Artists

Let us introduce the current artists we are featuring.

 

Peter Martin

 

Peter generally works in Brazilian soap stone, Quebec Soapstone, Alabaster stone from Spain and some stones from China. The stone most of us are familiar with is the green Quebec Soapstone. Much of it is used by the Inuit carvers that we often see. It is quite a symbolic Canadian material.

Peter’s carvings take many different forms. He equally enjoys carving animals and landscapes. Owls, bears, musk ox and wolves sit comfortably beside pine trees and schooners carved of stone. The love of the outdoors and everything it encompasses shines through in Peter’s work.

 

 

 

William (Bill) Wetheral

 

“I guess I am just bent that way”. That is how Bill explains his obvious talent and skill for anything involving wood. Bill has been a life long resident of Cannington, and now that he has retired from dairy farming he spends most of his time working with wood.

 

Most of his raw materials are harvested off of his home farm. We are very honoured that Bill has chosen The Dark Horse as the exclusive shop for his work. Hand turned bowls, snowmen turned from old fence posts and hand turned garden sculptures are just a few of his wonderful creations.

Bill also makes beautiful benches and stools from barn beams and rustic logs.  There are generally a few in the shop at any given time.

 

Some of Bill’s beautiful work!

Sheila Brenchley

“For every season there is a reason” – In this season of Sheila’s life, clay is the medium she has chosen to express herself;

 

“My feelings, my ideas, my desires, my dreams and the things that make me happy and make me who I am. ”

 

For many years now, Sheila has been exploring this art by taking classes, working in her studio, travelling abroad to Spain, South Korea and Japan to work with potters and sharing ideas with other potters in Ontario.

 

Sheila believes that every avenue brings a new light and inspiration to her work. From functional ware, sculptures, water fountains and outdoor pieces to one of a kind abstracts – her stoneware pottery is expressive and interesting.

 

Sheila Brenchley detail

 

 

Lynda Cunningham

 

Country life is the inspiration for Lynda’s work, combining her love of rural living with her passion for art. The subjects of Lynda’s oil paintings reflect the rapidly disappearing scenes of rural Ontario and its domestic farm animals. Through her art she recaptures days past, when horses were an integral part of farm life.

 

Lynda Cunningham’s painting “New Arrivals”

 

Lianne Megarry

 

Lianne Megarry lives with her family in an old stone house on a farm in Sunderland. She says, “I see a painting waiting to happen from every window in my house; the challenge is to find the time to paint them all.”

 

Lianne enjoys painting landscapes and abstracts equally. Her weapon of choice is often the palette knife to bring the painting to life.

 

She has shown at The MacKay House in Unionville for several years and at The Sunderland Art Festival among other shows.

 

 

Bielle

 

An 8-year-old, after a tour of Bielle’s work hanging in The Dark Horse, said to her, “Sometimes you paint things and sometimes you just paint.” That seems as good an explanation as any of the variety of styles and media in which she shows the world some of what is going on inside her head.

 

Bielle came to making art relatively late in life. To paraphrase Wordsworth, she says “The world was too much with me” and painting was a way of expressing feelings without the constraints of mere words. Almost every painting starts with the thought “I wonder what will happen if . . .” and just goes on from there.

 

Bielle lives outside of Blackstock.