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schedulescalendar of eventswhat's new

Schedules
Calendar of Events
What's going on?

spring summer 2002 image

 


 

  

Home > Schedules > What's New

What's going on at & around Dovercourt?

March 27, 1pm - Know More Do More Campaign Launch
Dovercourt lobby

As a parent, we know there is nothing more important to you than the health and well-being of your children.

In reality, we can all benefit from more physical activity and healthy eating habits … and we want to help you find new and fun ways to do this as a family everyday.

Join us on March 27th for the launch of the Know More Do More campaign.
Andrea Tomkins, local mother and writer of the blog “A Peek Inside the Fishbowl”, Ottawa health leaders and members of the community will launch the campaign that encourages all families to find new and fun ways to include physical activity and healthy eating habits as a part of everyday family life.

The launch will include information on fun kids’ activities and healthy eating, distribution of the Healthy Living Tip Jars and complimentary healthy snacks.


Special Art project (begun Jan. 2010)

As part of our ongoing facility improvement plans, we have engaged Maggie Glossop, a local textile artist to do an art project of ceiling hangings that will also serve as part of the sound treatment for this room. The four panels will run the width of the room and be affixed to the ceiling between the banks of lights. Each panel will represent one of the four seasons, and the work will begin shortly with completion over the next few months.

We are very excited about this installation and having someone of Maggie’s talent to help us. Check out her work on her web site at www.maggieglossop.com.

As a community run charity, we of course seek the help of sponsors and patrons to help cover the cost of these projects. Cost for this project is $5,000, and we have already received support from two local businesses, Bourk’s Ignition and Hardy Mattress. While we will continue to seek other sponsors, we also would love to have our participants either collectively or individually step up as patrons of the arts and those that will enjoy the art to help. All donations are income tax deductible, and receipts will be issued. Name recognition of sponsors and patrons will be on permanent display on a plaque displayed in the preschool room.

For more information on the project contact John Rapp, Executive Director at 613 798-8950 ext. 224, jrapp@dovercourt.org.


The Labyrinth Walk

Check out these beautiful images from the labyrinth walks from 2008 & just recently Dec. 31, 2009, in the Assembly Hall at Dovercourt

labyrinth walks

New Water Safety Banners in the Pool

We recently designed, printed and installed 6 colourful banners for the pool area which include Water safety messages in English and French and feature Dovercourt's mascot, Dovercat. As well as enlivening the pool area, they serve a practical purpose as a guide for swimmers who are swimming on their backs.

Thank you to our sponsors for the support for this project: the Morris Home Team, Martin Elder, the Foodery, Allegra Print and Image Carling & Broadview and Westboro Village.


 

This gallery is named in honour of Linda Street, past President of Dovercourt, who is a champion for art as part of our everyday experience at Dovercourt.

It is a showcase for art works by local artists, and their fabulous work is for sale.

If you are an artist looking to exhibit, click here for the application (pdf)


March 2010: Shar Desbarats

Shar Desbarats studied Fine Arts at the University of Manitoba from 1978-1983 with majors in Graphic Design and Pottery. She got her start in the work world doing Public Relations for a Winnipeg marketing firm and at the Plug In Art Gallery. This allowed Shar to represent fellow artists and bring public attention to the Winnipeg art scene. During this period Shar entered a piece in a collaborative art show with other up and coming Winnipeg artists and began to sell her work privately. She also taught children at the Winnipeg Art Gallery.
Following her move to Anchorage Alaska in 1992, Shar taught classes at Michael's and continued selling paintings privately. Three years later, now living in Ottawa, Shar put on a successful show of 50 works at Irene's Pub on Bank Street.

Shar's works are referred to as "Stylized Emotionalism". This unique style utilizes lines, colour and texture with a graphic arts influence. The emotional quality of her work is individual and unforgettable.

Currently, Shar teaches a group of women and very much enjoys the pre-classes which involve dinner and meditation. The women are working in acrylics and are learning a range of abstract to impressionistic styles.

Shar resides in Ottawa in a chic West End apartment with her luxurious cat Pepsi.

 

February 2010: Cynthia Graham

In the Beginning, a painting by Cynthia Graham

Cynthia Graham - Painter
Cynthia Graham was born in Oshawa, Ontario in 1962. In the late 70’s she moved, with her family, to Ottawa. Her artistic abilities were evident from childhood and encouraged by teachers, friends and family.

“As long as I can remember, I have always felt a need to create. It is intrinsic; like the air I breathe. No matter what else I do, all roads lead back to the act of creation. There is nothing like painting that satisfies that need the same way.”

Cynthia’s love affair with paint has fueled her exploration of different types of paint. Her chosen medium are acrylics, water colours and oil. She has an intuitive feel for the unique qualities and capabilities of each.
Cynthia’s expressive style creates harmonious moods with colour and form. Her subject matter is varied including modern abstract, still life, floral, landscapes, and portraiture.

Currently teaching acrylic painting and water colour classes at the Good Companion’s Centre, Cynthia shares her enthusiasm and knowledge while inspiring her senior students to explore their own inner artist.

Primarily working as a commissioned artist, Cynthia’s works are included in many private collections nationally and internationally.

Cynthia has exhibited at the NFAL Member’s Show and the Ottawa Orchid Society’s annual show and sale.
Popular prints from selected works are also available through her studio.

Cynthia Graham works from her home studio in west Ottawa.

She can be reached at CGArtworks@bell.net

 

 

Artist's Statement ~ Organic Flow
There is a natural flow of energy that we have all recognized in our lives at times. When we are in harmony with the natural flow of life, we feel at peace, content and happy.

Connecting with nature is the easiest way we can recapture that natural flow of energy.
Each painting in this series incorporates an element of poured paint. The soft contours and blended colours flowing into each other create fine organic lines, shapes and form.

Recognizing that the need to maintain the source of our natural flow lies in protecting our environment, I started painting this series with reclaimed acrylic and oil based paints, “gifted” to me through Free-Cycle Ottawa.
Free-Cycle Ottawa is an on-line community whose mission it is to keep unwanted but still useable items out of land fill and ultimately protect our natural environment.

Utilizing “gifted” paint creates unique challenges and opportunities.

I embraced the opportunity to integrate colours selected by other people to create unique palettes reflective of current everyday life.

Each piece exemplifies the inter-relationship of human beings with the environment, the connective-ness of community and the power and fragility of nature.

Pouring the paint directly onto the canvas and manipulating the canvas allowed the colours to naturally flow together.

The compositions created evolved through design around the “free pour”, enhancements with artist’s acrylics and oils, “controlled pour” and washed areas.

The finished works convey the peaceful energy of natural flow and organic form.
With this series, I invite you to go with the “Organic Flow”.

-Cynthia Graham

 

 


January 2010 - Mary Kritz

Mary Kritz is a bookbinder, book artist and adult educator. Her love affair with books began at the age of 12 when she purchased her first collection of books with her paper route money. To Mary, the blank book is an opportunity to create one’s own story through such things as photographs, words and art.

Mary took her first bookbinding class in 1992 in Edmonton, creating small accordion books with non-adhesive covers. When she moved to Ottawa, she attended a bookbinding and paper making course at the Ottawa School of Arts. She took bookbinding and box making classes from the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild, of which she is an active member. She is also an active member of the Ontario Crafts Council.

Mary’s learning is self-directed and when creating a book, box or piece of art, she draws from her environment, using architecture and nature for inspiration. She recycles paper and found objects into her work. Her photography has been exhibited at Arts and Architecture in Ottawa, and she designed the 2009 mural for the Dovercourt wading pool.

Mary continues to create books and teaches bookbinding and box making to students of all ages. You can view her work at www.sweetwoodstrading.com.


December 2009: Ralph Plath

Ralph Plath is a freelance photographer, travel writer, and photojournalism instructor at Algonquin College. His work has appeared in such publications as the Ottawa Citizen, Globe and Mail, and Paddler Magazine.

He continues to pursue his passion for photography, travel, and canoeing from his home in McKellar Park. Two summers ago, Plath began teaching photography with Dovercourt’s summer day camp and enjoyed it so much he will be back once again next year to share his love of photography with kids.

For more information about purchasing prints from this collection please contact him at rplath@rogers.com.


November 2009: Joe Lynch

From the age of 15 to 35 I sold my paintings privately to individuals and corporations for whom I had done wall graphics.

During the mid 70s to the early 80s I did wall murals for close to a hundred companies including Dunn and Brad Street, IBM, Litton Industries, Toshiba and many insurance companies.

There are only three means we can use to try to come to grips with reality: art, religion/ philosophy and science. I have always immersed myself in the sometimes guilty pleasures of the visual arts. This immersion is non-exclusive, that is to say, free from politics, nationalism, religion, gender and time. I draw my influences from the 50,000 year old art in the prehistoric caves of Lascaux, the romantic and classical artists, the German and French impressionists, Kandinsky the Russian, Grandma Moses, Picasso, Asian, Indian and Persian Art, Aboriginal Art, Jackson Pollack, Paul Klee, the Group of Seven, Jim Dine…like the numbers in pie there is no end to the wonders that come out of the human hand to be done and seen by the heart, soul and mind of us all. Let me not forget to mention the joy of children's art.

Email: jackiemdavidson@hotmail.com


 

 

Sept. 2009: West End Studio Tour Artists
The artists will be in attendance on the weekends of Sept. 19-20 & Sept 26 - 27.

Wendy Feldberg - Fibre Art

Wendy Feldberg

Delighting in natural forms, I create stitched and painted art using threads, fabrics, paints, dyes and print. My canvases show layered surfaces alive with texture, colour and feeling.

Email:
wendy.feldberg@sympatico.ca

     

Deidre Hierlihy - Linocut

Deidre Hierlihy

 

I use linocut to express the ordinary and the exceptional in the domestic world that surrounds me.

website:

www.deidrehierlihy.com

     
Shlomo Feldberg - Metal Art

Shlomo Feldberg
 

I use scrap metal and recycled cutlery, dishes and pots, etc. to create “Green” art. I make functional and decorative pieces for home, garden and personal adornment.

 

Email:
paxel@igs.net

 


 

 

June 2009 - Voices of Fire

voice of fire paintingMy name is Corinne Pendéliou and I teach in the Part-time/Respite 2 early learning and care program at Mothercraft Ottawa on Evered Avenue. Art is an important component of our curriculum. Our children have enjoyed art through the use of many mediums and have recently painted on 8”x10” canvasses. The end product is truly amazing for such young children and left us in awe of their talent and creativity.


We are the “VOICES OF FIRE”. We are 21 children (girls and boys) ages 18 to 30 months. “VOICES OF FIRE” comes from the use of vibrant colours in the paintings and the belief that each of us, no matter how old or how young, has a voice that deserves to be heard. With this project we have expressed our voices through creativity and the love of painting.


May 2009

DARE - KANDID Photography
by Nicole Raftis


Photography became very important to Nicole when travelling through the U.S.A, India, Nepal, Australia and S.E Asia 1995-2001 as photos offer a tangible canvas for moments we do not want to forget. Upon her return to Canada, Nicole began taking photography courses and pursuing opportunities to learn more about this artistic medium.

Kandid Photography was born in 2003, initially photographing children and families at parks and beaches around Ottawa. With the support of friends and family, and encouragement from John Rapp in 2005 to display her work at the Dovercourt Art Gallery, Kandid photography blossomed into a substantial business for Nicole.

Photography projects with local schools, after-school programs and summer camps have been highlights of Kandid Photography’s expansion. 2006-2009 also brought opportunities to experience wedding, maternity and commercial photography. The DARE project, displayed here today, is Nicole’s most recent work with local youth. It was inspired by “We Are All Born Free” – a drama production by Heather Berry-Smith and the Gr. 5/6 students at McGregor Eaason School, as well as by an inspiring message delivered at the funeral of Jane McEwan Pearson. All of the artists involved in the DARE project wished to inspire viewers to think about opportunities for peace, love and inspiration in their daily lives.

For more than 8 years Nicole has been capturing real moments in time for children and their families in their natural settings. From stills to action, colour to black and white, Nicole captures the emotion and personality present in daily life. Working outdoors and in, Nicole specializes in natural pictures that capture the beauty of the everyday.


April 2009:

Rola Bleik

painting of red poppyMy journey in art has taken me from the country of birth, Lebanon, to my adopted country, Canada. My art is an expression of myself as a Lebanese-Canadian, and is executed in a range of media, including drawing, water colour, and acrylic painting.

It is evident that my early experiences living in a port city on the Mediterranean Coast influenced my art. Like the city that marks the crossroads between the East and West, the sophisticated and cosmopolitan in my work blend with the provincial and parochial.

I represent the contradictions in both traditional and abstract styles, relying on the expressive use of colour and bold brush strokes. The end result captures what I feel is the best of both worlds – an Eastern
aesthetic imbued with a Western spirit.

I try to show the beauty of flowers in a sort of languorous way, showing off all the beautiful secret parts that are hidden inside. It a collection of very heavily contrasted paintings that have very hot and cool colors. The shapes of the flowers are very fleshy and vibrant lots of energy and lots of depth. They are very sensuous and appealing. Colorful and dark at the same time creates a contrast that shows the flowers in an unusual way.

Rola Bleik
613-744-6981
www.rolableik.webs.com


March 2009:

Cody Albert

Cody Albert is a local artist who has lived in Westboro all of his life.

"I have resently started to paint only last summer. Besides painting and drawing I like to do outdoor activities. Normally my inspiration comes to me though music. I normally like to listen to classic rock, a few of my favourites are The Doors and Led Zepplin. Im currently attending Nepean High School. I hope to attend future art classes, at the Ottawa School of Art."


 

January 2009:

Jeannie Polisuk is a figurative and abstract artist whose paintings explore the multiplicity of the human psyche.

Contact:

613.737.0637
jeannie.polisuk@sympatico.ca
http://www.jeanniepolisuk.com


 

December: Jo Kressin - Fine Art Photographer

lifeguard tower

jk@jokressin.com | phone 613 761 6150

www.jokressin.com


 

Nov 2008: Timothy Hunt

Timothy Hunt is a visual artist living and working in Westboro.


Email: timothy.hunt@yahoo.ca
Website: http://timothyhunt.blogspot.com


June 2008: Julie Hadley

driftwood paintingJulie Hadley is a self taught artist with a passion for nature. Landscapes, birds, lakes and rivers of Ontario provide her with her inspiration. As a youth she spent time studying nature through photography and sketching. She now works from her studio at home in Ottawa where she owns and operates Painted Expressions, a small mural and specialty painting business.
Her paintings are displayed in private homes, medical and corporate spaces. For more information or private viewings Julie can be contacted at artbyjulie@sympatico.ca

 

blue jay painting moose painting

 

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Some Past shows:    

Shar Desbarats
May 2008

Victor Fuentes and Penelope Globe
March 2008
Caroline Tallmadge
(May 2007)
ctallmadge@hotmail.com
www.pbase.com/ctallmadge

Marie Arsenault
(Feb. 2007)
Nicole Raftis
also Feb. 2007
www.kandidphotography.com
Alice Carter
(Jan. 2007) www.alicecarter.com

Helene Anne Fortin
hafortinphoto.ca (April 2007)
Harry Gallon

mountain and aqua water photo

Jenny McMaster

Kirsten Farago
detail@hotmail.com
Kaye Wong
(March 2006)

 


Jennifer Brooks (Jan. 2006)
brooksk@magma.ca
613-761-9831
Eliany (Dec. 2005)


Rivka Waas painting

Miguel Cerejido (Oct. 2005)
Jana Charron - Traversy (July 2005)
Rivka Waas
(June 2005)

seeing through painting
seeing through painting

Alena Liapko (May 2005)
www.artrarium.com
Dennis Stowell (April 2005)
Tara Tosh Kennedy
(January 2005)
www.tarapaints.com




The artists of WaterMarks Studio
Leeza Elkin
www.trueart.ca
Jeff Wiebe

 


Thank you, AbFabBikes, for your donation of Triton bikes to Dovercourt! These bikes totally rock!

triton bikeThe Triton is a fun, exciting and highly maneuverable three-wheeled bicycle for children and adults. With multiple length settings that can be changed in seconds, the Cruiser fits children from age five to adults up to 5’8”. The slightly larger Pro is a faster, more powerful ride for bigger kids and fits adults up to 6’3”. The trike provides endless fun, great fitness and represents exceptional value as it grows with the child and can be used by almost everyone in the family. It’s a great addition to any family’s cycling options and offers a uniquely fun way for kids to stay active in their own street, at the park or out on the bicycle paths.

AbFabBikes.ca was started by a local Westboro family who wanted to bring the Triton bikes to Canada and support the trend towards active and healthy families and green cities. The partnership with Dovercourt Recreation Centre, a leader in health, fitness and recreation options for families in the National Capital Region is a natural fit for us.


Our FunMobile!


Thanks to the Morris Home Team for their generosity!

John Rapp, Executive Director of Dovercourt Recreation Centre says, "We are delighted that the Morris Home Team has donated a cargo van to help support our programs. As one of the City's busiest community centres, with many offsite locations, this is a great resource to us to move equipment and supplies. this is one more of many ways we enjoy the support of the Morris Home Team family, who are great contributors to our community. It is amazing how far kids will walk if they don't have to carry stuff!"

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Enjoy our waterfall, given to us by the Pond Clinic as a 20th Anniversary gift!

The Pond Clinic worked their magic tranforming the hillside next to the parking lot with tonnes of rocks, gravel, materials, diggers and sweat. Contact them at 613-225-7663. or visit www.pondclinic.com

pond clinic logo

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What a playstructure! Our Grand opening was Fall of 2006

playstructure
How does one undertake a large project such as replacing an outdated playstructure?

Many have asked, so Committee Chair & Dovercourt Board Member Ashley Wright has summarized the project in this pdf, so that others may benefit from our experiences. Playstructure Project Summary >>


Our Anual Tree Sale

The snow is melting, the sun is growing warmer, and our thoughts turn to our gardens. Dovercourt will once again be selling a selection of Ottawa-hardy small trees including Styrax, Redbud & Betty Magnolias. $20 + GST each, buy before April 5, in person or by phone. Ready for pick up the May 24th weekend.

Tree Care Articles by Richard Aubert

magnolias, japanese maples & hydrangeas

 

 

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Make gift-giving easy year round!

Give the friends and family on your list one-size-fits-all Dovercourt gift certificates.

The possibilities are endless: personal training, cooking workshops, massage, reflexology, aromatherapy massage, Pilates, pottery classes and much more.

Talk to Customer Service for details.