Exhibit coincides with annual Mayor’s Gala
Lisa Di Natale’s only been to Paris once, but she said it’s a city whose beauty stays with you for life.
The Milton artist has curated an exhibit on Paris to coincide with Saturday’s Mayor’s Gala for the Arts, which also has a Paris theme.
Running until January 25, the Holcim Gallery show at the Milton Centre for the Arts, will prove to be the backdrop for socializing during this weekend’s gala event. Di Natale is eager to see guests’ reactions to the show she carefully put together.
“I’ll admit it was a tricky show because it could turn into a cliché…with 30 pictures of the Eiffel Tower, or French poodles,” she said. “Everyone has this image of what Paris is and I wanted to avoid that.”
She feels she’s been successful.
“I think we ended up with a wide diversity of work that still says Paris,” she said. “It’s an old city with a lot of history, amazing old architecture and stories.
“We did end up with Eiffel Towers, but there’s other things like beautiful flowers, reminiscent of Claude Monet,” she added, noting there’s about 20 pieces on the walls. “It’s a little sparse, but I like space between pieces to give people time to reflect, pause and look at the artwork.”
She added, “It is dedicated to that one night and the Paris theme binds it to that. It will be almost like a bistro or café.”
But, she encourages people to come out anytime because the show is bright, colourful and energetic — a welcome site in the heart of a long cold winter.
“It’s a really nice show with a lot of colour,” she said. “If you want a pick-me-up, it would be nice to pop in.”
“It’s got it all — images of flowers, poppy landscapes, pretty and uplifting scenes, some contrasts, hyper-realistic still-lifes and even some in the style of the old Renaissance masters – heavy and quiet. It’s quite the contrast to the abstract flowers, but I feel they work nicely together.”
She said the works are all two-dimensional with water-colour, acrylic, mixed media, oil and pencil sketches. Most, if not all, are created by Fine Arts Society of Milton members or Milton residents.
http://www.insidehalton.com/community-story/5254841-paris-comes-to-life-at-milton-centre-for-the-arts/