium, embracing the physicality of surface in an interpretive dialogue of the symbolic and iconic qualities of the image.
Legaré’s talk will take place from 12:30-2pm in Room 214 in York’s Joan & Martin Goldfarb Centre for Fine Arts. The event includes a post-lecture reception where the public is invited to meet and chat with the artist in an informal atmosphere. Admission is free and everyone is welcome.
Right: Painter’s Stroke, Series 2, 2001
Below left: Mind Fields/Les corps Terrestres, 1994
Born in Quebec, Legaré studied and worked in Spain before returning to Canada in 1983. Currently, she teaches in the sculpture/installation program at the Ontario College of Art and Design.
Legaré’s solo shows include Contract Lens at the Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto (2002), Multiple/Divise at Laval University’s Galerie des arts visuals (1999) and Salted Samples at Cold City Gallery, Toronto (1997). She has also participated in group exhibitions at the Art Gallery of York University, Mercer Union and Vancouver Contemporary Art Gallery. Her work is found in many private and public collections.
The Painting Promises lecture series gives students and the wider York University community access to leading visual artists and their work through illustrated talks, providing both personal and “big picture” insight into the contemporary visual arts scene in Canada. The series is coordinated by York visual arts Professor Michel Daigneault.
Next up in this ongoing lecture series is a presentation by printmaker Julie Voyce on Thursday, Jan. 29, followed by York adjunct professor, internationally renowned photographer Robin Collyer on Thursday, Feb. 5.