linocuts

Temiskaming Art Gallery hosts Cross Cut

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After Minden and Lindsay the Cross Cut exhibition is moving up north to the Temiskaming Art Gallery. Special to the area is the visual interpretation of The Cobalt Song:

You may talk about your cities and all the towns that you know,
With trolley cars and pavements hard and theatres where you go.
You can have your little auto and carriages so fine,
But it’s hob-nail boots and a flannel shirt in Cobalt town for mine.

The exhibition opens on Sunday, September 24 and runs until November 3, 2023. You’ll find the gallery at 325 Farr Drive, Haileybury, Ontario

Kawartha Art Gallery in Lindsay hosts Cross Cut exhibition

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Cross Cut is a series of linocuts reflecting on traditional songs from Ontario with a contemporary perspective. Rob Niezen has selected 23 songs and placed the original narrative in a contemporary context by ‘crosscutting’. Crosscutting is a technique borrowed from film editing used to illustrate a narrative action that happens in several places at the same time, or in one place at different times. The exhibition aims to connect our recent history and today’s society, and the issues we face as citizens of Ontario and Canada, and invites viewers to reflect on what’s happening with them and around them. Has life improved, or is progress only on a materialistic level? Folk songs make global issues accessible to everyone, as they are created and sung by real people telling real human stories.
Rob Niezen gratefully acknowledges the support from the Ontario Arts Council.

Opening reception on Saturday July 15, 2023, from 2:00 to 4:00pm at Kawartha Art Gallery, with the artist talk at 2:30 pm.
The gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.
190 Kent Street West, Second Floor, Lindsay ON K9V 2Y6

Cross Cut exhibition at Agnes Jamieson Gallery in Minden

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The second Cross Cut exhibition at Agnes Jamieson Gallery runs from May 4 to July 1, 2023.

Started, in 2019 and continued into 2022, Cross Cut is a series of twenty four linocuts that are a contemporary response to traditional songs (circa 1800-1940) collected by CBC’s Edith Fowke in rural Ontario during the 1950s and ’60s. The underlying themes of these songs are of a timeless nature, as they deal with human existence: love, deception, politics, war, immigration, work, leisure, murder, death, etc. The linocuts use both the traditional method of carving the material, and more recent and experimental ways of mark making, including laser engraving and etching. The work invites viewers to reflect on society in the past and today; superficially things have changed, but the human conditions now are not that different from 150 years ago.

Check it out at 176 Bobcaygeon Rd, Minden, ON.

 

45th Annual Wayzgoose Book Arts Fair

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Celebrate the art of the hand-made books, printmaking, bookbinding, paper making and marbling and other artisans  during the 45th Annual Wayzgoose Book Arts Fair at the Grimsby Public Art Gallery. Rob Niezen will be participating in person for the first tiem with his Cross Cut and Heads&Tales prints. Over forty exhibitors display their work, provide live demonstrations in traditional book arts practices, and share their expertise on Saturday, April 29, 2013 from  9 am to 5 pm.

Grimsby Public Art Gallery
18 Carnegie Lane
Grimsby

First Annual Artspace Holiday Market and Fundraiser

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Rob will be present at Artspace’s Holiday Market with a table selling his Cross Cut linocut prints and Heads&Tales pieces on First Friday Peterborough and the following Saturday.
December 2, 6:00 – 9:00 pm
December 3, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Artspace
3-378 Aylmer Street North
Peterborough, ON

Cross Cut: traditional Ontario folk songs revisited at Lang Pioneer Village Museum

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Lang Pioneer Village Museum hosts the launch of a song book, double CD and exhibition under the title ‘Cross Cut’ on Friday, May 13, 2022 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. in the Peterborough County Agricultural Heritage Building at 146 Lang Road, Keene. During the opening reception artist Rob Niezen will introduce the Cross Cut project and exhibition, Dr. Allan Kirby will give some background on traditional music in rural Ontario, and Backwoodsmen will perform some songs.

The exhibition runs from May 24 until June 4, 2022. The museum also offers exhibition pre-viewing with artist Rob Niezen present on Saturday April 30 from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m. As part of the exhibit, Lang Pioneer Village Museum will be hosting “Artist on Site” days with Rob Niezen from 12 noon to 3:30 pm on April 30, May 28 and June 4. Rob will be at Lang Pioneer Village Museum to discuss the Cross Cut exhibit and display his linocuts.

CBC’s Edith Fowke collected folk songs in rural Ontario during the 1950s—many in Peterborough County. Traditional music came to Ontario with European settlers. Lyrics and tunes were adapted to local experiences and the personal preferences of the players, and these offer a reflection of society at different moments in history. The underlying themes are of a timeless nature, as they deal with human existence: love, deception, politics, war, immigration, work, leisure, murder, death, etc. Musician and music historian Dr. Allan Kirby, visual artist Rob Niezen and traditional music group Backwoodsmen selected and revisited just shy of two dozen folk songs from rural Ontario. They created contemporary arrangements and adapted lyrics, resulting in a double CD and an illustrated songbook. The song book presents the songs with lyrics and chord progressions, an introduction by historian and musician Dr. Allan Kirby, and Rob Niezen’s linocuts.

Rob Niezen created a series of linocuts reflecting on the narrative of the songs with a contemporary perspective by applying the concept of ‘crosscutting’. Crosscutting is a technique borrowed from film editing used to illustrate a narrative action that happens in several places at the same time, or in one place at different times. In creating his artwork Rob Niezen uses both the traditional method of lino carving, and contemporary and experimental ways of mark making, including laser engraving, etching and collage; going against the grain, or ‘cross cutting, as it were.

Rob Niezen gratefully acknowledges the Ontario Art Council for its support of the exhibition.

Artspace Book + Zine Fest 2022

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ArtSpace 6th annual Book and Zine Fest, a celebration of regional press, zine, and comic arts runs from Monday, March 7, 2022 7:00 am to Sunday, March 13, 2022 5:00 pm. Rob Niezen is participating with a digital vendor booth, featuring three of his projects. Artspace hosts a number of activities as part of this Zine Fest. Check them out here.

Rob donates 50% of sales to Jamaican Self-Help on November 28 and 29

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Jamaican Self-Help’s 14th annual Artisan Show & Sale will look a little different. This year, the organization invites you to shop online for local, handmade gifts, and I’ll donate 50% of all sales of linocuts and oil paintings to Jamaican Self-Help (JSH) during the two-day event. Email me at or call me at 1-705-933-9988 for any purchases, and mention JSH. My website includes all available work.

Want to know more about the good work JSH does in Jamaica? Visit  Jamaican Self-Help

Rob Niezen at Artspace Book + Zine Fest

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Rob Niezen will participate in the 5th Annual Artspace Book + Zine Fest that takes place at the Peterborough Public Library on Saturday, February 29, 2020 from 10 am – 5 pm.
This event will feature artist-made zines, comics and graphic novels, letterpress prints and cards, the work of small presses, woodcuts, screen prints, handmade books and other types of book and paper arts by thirty artists.

Rob Niezen Artist