BETTY BISHOP HANGS HERE
Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures and other Works of Art by a Canadian Senior Citizen
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Hi,
I am an 82 year old woman living in Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Welcome to my little corner of the World Wide Web.
I was born in Kirkland Lake on a cold Canadian morning in 1934. My father was a gold miner. During the war he tested engines for Canada's Corvette fleet of ships which were built in Collingwood. For many years my parents owned Kirkland Kabins - a summer resort at Wasaga Beach. One of my first Kirkland Lake memories is of taking big red apples from my parent's basement barrel, transferring them to a basket and peddling them door to door to our neighbours. I think I was a born entrepreneur!
After many years in the wilderness I eventually bought Walter Cole's Catering, an entrepreneur's dream. Coles was the grand old dame of Toronto Catering Companies. She had been around from 1847 - before confederation. When the Queen of England came to Toronto they called Coles to make fancy little sandwiches without crusts. I worked very hard and Coles was very good to me. I sold the Company in 1985 and retired at age 51.
After selling the Company one of the things I did was take a sculpting course at a nearby high school. I fell in love with Art and eventually reinvented myself into some form of artist/painter. The winter of 1992/93 I went to New York to study at the Art Student's League for 6 months. I lived at the famous/infamous Chelsea Hotel and studied under Knox Martin. He told me to "stay away from school, you are a primitive painter, you have what it takes, go home, paint every day all day". I painted as much as I could and for the most part, stayed away from school except for Toronto’s Tom Campbell who is a wonderful teacher. I exhibited my work at the Art Student's League's December show in 1993 and had a painting hang in the lobby of the Hotel Chelsea for a few months.
In 2003 I rented a store on the Danforth in Toronto. It had great windows and good vibes. I named it A Place to Paint. It was a bit of a dream. Unfortunately I am no longer associated with A Place to Paint in Toronto. Before I moved from Toronto I had Saturday drawing classes for some great kids who originally came to A Place to Paint. See their wonderful works at http://thekidshanghere.blogspot.com
In 1995 I exhibited at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition and the Performing Arts Lodge in Toronto. Every August I put paintings in the AWOL Square Foot Exhibition and got some nice press in Eye Magazine a few years ago.
I have been invited to exhibit my work in the Florence Biennale but so far have declined the offer.
2012 Entry - If you are in Collingwood this year you may have seen my painting of “Jessie in her BrownBoots” hanging on at Lamppost at the corner of 2nd and Pine Streets - just up from Loblaws. Thanks to Collingwood Culture for choosing my painting.
April 2013 Entry - 2 of my paintings September 2013 - A photo of my painting “Kirkland Kabins” was chosen to advertise the Marsh Street Painters exhibition at the L.E. Shore Library in Thornbury. Thanks.
Two of my paintings were in the juried Blue Mountain Fine Art exhibit until the end of April/14.
I moved to Barrie in 2014. A wonderful city/town! I am a member of the Barrie Art Club where I show my work as well as painting or drawing portraits etc. My work has been on exhibit in the City Hall Rotunda each spring. It has taken me until June 2016 to get around to updating this site - the old gray mare ain’t what she used to be!
If you like my stuff let me know. I can always use an ego boost!
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