Lila Lewis-Irving - Artist Photo

Lila Lewis Irving

Lila Lewis Irving was born in New York City and has embraced abstraction as a pure and personal art form. She has built a career dedicated to the rigours and rhythms of painting. Her spirited and enigmatic work is in many collections nationally and internationally.

Lila Lewis Irving (1935- ) was born in New York City and has embraced abstraction as a pure and personal art form. She has built a career dedicated to the rigours and rhythms of painting. Her spirited and enigmatic work is in many collections nationally and internationally.

EDUCATION:
B.A. English Literature, Brooklyn College
M.F.A. Theatre Arts, State University of Iowa
M.A. and M.F.A. Fine Art, University of Wisconsin

PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES:
Ontario Society of Artists (OSA)

SELECTED RECENT EXHIBITIONS: SOLO AND TWO PERSON
2018 SPLASH, Art Gallery of Hamilton, ON with Janet Hendershot
2017 LANGDON HALL, Inaugural Gallery Presentation, Cambridge, ON
2013 LEONARDO GALLERY, with Albert DeVos, Toronto, ON
2013 PEEL ART GALLERY MUSEUM AND ARCHIVES, with Doreen Renner, Brampton, ON
2012 CON SPIRITO: A Retrospective Exhibition, Art Gallery of Mississauga, ON
2008-09 Gallery at 129 Ossington, Toronto, ON with Dana Boettger Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, Toronto, ON; Burlington Cultural Centre, with Vallery Mokrytzki, Burlington, ON
2005 Leonardo Gallery, Toronto, ON
2004 Barootes, Toronto, ON, with Lucie Simons, Printmaker; “Counterpoint in Grey”; Abbozzo Gallery, Oakville, ON
2003 “Profiles 4”, 3 artists, Art Gallery of Mississauga, ON; Westdale Gallery, Hamilton, ON
2000 “The Bronze Series”, Abbozzo Gallery, Oakville, ON
1999 “Celebration” Trias Gallery, Toronto, ON; “Celebration”, Abbozzo Gallery, Oakville, ON
1998 “Appassionata”, Art Gallery of Mississauga, Mississauga, ON
1997 “Lila Lewis Irving and Vivian Felsen”, Wallace Ave Gallery, Toronto, ON
1994 The Forge Studio Gallery, Terra Cotta, ON; Gallery Gabor, Toronto, ON
1989 Boedeker Gallery, Toronto, ON; The Royal Victoria Hospital Benefit Exhibition, Montreal, QC
1985 Springbank Visual Arts Centre, Mississauga, ON
1984 Milton Fine Arts Gallery, Milton,ON
1983 Goethe Institute, with Almuth Lutkenhaus, Sculptor, Ottawa,ON; Yukon Gallery, Whitehorse, Yukon Territory Fairways Gal lery, with Alan Kingsland, Mississauga, ON; University of Guelph Gallery, Guelph, ON
1982 Centennial Gallery, Oakville, ON
1981 Woodblock Prints, Peel Museum and Art Gallery,Brampton,ON; “Shape and Substance”, The Little Gallery, Oakville, ON

AWARDS:
2013 Artist of Distinction, from the Art Gallery of Mississauga
1999 SCA, “Countdown to the Millennium”, Honourable Mention
1998 Mississauga Visual Artist of the Year, Mississauga Arts Council
1996 SCA, Jurors” Award Colour and Form Society, Honorable Mention
1995 Jurors Award, Etobicoke Art Group
1990 Best Personal Expression, 6th Annual Fall Exhibition,TWS Honourable Mention, 10th Annual Juried Art Show, Arts Etobicoke
1989 Honorable Mention,Annual Spring Juried Show, TWS Honourable Mention, 19th Annual Juried Arts Show, Arts Etobicoke Best Landscape, 5th Annual Fall Juried Show, TWS Woolfitts Art Enterprises Award, 37th Annual Juried Exhibition, CFS Prize Winner, 16th Annual Juried Show of Fine Arts, Brampton, On
1988 Honourable Mention, Spring Juried Art Show, TWS Best Mixed Media, 8th Annual Juried Art Show, Arts Etobicoke Merit Award, 63rd Annual Open Juried Exhibition, CSPWC* Best Marine Painting, 4th Annual Juried Fall Show, TWS Honourable Mention, 11th Juried Exhibition of Fine Arts, Visual Art Mississauga
1987 2nd Award, Credit Valley Hospital Juried Art Show, Mississauga Award Winner, Peel Art Gallery, Brampton, On
1986 Best in Show, TWS Award for Excellence in Watercolour, TWS Honourable Mention, TWS
1985 2nd Award in Watercolour, Visual Art Mississauga

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS:
Art Gallery of Mississauga (two works)
Northern Regions Centre, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
The Diploma Collection of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour, Peel Gallery,Brampton, On atiof Educ
Peel Board of Education, Mississauga, ON
Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto, ON
Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, ON
Office of the Mayor, Ponta Delgada, San Miquel Island, Azores

PRIVATE COLLECTIONS:
AT & T Capital Canada, Keanall, Mississauga, ON, Congress Financial, Toronto, ON, Alex Chapman Design, Ltd, Toronto, ON, Canaccord Capital Corporation, Turkey Marketing Board, Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd. (Weissbaden, Germany and Luxembourg), Arthur Andersen Consulting, Toronto, ON, Marathon Realty, Toronto, ON, British Bank Note, Toronto, ON, Public Accountants Council of Ontario, Toronto, ON, Mckenna Gale Capital Management, Toronto, ON, Blue Top Developments, Toronto, ON, McCarney, Greenwood and Vottero, Accountants, Toronto, ON, Commerzbank, Toronto, ON, Nissan Canada, Toronto, ON, Zurich insurance, Toronto Zurich Insurance, Toronto, ON, Valenart Fine Art Consulting, Toronto, ON, Prime Computer of Canada, Toronto, ON, Nippondenso Canada Ltd. Toronto, ON, Standard Trust, Toronto, ON, North American Life, Toronto, ON, IBM Toronto, ON, Nesbitt Burns, Toronto, ON, Farnham Seaton Accountants, Mississauga, ON, Chubb Insurance, TorontoMidland Walwyn Capital Inc, Toronto, ON, Pharmacia, Mississauga, ON, AT& T, Toronto, ON, Noranda Art Continuous Lease Project ( 1996-97), Ryder Trucks, Torstar Corporation BRI, Mississauga, ON

TEACHING:
Georgian Bay School of the Arts Haliburton School of Art
Loyalist College Summer Arts Program
Southhampton Summer Art School
The Elephant Barn School, Georgeville, QC
The Chalet School of Art
Koffler Gallery, School of Visual Art
Central Ontario Art Association, Geneva Park, Orillia, ON
Toronto Watercolour Society
Clarkson School of Artists
Rivercrest Gallery, Streetsville, ON
Willowdalep Editvale Group, Toronto
Visual Arts Mississauga
Bridgewater Retreat, Actinolite, ON
Currys Art School. Mississauga
Port Credit School of Art
The Pumphouse Gallery, Niagara-on-the Lake, ON
Art School, Magog. QC

PUBLICATIONS:
2012 Appassionata, by Lila Lewis Irving, published in conjunction with Retrospective Exhibition, The Art Gallery of Mississauga
2007 Photo, Toronto Star,October 16, 2007
2005 ‘Art Appreciation: Looking at Painting” by Ken Forsyth, STIR media magazine, Ninth Edition
2004 “Lila Lewis Irving: Cataclysmic”. Interview by Birgit Moenke. STIR magazine, Sixth Edition
1997 OSA Catalogue, 125th Anniversary Traveling Juried Exhibition
1994 “Discovery Through Design, An Introduction to Art and Design”, Sixth Edition, by Marjorie Elliott Bevlin, Harcourt Brace. (1994) Plate 1, page 207

OF SPECIAL NOTE:
2015 NEXT: Arts and Letters Club, Toronto, Ontario. Exhibition opened by The Hon. Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, October 23, 2015
2005 Southern Ontario Chamber Music Institute: Painting Performance on stage to accompany Premier Performance of “The Pull”, a String Trio by Abigail Richardson. Willis Hall, Appleby College, Oakville, ON
2001 Professional Development Lecture Series: Painting Performance accompanied by String Quartet, Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, ON
2000 Cover Painting,Mississauga Arts Council Annual Report Collection of Woodcut Prints, The Land and People of Old Crow, Yukon, in the archives of Old Crow
1996 Visual Arts Ontario, Materials Assistance Grant
1991 Helen Frankenthaler Workshop, 12 students accepted
1982 Visual Arts Ontario, Materials Assistance Grant

“My painting is an energetic and intense process which results in work, deeply felt. The impetus is a response to a visual, an emotional or a musical world, or all three. The shapes are bold and simplified.

Non objective works center on surface images of reinterpreted inner experiences. In my work I seek the resonance of music in reaching for the primordial soul. A universal rhythm is expressed through texture and sometimes through reflective metallic paint surfaces manipulated with implements beyond the brushstroke. Beneath the surface lies an inspiration from myth and music.

The canvas is placed on the floor. The paint is poured or thrown, sometimes manipulated, sometimes not. The hard part is knowing when to stop.

Although many of my paintings are non objective, I have always been interested in the figurative. Many years were spent drawing and painting from the model. Now I am abandoning the model in order to be more expressive, emphasizing feeling, intuition and relationships. Convincing but not accurate.

What is exciting now is that I am combining my love of the figurative with my knowledge and passion for the non objective. These works are large and heavily textured with thick paint and gels. They are sculptural works on canvas, bold, dramatic and emotional.”

Lila Lewis Irving