MEET OUR 2025 ARTISTS

Andrew Giffin

Andrew was born in Saint John, New Brunswick in 1960. He left the Maritimes in 1981 to study art at the University of Manitoba. Since 1987, he has maintained his own studio, initially in Winnipeg, and most recently in Roachville, NB.

Andrew’s work has been featured in The Fly Fish Journal, The Atlantic Salmon Federation Journal, Style Manitoba, The Winnipeg Free Press, Uptown Magazine, The New Brunswick Reader and Salon. His paintings are in private and corporate collections across Canada and the United States, Australia and Europe.

Currently Andrew is working towards creating a gallery indoors and out at his home and studio. Riverbend Studio will feature his art and be open to the public at selected times and will also be available by appointment.

Andrew says, “I am an artist deeply influenced by my natural surroundings. When I tackle a landscape painting today my aim is to communicate not just the physical detail, but the atmospheric elements, the hidden forces that permeate the land and air and determine the quality of light, and our emotional response to the subject. A good landscape rendering is an environmental snapshot, a captured moment conveying palpable hints of an actual place in a specific time. As a sculptor, I try to push barriers. I delight in recombining found materials into whole new objects, altering the DNA, so to speak, of discarded natural or synthetic materials to create fresh associations and new meanings.

As an artist I make no apology for wanting to spread my energies across such a wide spectrum, for embracing so many different materials, mediums and subjects. My eclectic impulses may be a source of frustration for those critics who insist on ready categories and labels for art, but I believe diversity is an essential virtue in this age of over-specialization.

 

Dale Cook

Dale Cook is emotionally connected to the Maritimes with her family roots spanning over two centuries. This is the source of endless inspiration for her artwork. The diversity of the region through its changing seasons, land and seascapes and its people are represented in her work.

Dale approaches her work with enthusiasm when developing her concept considering the composition, light and values. There is nothing careless in her approach. The finished work is representational blurring the lines of realism and impressionism.

Her emotional response to a subject is expressed in each painting. For Dale the greatest joy is the connection that develops between a viewer and her artwork often evoking a memory or a feeling between the two.

Dale’s works have been collected across Canada, United States, Mexico, UK, France, Germany and Australia and is represented locally by Handworks Gallery, Saint John. She is a member of the American Society of Maritime Artists, the Oil Painters of America, and Artslink NB.

 

Donna Zwicker

“When the light is just right, ordinary becomes breathtaking.”

My journey with art began when I turned 60, after retirement as a Resource Teacher. What an amazingly therapeutic hobby to take up! The depth of knowledge available to the watercolourist is a life-long journey to produce paintings that glow and reflect light. The wide array of techniques are a joy to explore.

With the use of the white of the 100% cotton watercolour paper, and the transparent watercolour pigments, I am nowadays taking a secondary journey to discover “painting the light.” I find myself pouring over library art books that teach techniques for painting light and shadow, contrasting lights against darks, emphasizing complimentary colours, and colour-mixing in unconventional ways.

Painting is a pathway to meditative, grounding, self-discovery! As Washington Allston said, “The only competition worthy of a wiseman is with himself.”

 

Evelyn Hepditch-Vannier

I was born with a creative spirit in 1944 on the Island of Grand Manan, New Brunswick. When I was 12 years old, Island artist Nelt Greenlaw invited me into his studio. A wooden paintbox filled with tubes of oils, brushes and a canvas was gifted to me. Nelt became my Mentor and friend, as he guided me through my first painting of the lighthouse. My passion for art was ignited.

I learned at a young age that one should paint what one knows, so Grand Manan and the special people from my childhood days have always been one of my favourite subjects to paint. Mollie Dexter with her Sunday School Class, Teresa Moses in her pantry making cookies, Julia Robinson and Bessie Bass at the Church Organ, Harry Stanley cutting/wrapping meat for a customer, Richard Rice in his Bakery baking bread, Harry Green playing his guitar, Joan Barbaris and Stella Jones at the Market, Keezer Kinghorn in his kitchen making bait bags, Helen Charters painting in her studio, and so many other special people dear to my heart.

Oil, watercolours and acrylics are my mediums of choice. I was a self-taught artist until 1980 when I studied with the Dutch-American impressionist Connie Nicholas in Vogelweh, Germany. In 1981-82 I studied with Albert F. Buhler at the Wiesbaden Herzfeld School of Art in Germany. I have exhibited my work in Germany, Belleville and Trenton, ON, Halifax, NS and Grand Manan.

 

Fred Harrison

Now known as the mural doctor of Sussex, New Brunswick, Fred got his start in London, Ontario by painting on his parent’s garage door. He has now created murals across Canada. He was attracted to New Brunswick by commissions to paint murals for the Sussex Mural Project. His unique works there commemorated the logging industry, the Dairytown heritage, the arrival of the railway, and nineteenth century life at Sussex Corner. While working in Sussex, he came to love the area, and he became a New Brunswick resident in 2007.

In addition to mural work, Fred is also a well-known landscape artist. He enjoys hiking through places that inspire him to paint. Fred says, “I love landscape and often find renewal when tramping through woods and along waterways. Awareness of the beauty and fragility of the world are good reasons, but my personal emotional response and my need to communicate cause me to paint. A work starts as a record and often leads to surprising results.”

In 2022, Fred was selected as the second biannual Port Saint John Artist-in-Residence. Members of the selection committee were highly impressed by his ability to evoke the feeling of the working waterfront, and the people who make it all happen.

For the last forty years Fred’s main income has come from mural and landscape painting in various locations across Canada, but recently he has teamed up with woodcarver Darren Byers to produce truly remarkable sculptures of notable Canadians including Herman Northrop Frye, a University of Toronto professor who was a Canadian literary critic and literary theorist, considered one of the most influential of the 20th century.

Fred and Darren also created a statue of William Frederic Ganong, a renowned botanist from St. Stephen, who unlike his father and uncle was not known for making chocolates, but for mapping New Brunswick’s coastline, waterways and mountains. The statue was commissioned by the Town of St. Stephen to honour Ganong, and it was unveiled in St. Stephen near the St. Croix River in September of 2020. It has now been designated a provincial landmark.

 

Helen Shideler

Hi, I’m Helen. When I am not in my home studio in Quispamsis painting I can be found in various locations either painting Plein Air, or out with my camera capturing reference photos.

For me painting is a celebration of how light and colour interact. I constantly strive to hold myself to the highest standards. Usually painting in series, I like to explore my subjects often in various mediums -focusing on intimate detail and saturated colour. I like to imagine that I am sculpting with paint. Over the years, this approach has allowed me to developed a distinctive style. I alway approach my art with enthusiasm and energy. My preferred subjects are from the natural world, in particular flowers, animals and birds and sea and landscapes.

My work is included in numerous private and corporate collections in Canada and in the US. Having always been an active participant in regional and national art events and organizations, my work has been included in numerous invitational and juried shows across Canada and now online as well.

I am a member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour (CSPWC), the Society of Canadian Artists (SCA), the International Watercolour Canada, the Plein Air Painters of the Bay of Fundy, Arts Link NB, and CARFAC. I am also President of the New Brunswick Craft Foundation.

 

Joan Ingalls

I’m a lifelong resident of Grand Manan, where I grew up exploring the beaches and trails.

My journey in art began in my fifties after becoming disabled. I took classes with Carole Forbes, and painting became a way to put down on canvas the memories of places I’ve been and things I’ve seen.

I work mainly with acrylic paint, but I also use inktense and charcoal and ink. Recently I have been experimenting with pouring acrylics to create abstract art pieces.

 

Judith Ives

My exhibit will include an eclectic presentation of nature-focused, stylized, acrylic paintings on canvas, wood panels, and specially crafted pine boards.

I have been creating art since I was a child, inspired by family members who were artists, but in particular by my mother and maternal grandfather. I have been encouraged to explore various media by diverse and sundry painters, woodworkers, and printmakers, and I now enjoy using an assortment of materials as substrates and backdrops for my artworks.

After years of experimentation and exploration, my primary style is now defined by a simplicity of line and an abstract interpretation of natural form, inspired largely by the works of Woodlands artists and the Canadian Group of Seven. Using the Woodlands style was a process of incorporating vibrant colour and strength of line, while at the same time being careful to not appropriate Indigenous spiritual or cultural form.

My art education includes time spent in the fine arts program at Georgian College in Barrie, Ontario. Afterwards, I relocated to Ambleteuse, France, where I explored some new ideas and materials for the next few years. Upon my return home to Canada, I spent most of my time developing my own style, a process which is ongoing.

I have participated in exhibitions across Ontario, in France, and more recently in New Brunswick where I now live.

 

Karen Waite

Karen has been traveling to Grand Manan Island to paint every summer for the last 12 years, having been introduced to the Island by Barry Coombs as part of his annual plein air painting workshops.

Enjoying art as part of her high school curriculum, it wasn’t until after her second of three sons were born that she began to enjoy watercolour painting again.

She began taking studio classes with Barry where she was able to appreciate the challenges and joy that the medium brings. Under Barry’s expert studio guidance, and over her time on plein air painting trips, she has developed a collection of watercolour paintings and sketches that explore the diversity that the Island offers visual artists.

Over the years the Island has inspired her to think and reflect on the concepts of permanence and impermanence as they relate to the land and structures of Grand Manan. From the fleeting but spectacular sunsets at the Whistle to the slow erosion of the basalt columns at Southwest Head, the Island has offered the opportunity to capture, in water colour, both memories and moments, which, over time, may change or, in certain circumstances, disappear all together. She’s grateful for the opportunity to have enjoyed all the Island has to offer, including the Grand Manan Art Gallery, one of the Island’s gems!

Karen recently retired from a decades long career in health care. She lives in Toronto and is actively engaged in an art collective called ‘Arts on Adrian’ which encourages those interested in the arts to come together and enjoy weekly still life sketching and watercolour painting.

When she isn’t sketching or painting or in the kitchen making meals for family and friends she enjoys canoeing, wildlife photography in Ontario’s Kawartha Lakes and skiing and hiking on the Bruce Peninsula Escarpment.

 

Kelley Joyce-Floyd

Kelley is a visual artist based in Quispamsis NB. She has been focussing on her artistic career since 2014, mostly working with acrylics.
A lifelong student of the earth sciences, Kelley has spent countless hours exploring woodlands, ponds, fields and shorelines, collecting rocks, catching frogs and pressing flowers. She paints things she finds interesting, like bugs, birds and mermaids, and at the moment is especially inspired by the flora, fauna and landscapes of the Maritimes. Working with organic lines and saturated colour, she infuses her natural subjects with generous dollops of magic and whimsy, merging fantasy and reality.

Kelley’s art has been shown at the Saint John Art Club Gallery, several Sunbury Shores group exhibitions and at the Grand Manan Art Gallery. Several pieces were chosen for the Canada 150 Art Acquisition Program, and participated in Discover Saint John’s public art installation Salmon Run.

In 2023, Kelley was honoured to take part in the KIRA residency in Saint Andrews, and had her work ‘It’s the Little Things’ exhibited in Fundy National Park as part of the Beneath the Surface Artist residency.

Kelley’s works are in private collections across Canada, the US, Mexico and Australia.

 

MJ Edwards

MJ is a multi-disciplinary artist with degrees in English Literature, Interdisciplinary Fine Arts, and Education. She was born and raised in Kingston, ON, and she worked in administration at Queen’s University for 16 years. She moved to Grand Manan in 2007, and is presently a part-time high school teacher and the Curator/Director of the Grand Manan Museum.

Living on an island, in a house overlooking Whale Cove, MJ finds that the natural world, which is ever present, is an ongoing source of artistic inspiration. Daily beach-combing excursions and heritage trail hikes, ocean vistas, rugged cliffs, and the beauty and activity in her summer gardens often influence her artistic creativity. Her work as a museum curator/director and her background in literature also keep her mindful of the passage of time and processes of narrative construction. These preoccupations and concerns show up in her art, whether it be her paintings, photography or collages.

 
 

Paintings

MJ’s encaustic paintings often incorporate scraps of old documents, photographs, steel engravings, flowers and other flotsam, ephemera and detritus of daily walks, as she creates imaginary landscapes, constructs new narratives, or explores the medium’s sculptural and textural possibilities.
She also paints in oil and cold wax, and acrylic mixed media, creating paintings that explore the passage of time, transience, surface texture, space and place, nature-based abstraction and landscape, patterning, still life, and automatic line drawings.

Photography

MJ’s photographic practice led her to pursue a degree in Fine Arts at NSCAD University. Her photography explores macro abstraction, montage narrative, memory and nostalgia, the interaction and impact of people with and on their environment, and the processes of change and decay.
Collages. The process and aesthetic of collage is something MJ wants to explore much more in the future. The possibilities are endless and the presentation can be so varied as to mimic almost any aesthetic or process. It can be worked into other media such as drawing, painting, or photography, it can use any of those as collage items themselves, and it can be a process by which digital items are combined.

Exhibitions & Galleries

MJ’s photography, paintings and ink drawings have been exhibited in libraries, museums and art galleries in Kingston, Halifax, Hampton, St. Andrews, Saint John, Fredericton, and on Grand Manan. You can see her work in person at her Rocky Corner Studio on Grand Manan or at the Grand Manan Museum. MJ is represented by The Gallery on Queen in Fredericton, NB.

 

Pam Hills

Pam Hills is a self-taught artist from Smith Falls, Ontario who is now a full-time resident of Grand Manan.

Drawing from her rural roots, Pam infuses her artwork with whimsical, nostalgic themes that blend the tranquillity of the countryside with the vibrant appeal of the East Coast.

Her art reflects coastal landscapes and the charm of maritime villages, evoking a sense of energy and capturing the lively, sometimes quirky spirit of nature.

Pam’s artistic expression also takes shape in her whimsical wooden houses. These 3D structures are inspired by her “wonky village” paintings, bringing to life the playful, quirky designs that emerge in her two-dimensional works.

Continually evolving as an artist, Pam’s diverse portfolio includes acrylics on canvas, wood art creations, watercolours, pysanky, and mixed-media sculptures. Her work is held in private collections and displayed in businesses across North America and Europe.

 

Roger Lewis

Born and raised in the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia, Roger became interested in photography in high school. Starting out in the film days.

Roger says, “Being confined to a wheelchair, photography offered a different perspective and unique opportunities. Landscapes, water scenes and nature are among my favorite subjects to photograph. I love to get out in my kayak with my camera and spend the day exploring and photographing anything interesting.

Whenever my photography is complimented, I like to tell them, life at my level isn’t all that bad.”