Yossi Stern

Yossi Stern, known as “the Painter of Jerusalem” and one of Israel’s foremost artists. Stern, a Holocaust survivor from Hungary, put special emphasis in his drawings on depicting the “new Jew,” a sabra, wearing shorts, sandals and looking tough.

But along with his popular drawings, particularly for children books and the press, Stern slowly earned a place as a serious painter whose work was known worldwide. He was also a popular art teacher at the Bezalel Arts Academy here.

Stern spent many long hours painting the city that he loved. He used to spend hours on end, walking along the streets, the alleys, swallowing the city in his mind, and then come home and record his impressions on canvas.Loved by so many, in a way he was always an outsider. He has never had an exhibition at the Israel Museum, on the hill across the valley from his home. He had few exhibitions abroad.But so many books are illustrated with his drawings, so many walls in Israel carry a Yossi Stern. He had, in fact, become an integral part of Israeli culture, perhaps more than he realized

RB13 - 175

Steynovitz was born in Legnica, Poland and immigrated to Israel in 1957. He aspired to become a painter from childhood, and began his artistic activity prior to leaving Poland. Steynovitz studied at both the Art School in Tel-Aviv and at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.Steynovitz's images are reflections of both his Jewish and Eastern European heritage. His work suggests the style of Marc Chagall combined with the use of color of the present generation of artists.Zamy's art displays chromatic and thematic richness. His choice of subjects was strongly influenced by Jewish tradition and folklore, displaying general themes: Paris, still lifes, flowers, angels, circuses and landscapes. In the early stages of his work he used rich pastels, ink, watercolors and light brush strokes. However during his travels in South America during the 1980s his work was influenced by the new surroundings and enhanced by the local light and colors. His art gained chromatic power; the palette became richer in tones, the fixtures thicker, the backgrounds darker and more colorful. Through these developments Steynovitz's thematic elements persisted in his creation allowing him to develop into a sensitive and mature artist.Zamy expresses a universal humanistic idea in his creations: man's connection to his heritage and physical surroundings. He established his place in the art world after exhibiting his work in one-man exhibitions and art fairs around the world. Zamy is known in the circles of the Norwegian Nobel Institute as a result of his devotion to world peace. Zamy died in September 2000.

Zammy Steynovitz

RB 4 - 100

Katerina Mertikas is a self-taught artist who was born in Tripoli, Greece. She and her family (Patrinos) immigrated to Canada in 1960; first to Montreal and then to Ottawa. Her two daughters were originally the inspiration of her work, and now she happily depicts her grandchildren in her works with a renewed energy of watching them grow. She had her first show in Ville Saint Laurent in 1989 and has been showing ever since. Painting spontaneously, in bright, bold acrylic paint, she captures what she feels and what her memory retains. Her paintings are mainly of children having fun, playing games or participating in sporting events in a naïve style. Katerina classifies her own work as naïve expressionism, trying to convey to the world the message of love, peace, innocence, and friendship. Katerina explains: “I love vivid colours. I love the feeling the painting creates within me—especially when depicting children in all their joys and excitement. I try to capture the special, happy moments in our daily lives on every canvas I paint.” Katerina’s work has been selected by UNICEF and the Canadian Lung Association for cards, stamps, and calendars to help raise funds for their charities. She has also been honoured with a “Women of Distinction” award in the arts category in 1999 and elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, whose patron is Prince Philip of Edinburgh.

Katerina Mertikas

RA 1 – 475 - 600

Katerina Mertikas is a self-taught artist who was born in Tripoli, Greece. She and her family (Patrinos) immigrated to Canada in 1960; first to Montreal and then to Ottawa. Her two daughters were originally the inspiration of her work, and now she happily depicts her grandchildren in her works with a renewed energy of watching them grow. She had her first show in Ville Saint Laurent in 1989 and has been showing ever since. Painting spontaneously, in bright, bold acrylic paint, she captures what she feels and what her memory retains. Her paintings are mainly of children having fun, playing games or participating in sporting events in a naïve style. Katerina classifies her own work as naïve expressionism, trying to convey to the world the message of love, peace, innocence, and friendship. Katerina explains: “I love vivid colours. I love the feeling the painting creates within me—especially when depicting children in all their joys and excitement. I try to capture the special, happy moments in our daily lives on every canvas I paint.” Katerina’s work has been selected by UNICEF and the Canadian Lung Association for cards, stamps, and calendars to help raise funds for their charities. She has also been honoured with a “Women of Distinction” award in the arts category in 1999 and elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, whose patron is Prince Philip of Edinburgh.

Katerina Mertikas

RA 2 – 375 - 425

AR 1 – 275 - 550

Alexander Putov – A Man and A Dog

Born in 1940 near Rostov in Russia, Alexander Sacha Putov only realized at the age of 22 that he had a natural talent for drawing when he found himself constantly doodling his friends and family’s likenesses.  He obtained a diploma in architecture but never actually worked as an architect, gravitating instead towards painting.  He studied under Michael Schwartzman, a renowned Russian painter, while working odd jobs that would grant him maximum freedom to paint and draw.Since he was not part of the state-sponsored art scene under the Soviet regime, he exhibited his work in friends' apartments.  Work that Putov had produced in Russia and left behind upon his departure from the Soviet Union eventually was destroyed.Such a traumatic loss drove Putov to immigrate to Israel in 1973, accompanied by his wife where they settled in Haifa.  In Haifa, he met Bela Gelbman, another Soviet émigré who had settled there, when a mutual friend advised the struggling artist to check out his fellow ex-pat’s store.The Gelbmans fell in love with Putov’s artwork and a lifelong friendship developed. His avant-garde paintings were well received in Israel where Putov’s career flourished.  He became part of the art scene there, participating in solo and collective exhibits.  In the 1980s, Putov moved to Paris and became a member of the "Art Cloche" group (the word cloche is derived from the French word “clochard”, or tramp). Art Cloche is a major founding influence of the French "Squat" movement.  Squattiest took over buildings that were abandoned or slated for demolition and turned them into studios and exhibition spaces, bringing the buildings – and the communities around them – back to life through art.  Despite their underground status, word traveled quickly and even tour buses made stops to visit the studios and artists.   In Paris he met Sylvie Gottraux, his second wife who was active in the artistic community and being fluent in French, Russian, Czech and German, Sylvie helped him a great deal with languages and also to establish himself as an artist in France. There was a café near City Hall in Paris that was formerly frequented by Picasso, and had his own spot there.  Putov inherited that famous spot, and soon the café’s walls prominently featured his paintings, with City Hall employees buying many of them. He rented a studio near Centre Georges Pompidou, a famous art gallery in the heart of Paris.  It was there that Nadia and Peter Gelbman had their last visit with him in January 1999.  According to Peter, Putov was essentially an expressionist.  “He produced fine contemporary and very modern art.  He had an excellent sense of colour.  He developed his own theory of colours, even creating a chart where colour parallel human emotions.”   Nadia adds with enthusiasm: “He told me that colours were like music to him. Colours alone do not mean much but once placed together as individual notes they truly express emotions and ideas. ” Stricken with Parkinson’s, Putov was able to continue working full time until 2006, when the disease forced him to lay down his paintbrush for good. In 2008, already terminally ill, Putov succumbed to a heart attack.  He left behind a large body of work, including large frescoes in Israel, a series of bright and colourful statues in Paris, countless oil paintings and thousands of drawings and etchings.  He is considered an important contemporary artist, whose pieces have been collected by discerning collectors across the world, including the Prince or Wales, former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, Brian Mulroney and many embassies. Our former mayor Marion Dewar loved his work and bought many as official gifts from the City, as well as for her own private collection. 

Happily focusing her relentless joie de vivre on a life steeped in Bohemian glamour, Judith Bledsoe is a light-hearted but passionate artist (and fond of cheerily self-effacing humor –“serial killer” is how she describes her penchant for moving briskly through periods of subject-matter obsessions); the Hollywood-born Judith Bledsoe embodies the romantic and free-spirited artist’s lifestyle that legends are made of. Bledsoe ran off to Europe at age 16 to discover her artistic calling.  In her own words, “My involvement in art has come as naturally as breathing – I could not have done anything else. It is all a matter of seduction, as most things in life are. Inspiration grows out of doing the actual work itself, from working steadily and keeping your sensitivity alive to everything.”“Art for me is magic,” says Bledsoe, “although it’s also magic when someone falls in love with a work of art, sees it and has to have it live with them in their home. That’s what art is – a torrid love story. You have to create it with your heart full of flowers.”

RB 9 - 125

Judith Bledsoe

RB 12 - 200

Leonardo Nierman - Mahler

Leonardo Nierman's paintings vibrantly come to life as they capture the intensity and spontaneity of the dynamic forces that rule both nature and the cosmos. With swirling whirlpools of color, darting flame-like wisps, and brilliant hues as dazzling as a sun, they are dramatic in their representation of that which is unchallenged, though perhaps not quite understood.

Born in Mexico City in 1932, Mr. Nierman showed great enthusiasm in the arts even as a young child. In 1951, he received his Bachelor degree in Physics and Mathematics at the University of Mexico. He later made studies of the Psychology of Color and the Harmony of Form in Space.

His full career includes numerous distinctions, awards, and exhibitions. He has painted murals for the School of Commerce of the University City in Mexico,1956; the "Golden West Savings" in San Francisco, 1965; and the Princeton University Physics Building,1969.

Mr.Nierman's more recent One-Man shows include those at the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City in 1972; and in 1973, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Bogota, Columbia, the Los Angeles Municipal Gallery, the Wally F. Galleries in New York, the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Madrid, and the Tucson Art Center.

Some group shows include exhibitions at Waddington Galleries in Montreal, 1968; Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City, 1968; Lowe Art Museum of the University of Miami, 1969; OEA Pavilion-Hemis Fair '68 in San Antonio, Texas, 1968; and the Caroll Reece Museum in Tennessee, 1969.

Among the several museums and galleries that have permanent collections of his works are: the Museum of Modern Art and the Institute of Fine Arts in Mexico, the Museum of Modern Art in Halfa, Israel, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Gallery of Modern Art in New York, the El Paso Museum of Art, the Pan American Union in Washington, D.C., the Museo de Ponce in Puerto Rico, the Santa Barbara Museum in California, the Vatican Museum, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Bogota Museum of Contemporary Art, the Academy of Fine Arts in Honolulu,and the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Madrid.His numerous awards include: an Honorary Degree from the University of Mexico in 1960, a prize in a contest of Mexican Contemporary Art, sponsored by the Art Institute of Mexico, in 1964, an award of the Palme D'Or des Beaux Arts of Monaco in 1969, the Silver Medal in 1970 and the Gold Medal in 1972 from the Foundation "Tomasso Campanella" in Italy, and the award of the Royce Medal in New York in 1970. In addition, he has been a Life Fellow of "the Royal Society of the Arts" in London since 1965.

RB 7 - 35

Susan Hemm Zivic has been creating works of art for over thirty-seven years. What started as a love of art and the challenge to succeed in 1975 has prospered into a successful art career. Born in Westfield, New York, in 1959, the daughter of a highway worker, Susan learned the value of hard work and dedication. Her art education was limited, so she is largely a self-taught artist. She has spent countless hours in the field studying her subject matter, which are largely birds, wildlife and Indian artifacts of the Southwest. Her presentation media has varied from acrylic on sandstone and masonite, to oil and acrylic on canvas, to hand-painted wood carvings. Over 10,000 paintings later, Susan is creating even more sophisticated and complex images of the Southwest. Her work is proudly displayed in thousands of homes and businesses around the world.

Susan Hemm Zivic

VT 1 - 150

Shlomo – The Selling of Joseph

RB 15 - 75

Aranyani Rosen- Morninig Prayer

An Ottawa Artist

RB 1 - 50

RB 14 - 125

Melchi Hundler – To Life

JI 1 - 195

JI 2 - 100

JI 3 - 175

RB 2 - 25

RB 3 - 25

RB 5 - 100

Vand

RB 6 - 25

RB 8 - 50

A. Gomez - Early Century Cycle

RB 19 - 175

Morch – A Goat Paris

RB 18 - 75

RB 17 - 75

RB 11 - 100

Blochivitz – Morning Sail

RB 16 - 75

Having over 2500 years’ history, Silk embroidery is the most famous handmade embroidery art among all embroideries in China. Because it is originated in the city Suzhou, it is also called Su Xiu. It is known that silk embroidery was very prosperous during Song Dynasty (960 – 1279 A.D.) and reached its peak during Ming (1368 -1644 A.D.) & Qing Dynasties (1644 – 1911 A.D.).