Donald Teuma-Castelletti
PORTAGE DU FORT
Sept. 21, 2018
Change was all about at the Stone School Gallery on Friday night, as seven Pontiac artists displayed their work in a travelling exhibition called “Metamorphosis”.
Featuring a variety of mediums and three pieces from each artist, the Portage du Fort gallery kicked off the exhibition with a vernissage, allowing visitors to discuss the pieces with the designers themselves.
Each participant was tasked with designing a piece to fit the theme in their traditional choice of medium, and then build upon the first piece, by creating two more in an entirely new way.
This opportunity pushed everyone’s creativity, said participant Valerie Bridgeman, challenging them to work beyond their comfort zone and see things in a new light.
Her submission centered around the growth of a gardener, from a child until they’re middle-aged, and then a senior. Her work combined her passion for linocut, collagraphy, and paper pulp casting to depict how gardening is enjoyed by these age groups, and said she was inspired by her own love for the hobby.

While Bridgeman focused on planting and growing a seed, Dale Shutt’s work featured a prominent, drooping, leaf-less tree, set against abundant sky, in her work entitled, “Eclipse”. Using linocut, she took away portions of her silk casting for each new piece, adding something new each time, too.
Shutt said the challenge from this project came in how the vision for the final project would change with each finished portion, redefining the whole set every time something is cut away or added in.
“Each step in the process of creating three pieces became a metamorphosis itself, because you didn’t know where you’d end up,” she said.
Across from Shutt’s “Eclipse” hung the vision of Linda Girard, and her experience in seeing the rebirth of a church in Aylmer.
Girard had been living near St. Paul’s Church in Aylmer when the building had burned down in 2009, and found inspiration in their rejuvenation process. Studying photos, of both the structure and the ruins, she depicted the church as the fire consumes it, when it sat hollowed out in winter, and finally, as it was when work finished in 2015.
“It’s really remarkable that the congregation has done this,” said Girard. “And it gave me the opportunity to do artwork that has three stages of structure.”
Another artist seeking inspiration from the places around them was Cheryl Dolan, whose photography worked with the illusions of nature. She explained that her photos had the shape of animals in them, but may not be entirely there.
“I took it as the change in nature, seeing things you don’t normally see,” she explained. “I often see things in nature that others don’t.”
While Dolan’s work may have had a specific animal in mind each time, Sylivia Bretzloff’s “Twilight” series challenged guests in a whole other venture. Utilizing zinc plate, sugar and etching, she sought to define landscapes by the essences of their components, such as trees, lakes or mountains.
With her methods, Bretzloff had no control over the final product, creating dozens before she was satisfied with just three to join the show. Her boundaries were pushed by moving away from interpreting something literal, as she described the theme as a real challenge for her artistic approach.
“The idea of [metamorphosis], I found it very overwhelming interpreting it into a piece of artwork,” she said.
Despite this, her zinc plates brought great pride, especially as she collected the mind’s renderings of the guests who interpreted her work.
Next to this hung the work of Carol Bretzloff-Holmes, who worked with master printmaker Otis Tamasauskas to develop her series, “The First Year of the Great Sorrow of my Life.” This series was deeply personal to her, as she sought to depict the period in which her husband was moving on.
“I don’t see David as dying,” she said. “I see him on a journey.”
Each portion utilized a different colour, shape, and foliage accompaniment to describe what was going on. The first piece was when they both went to the hospital, the second was the time in which he passed, and the third is the time after.
Bretzloff-Holmes said the whole project was tolling on her, as she sought to make sure everything was perfect. She hoped to make her husband proud with these pieces, adding that he was always an inspiration for her work.
“The hard part is not being able to have that person,” she added.
Finally, Louise Guay’s work sought to bring balance to commonplace objects, as she sought to inspire meditation. Her work was meant to highlight how anything can become an opportunity to reconnect with oneself, and the world around them.
Artists participating in this exhibition were selected by a jury of their peers, under the direction of a curator, explained Bridgeman. The show was presented in collaboration with artPontiac, the MRC Pontiac, and the Articipate Endowment Fund.
The collection will be on display at the Stone School Gallery until Oct. 14.