NEW FOR THE HOLIDAYS BY SUZANNE O'CALLAGHAN

"St. Dunstan's Basilica under the moonlight, at midnight" by Suzanne O'Callaghan

(Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada)

acrylic on canvas

16"x20"

December 2015

LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW!

It's a holiday song that inspires and - I am a little embarrassed to say - it is only very recently that I "got" why snowscapes are so very beautiful.  Now I am a painting like a true "fan".  Here are two I am especially proud of and I think I'll keep them coming.  Why not, it's Canadian-cold outside and, as Georgie Reed Barton used to say, "paint what you see, not what you think".

Suzanne O'Callaghan

"Healing Streets" 

(Guelph, ON, Canada)

acrylic on gallery canvas, 2014/15

Suzanne O'Callaghan

"A humble winter"

(Rural PEI, Canada)

acrylic on gallery canvas, 2015

NEW by SUZANNE O'CALLAGHAN, -PORTRAIT OF THE PEOPLE'S POTTER, SCULPTOR, CARL EDWARD PHILLIS

New - "Portrait of the people's potter, sculptor, Carl Edward Phillis

acrylic on canvas, 76.2 x 101.6 cm/ 30"x40", 2015,

"THREE TREES & WE ARE HOME"

("Three Trees & We are Home", acrylic on canvas, 120"x30", 2015, commission)

IMAGES FROM SUZANNE O'CALLAGHAN H20(h!), GALLERY @ THE GUILD, PE, CANADA

Image from Suzanne O'Callaghan H20(h!) exhibition, Gallery @ The Guild, Charlottetown, PE, Canada.  Left to right, cobalt pottery water feature - "The Sound of Peace and Terror; miniature - "Connor at Heather Dunes"; "John 6:21", acrylic on unfinished organic canvas;"The ocean at Dalvay-by-the-Sea" 8'1" ceramic wave by Carl Phillis;  digital photograph "Iceland" by Emily Mutch; "Bottled Feelings", crystallizing our feelings experiment; (on the wall) "Over the laundry line", acrylic on canvas; and "Grief and rest", portrayal of a suicide in the bath, acrylic on canvas; and installation "Surf and Turf", recovered, painted 'garbage' from the Charlottetown Harbour including a chair, small table, styrofoam plates and cups, lobster shells, antennae and eyes - 2015, all rights the artist. -30-

(Suzanne O'Callaghan, h20(h!) exhibition, 9/15)

(prints) "Two sisters fishing", "Taking dinner to the fisher"; "Healing streets:  water, ice, water"'; "More laundry: Canadian universities - teaching our best and brightest how to live in poverty"; (top print) "Fishes", by Christopher O'Callaghan and (bottom) "The ocean" by Connor O'Callaghan - both created as children; "Little girl:  Why are we flushing toilets with drinking water?"; "Brackley beach beauty"; "Water and emotion" (experiment); (last image) "Where there is smoke...." acrylic painting and 1918 fire hydrant -

(more images and info to come...)

GRATITUDE - H20(h!)

While art is most often made alone, it is never made in isolation.

My heartfelt thanks to the following: Christopher O'Callaghan
and  my Connor O'Callaghan, BA, MA, PhD Social & Political Thought Candidate, beloved sons, my life utterly above the watermark, for the use of their childhood art and for their tremendous assistance with the research for this exhibition. I couldn't make art (or anything) without you. I love you with my whole heart for my whole life.

Carl Phillis for graciously allowing me inclusion of his powerful, beautiful wave piece, his help moving my work (there is a lot of skulduggery involved in being visual artists and we are lost without our friends) and for several inspiring and supportive conversations.

 Emily Mutch, B,SC, B. Arch Sci Candidate and Karl MacKeeman, NSCAD for allowing me to include pieces from my collections of their amazing work. I treasure you and what you have made.

Meskerem Dejere, carrier of water and love and my sponsor daughter in Ethiopia. Meskerem inspired this show and much more.

Thanks to Alanna Jankov and the Gallery @ The Guild; the City of Charlottetown, especially Betty, Rob, Justin, Mike and Eddie, for their time and the loan of the 1918 fire hydrant and the shower heads; the Confederation Centre of the Arts L:ibrary; Lori Kays and Beanz Cafe and Espresso Bar in Charlottetown, PE (I love you all so much - artists need a 'local' for every sort of sustenance and I am so grateful you've been mine all these years); and to YOU, for no arts endeavour is complete until you are a part of it.
Suzanne O'Callaghan
professional visual artist
September 2015

Images from Suzanne O'Callaghan, H20(h!) exhibition, Gallery @ The Guild, Charlottetown, PE, Canada, September 2015

IMAGES FROM H20(h!) by SUZANNE O'CALLAGHAN

 "There will be costs", digital photograph by Suzanne O'Callaghan

"Sea Dance" and "The Community Well", both acrylic on gallery canvas, and both by Suzanne O'Callaghan

H20(h!) - O'CALLAGHAN EXHIBITION ABOUT WATER

 (NEWS RELEASE) H2O(h!) is an exhibition about our most necessary resource: water. It is also Suzanne O’Callaghan’s response to the fact that (among other things that surprised and shocked the artist in her research) Charlottetown is but one of many Canadian cities for whom there are frequently days when more than ninety-per cent of available drinking water is being used. Usage of drinking water and the unique culture of living on an island are central narratives of the show. H2O(h!) is a multi-disciplinary exhibition and includes installation, etching, writing, photography, painting and other works that explore our relationship to water, its pleasures and precariousness, its emotional, psychological and social value, its uncertainty as a natural resource


Science is clear that responsible stewardship of water by humans is increasingly in opposition to our current methods of treatment and usage of water for physical and mental well-being, pleasure, play, industry and so on. The fact that water is a plenary necessity for all forms of life on Earth makes its endangerment a global crisis from which Prince Edward Island is not exempt. While the global crisis around water is not news, in H2O(h!) artist Suzanne O’Callaghan attempts to add an Island aesthetic and literary pedagogy to the global calls to think about and mindfully embrace responsible stewardship of water. H2O(h!) invites audience examination of some of the surprisingly vast (indeed innumerable) ways in which water seeps into every conceivable aspect of our lives, including celebration of the life-sustaining natural resource that water is. Says the artist, “Armed with all that art can afford, I hope that H2O(h!) will encourage personal connection with the future of water” because whatever else water has meant or been to us in the past, and even though memory distills itself, natural resources remain personally relevant. When we engage with art and subsequently impart our own aesthetic upon the subject in real time we cannot but take it personally, after which it has a renewed relevance that we cannot ignore, including the understanding that our individual behaviours bear down on the collective, on all forms of life. Those of us living on islands have a tremendously vital, challenging, complicated and intimate relationship with water; a relationship that is very much defined, ultimately, by our complete dependence upon it and its compelling feminine quality as a life-giving force."


H2O(h!) opens Wednesday, September 16th at 7 pm. There will be a short welcome by the artist. Refreshments will be served and all are welcome. Throughout the run of H2O(h!) Miss O’Callaghan will be working in the gallery in order that visitors may interact with the artist. The Gallery @ The Guild entrance is located at 111 Queen Street (corner of Richmond and Queen), Historic District, Charlottetown, PE. The Gallery is wheelchair accessible and is open daily. For more information 902-368-4413, or 902-620-3333, events@theguildpei.com or the artist at canadianartgirl@hotmail.com. The Gallery @ The Guild is recommended on Trip Advisor and is a recipient of their 2015 Certificate of Excellence! Admission to H2O(h!) is free but donations in support of the gallery are welcome and very much appreciated.


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 "Two Sisters Fishing", 4'x3', by Suzanne O'Callaghan

(detail from) "Italy" (north of Rome)

 acrylic on gallery canvas, 29cm x36 cm, 2015

by Suzanne O'Callaghan

Future Shop Girl

acrylic on canvas, 4' x 3'

by Suzanne O'Callaghan

"Beanz on Great George"

acrylic on canvas, 40.64 x 40.64 cm, 2015
by Suzanne O'Callaghan.

"Old truck and lupins" (PE Island)

acrylic on gallery canvas, 35.56 x 45.72 cm

 2015 

by Suzanne O'Callaghan

Suzanne O'Callaghan at The Henry Moore, Toronto

(photo:  Suzanne O'Callaghan, visual artist, at The Henry Moore, AGO, Toronto, Canada)