Artist-Instructor Bios

Scott Abbott
Scott is primarily a landscape painter who works on location and in the studio using oils, acrylics, watercolour and pencil crayon. His work has appeared in numerous solo, group,and juried shows, and is featured annually in the Guelph Studio Tour. He is an experienced instructor who has taught for the Upper Grand District School Board and the Wellington County Museum.

Amanda Aikens
Amanda Aikens is an artist, professional goldsmith, mature student. Amanda has been creating jewellery as a custom goldsmith throughout the last seven years and has been involved in creative workshops of all types geared towards both youth and adults. Currently Amanda volunteers with the 4thR Mentorship program, and a reading program geared towards Indigenous youth. She is currently in her second year of a four year B.A. in First Nations Studies and Visual Arts. Amanda has received her diploma in the Jewellery Arts program at George Brown College and very much looking forward to becoming a high school teacher upon graduation.

Stephen Arthurs
A contemporary Canadian artist with a very distinctive point of view, Stephen studied at the Ontario College of Art. He has won international acclaim in France, USA and Canada. His work is in the permanent collections of numerous institutions across the country. Stephen worked for the Hamilton City Board of Education as Artist-in-Residence and has taught at the Burlington Arts Centre but now calls London his home.

Julie Donec
Julie is a contemporary Canadian artist producing realistic portraiture and figurative images in oil and egg tempera mediums. An award winning artist for over 20 years, she has had sold out solo exhibitions in Ontario, and group shows in the U.S. and Europe. Julie attended Emily Carr School of Art and Design, receiving a scholarship to study in Florence, Italy, inspiring her life-long interest in spiritual and allegorical imagery. The “Vampire Series” is her latest body of work, expanding the concepts introduced in her past exhibition entitled “Angels and Devils”. The iconic image of the vampire is the rich and mythical central character used to illustrate the dark corners of the human psyche, and to explore the universal theme of the desire for redemption.

Brent Foster
Brent Foster (b.1982) is a Canadian photojournalist and multimedia producer who has produced work for clients all over the world. Foster was a staff Visual Journalist at the Los Angeles Times before leaving to pursue a freelance career. His travels have taken him all over Southeast Asia, India, Eastern Africa, and throughout Europe, and the Middle East. Foster’s an Eddie Adams workshop alumni, and has received numerous awards including being selected as a finalist for the 2009 Magnum Expression Award, two National Press Photographers Association ‘Best of Photojournalism Awards’ for Multimedia, and a nomination for Canadian Photojournalist of the year through the News Photographers Association of Canada in 2008. His clients include TIME, The New York Times, Canadian Geographic, Human Rights Watch and The Globe and Mail.

Sarah Fraleigh
Sarah is a freelance photojournalist based in Chatham, Ontario. After graduating from Loyalist College with a photojournalism degree in 2002, she began her full-time photojournalism career with The Chatham Daily News, regularly shooting news and community events, feature photos, sports and portraits. She now works freelance for Canadian Press and has brought her photojournalism style and expertise to wedding and event photography. Her work has been published in national papers and magazines such as The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, and Macleans Magazine, as well on many international online news websites.

Amy Friend
Amy Friend is an artist and educator from Windsor, Ontario. She began her undergraduate education at the Ontario College of Art and Design before leaving her formal educational to embark on intermittent travels through areas of Europe, Morocco, Cuba, and the US. After a seven-year hiatus she continued her education at York University receiving a BFA Honors Degree and a BEd degree. In 2008 she completed her MFA Degree from the University of Windsor and was awarded a Social Science and Humanities Grant as well as an Ontario Graduate Scholarship. Her photographic work was selected for the Magenta Flash Forward Photography Competition in 2008 and was recently featured in Air Canada’s enRoute Magazine. Her latest exhibitions were held at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, Ross Creek Centre for Arts in Nova Scotia and in Camaguey, Cuba. Amy’s current work is primarily photographic in practice however she is interested in pushing the boundaries of photography by experimenting with her imagery using a variety of materials and methods. A selection of Amy’s work can be viewed at www.amyfriend.ca.

John Gardiner
John Gardiner is a fifty something short story writer from Wallaceburg, Ontario. His literary credits include four published chapbooks of his work and may articles in various on-line and print literary magazines. His works was once nominated as “Best on the Net.” Most recently he has produced an audio CD of his writings as well as produced a live show combining words and music with singer/songwriter Richard Knechtel. Gardiner describes his heartfelt stories as “emotional thoughtscapes” because of the vivid emotional images they create, which is particularly crucial when producing memoirs, biographic and other “true” stories. When not writing, Gardiner owns and operates an on-line newspaper (www.cktimes.ca) which he labels as Planet Earth’s only good news newspaper, as well as supports the blues both as a musician in two local bands and as a host of area blues concerts by Canadian acoustic blues talent.

Joyce Hamilton
Joyce is a watercolour and oil artist residing in Grimsby. She is attracted to the surrounding beauty of its people, the orchards and vineyards, and the Bruce Trail paths of the Niagara Peninsula. These subjects have been used for commissioned works and for shows in the local galleries, and featured in the Bruce Train calendar. Joyce has satisfied her love of teaching by introducing students to art basics and watercolour painting for 12 years in a Woodstock secondary school and for more than 20 years in her Grimsby studio.

Beth Turnbull Morrish
Beth attended Beal Art in London as an interdisciplinary student and earned a Technological Studies Certificate in Vocational Art. Four years at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design resulted in a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Major in Ceramics and a love of clay. While in Halifax she worked as a potter’s assistant for two different potters. After graduation Beth joined the London Potters Guild as a studio member. She became Artist In Residence and later Studio Technician as well as beginning a teaching career with adults and kids courses, which she still teaches. Beth now works in her own studio – the home of Turning Bull Pottery and also teaches Ceramics at Lambton College in Sarnia.

Sylvia Naylor
Sylvia was educated in England where she became a teacher specializing in textile crafts. She then studies City & Guilds of London Embroidery and G&G Textiles concurrently. She was awarded a silver medal for the highest marks in the country in her year. She has given workshops in different types of embroidery and mixed media in England, Canada and the USA. She has won numerous awards and has been featured in several publications. This year she will have two articles in Quilting Arts (USA) and her work featured in ‘Inspiration’ published by Bernina (Switzerland). She has exhibited her artwork extensively in galleries in England, Canada and the U.S. Her work is in private collections in many countries. Sylvia is a well respected teacher.

Joyce O’Connell
Joyce is a National Award winning Quilt Artist who has a broad knowledge of both traditional and innovative quilting designs and techniques. She has been juried into many competitions and shows, and her work has been exhibited in Canada, the United States and England. In 2008 she was awarded The City & Guilds Diploma in Design & Craft – Stitched Textiles and Quilting and has completed many technique courses to further her knowledge in Design, Fibre Art and Embellishment. She is a Certified Apprentice Judge qualified through the Canadian Quilter’s Association. She served on the Board of Directors for the Canadian Quilter’s Association for a three year period, and continues to write an article in their publication to feature Canadian Pattern Designers.

Leonard Skinner
Leonard is a lifelong painter who, for the past 12 years, has devoted himself to painting full-time. He now has works hanging in galleries around both Canada and United States, and his work is finding its way into many collections. Leonard’s present work, with its unique compositions and bold use of colour, has made him a true leader and innovator in both the Canadian landscape tradition and contemporary abstract scenes.

Chris Snedden
Chris Snedden has been working in clay for 25 years in the London area. After high school he attended Bealart and Georgian College of Applied arts and Technology – Ceramics and Glass where he received the Second Year Scholarship and the Alumni Award for Academic Achievement and Contribution to the Quality of Student Life. Since then he has worked in many facets of the pottery business including building electric kilns, slip casting piecework, designing, mould making, and teaching continuing education classes for the University of Western Ontario, Fanshawe College, The London PUC, and the London Potters Guild, Chris’s work has been shown at festivals, galleries, and museums across Ontario and is collected across North America. Over the last few years he has been invited to present workshops on the slip transfer technique for guilds all over Ontario, and most recently has been chosen by Fusion, the Ontario Clay and Glass Association as “Artist of the Month” for October 2007.

Beth Stewart
For Beth, art is the preservation of various bits of life. She has a Bachelor of Education from the University of Windsor and a Diploma in Arts Therapy from the University of Western Ontario. After 15 years spent working and teaching in the field of art therapy in London, she now divided her time amongst her own art work, teaching secondary school and editing a monthly publication on the arts. Beth works mainly in dry media, using lead or coloured pencils. Her subjects are objects that she collects and/or admires, ranging from small toys to local wildlife. Beth is an active member of the arts community and is a driving force behind several local initiatives, notably the London Artists’ Studio Tour and the Visual Fringe component of the London Fringe Festival.

Sandra Van Raay
Sandra is a recognized local artist with great passion, talent and commitment to her art and the charities she believes in and supports. She has taught art to both children and adults through the Thames Arts Centre, and in the elementary schools, most recently with the “Learning through the Arts” program. Her works are in private collections throughout North America, Europe and India. Watercolour and pencil are her preferred medium and much of her inspiration comes from the beauty of God’s creation and the simple jobs and pleasure that life holds for us as well as those which bring peace to our hearts.

Lisa Waterman
With over a decade of experience, Lisa Waterman has developed both skill and an enduring love of glass. Her artistic journey began in Sault Ste. Marie when she took an introduction to Stained Glass at a local shop. From there Lisa moved to Barrie where she studied design and visual arts. For the last nine years she has been in the London area where she has continued to improve her art and instructional skills through her association with Fanshawe College and Sunrise Stained Glass. Lisa’s personality is reflected in her work which is characterized by a unique, colourful, abstracts and free form style. She has been also known to incorporate the use of found objects into her pieces, and over the last several years she has begun to branch out into warm glass fusing, and painting.

John Willard
John Willard came to quilting via display, theatre costume and set design, collecting and photography. He began collecting antique quilts in 1970 and made his first quilt in 1975. John’s quilts reflect his optimism and his shameless use of colour. His work has been exhibited in England, Wales, France, Germany, Denmark, Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan, the US and Canada. John is a well known and respected instructor across North America.