Show runs from April 29th - May 30th
Featuring work by Grazyna Adamska- Jarecka, Chanel DesRoches, Emily Escoffery, Sarah Fabrizi, K. Percival, and Laurie Skantzos.
For our May exhibition, Ground Floor Arts is proud to present: "In the Abstract." Featuring work by several regional abstract artists, your senses are sure to be delighted by the remarkable lines, forms, and colours. Across painting, drawing, and sculpture alike, this group dares to be bold.
Join us on Saturday, May 2 from 4:30pm-6:30pm to celebrate the opening reception, at Ground Floor Arts at 112 Wyndham Street North. All are welcome!
Grazyna Adamska-Jarecka
Grazyna Adamska-Jarecka is a figurative, abstract and landscape painter. She was raised in Poland and moved to Canada in 1996 to pursue her profession as a painter. In 2002 she received a BA in studio art from the University of Guelph and in 2006 she graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with an MFA in painting. Through her career, her work has oscillated between an expressive realistic depiction of human self-absorption and an abstract interpretation of bodies, landscapes and other natural forms such as flames, coral reefs and plants. Adamska’s previous academic background in biology has had a significant impact on her interests in the domain of painting. Drawing inspiration from the natural landscapes of Ontario and Quebec, she created a series of abstracted landscapes. Among these is the piece currently on display, entitled "Preserved Resources." Subsequently, motivated by the observed decline in the health of oceans and coral reefs, the artist embarked on a series of abstract paintings that employ allegorical representation. The artistic composition titled " Frisby Flip" is part of a concise series comprising six paintings. These works feature figures that are characterized by their deliberately ambiguous shapes, set against textures created by dynamic, elongated strokes. Additionally, she examines the depiction of interactions among individuals in both physical and virtual environments. The artist's primary Canadian influences are Harold Town, David Milne, John Brown, and Suzanne Heller. Adamska’s work has been distinguished by several local and international awards. She is also an art instructor in a few educational institutions in the region. Find more of her workInstagram: @adamskapainting |
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Chanel DesRoches
Chanel DesRoches is a painter and printmaker based in Guelph, Ontario. She holds a Master of Fine Arts from York University (2024), and a Bachelor of Arts, Honours in Studio Art from the School of Fine Art & Music at the University of Guelph (2019). Over the last few years, Chanel has been researching theory and methodology around abstraction through queer studies, deviance, societal issues, anxiety, and resilience. More recently, she's been working on engaging other methods in her practice, such as muscle memory. Expressed in her painting, she often leans on deflection tactics as an easy escape and avoidance strategy in social interactions or conversations that provoke dialogue and reflection from her younger self. Her practice informs the acts of pretending and reacting to each mark, gesture, colour, and form – the removal from reality and the creation of a new in-between, something that can be revised, reimagined, and repeated. Driving from personal experience, Chanel relentlessly engages with painting in the moment, allowing herself to interchangeably utilize intuition and compulsion as a means for mark making. Chanel is the owner and director of Necessary Arts Collective, located in Downtown Guelph. Find more of her workInstagram: @chaneldesrochesart |
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Emily Escoffery
Emily Escoffery (she/her) is an emerging artist from Dufferin County who lives and works in the township of Mono and the city of Guelph. Emily is a graduate of the University of Guelph, and she holds a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Ottawa. Emily works within painting and paper-cutting, and she creates compositions that employ colour and form that are focused heavily around grids. As she further develops her practice, she finds herself seeking to discover more of those patterned, amorphic spaces in which she tries to situate her work. Find more of her workInstagram: @emilyescoffery |
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Sarah Fabrizi
Sarah Fabrizi is a painter based in Guelph, Ontario. Working predominantly with abstraction, particularly on a large scale, she embraces the unpredictability of paint in an attempt to harness levels of finish on a canvas. Through process-based painting techniques and improvisation, the act of creation becomes a constant struggle between addition and subtraction. By taking a “paint first, think second” approach, her work weaves an intricate tangle of marks and past decisions. Fabrizi has recently exhibited with the City of Cambridge at the Cambridge Centre for the Arts. Additionally, she is a painting instructor at Ground Floor Arts. Find more of her workInstagram: @sarahfabrizi.art |
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K. PercivalK. Percival is a Guelph-based artist and educator working in mixed media. Her practice uses a recurring cube motif to explore the relationship between chaos and order, emotion and logic, serving as a foundation for material and colour experimentation. Her work engages with themes of memory, including its loss, recovery, and shifting forms. Drawing on the use of colour and light in Impressionism and the repetition of form demonstrated by Josef Albers, Percival investigates how colour carries historical and cultural meaning, using it as a language to communicate complex human experience and personal nostalgia. Find more of her workInstagram: @k.percivalfinearts |
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Laurie Skantzos
Born in Toronto, Canada, Laurie is a Guelph-based artist known for her minimalist wall sculptures that explore the interplay of colour, form, and materiality. Laurie has received numerous accolades, including residencies, awards and honorable mentions in juried exhibitions worldwide. Her work is featured in corporate collections such as The Art Gallery of Guelph Permanent Collection and The Aimia Collection and has been highlighted in publications like Canvas Rebel and Shout Out Socal. Find more of her workInstagram: @laurieskantzosart |
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