Featured Artist for the Month of April, 2022
Email: herridge@rogers.com
Web: www.garryherridge.com
…is under reconstruction and coming soon
Garry Herridge
Artist Bio:
I was always interested in drawing, and I still have the set of dresser drawers with one of my earliest preschool drawings on the inside of the first drawer created using my mom’s lipstick. In 1958 my family moved to Scarborough when I was in elementary school way before the Town Centre was thought of and our street was still large stones and not yet paved. I attended David and Mary Thomson C.I. and had a wonderful art teacher named Stuart Aikman who always encouraged me. He was instrumental in establishing Cedar Ridge Creative Centre and would become my mentor and colleague when I became an Art teacher. I graduated from the University of Toronto Scarborough College with an Honours BA majoring in Fine Art and enjoyed a wonderful career teaching visual Arts for the Toronto District School board for 32 years, during 25 of which I was Head of visual Arts for Eastern High School of Commerce.
I was always making drawings, paintings, and sculptures of my children when they were growing up and now, I get great pleasure in looking at those works throughout my house. I believe an artist is a product of his/her environment. One never knows where life and your artistic inclinations will take you. In the 1990s I was invited to the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia, where for one week each summer I taught a course called “The Horse In Art” during which participants from across Canada and the United States sketched, painted and drew horses. So, my wife and I packed up our tent trailer and along with the kids and spent every summer down there for many years. Later I was fortunate to do some equine art for Woodbine Racetrack. My fondest memory of that is a drawing of Toronto jockey Robert Landry participating in his 13th Queen’s Plate race wearing number 13! This proved to be lucky for him as he won his first Queen’s Plate!
I am drawn to the expressive nature of lines, values, contrasts and the many subtleties that drawing affords me to express myself in moments that inspire me. While drawing has always been my major love, in 1982 I began working in watercolour. I belong to The Toronto Watercolour Society where I am a signature member ( Silver level ), the Pine Ridge Arts Council and am a former member of the Don Valley Art Club as well as the Association of Canadian Equine Artists and Supporters. I have been fortunate to win awards from these fine organizations and made many friends there, but my favourite group is still the Art Guild of Scarborough! I look forward to our weekly meetings, Fall and Spring Shows, the Xmas party as well as the Arthur Show. It has been my pleasure to serve as the president of this wonderful organization from 2012-2018 with so many wonderful members and such a long tradition.
AWARDS:
Prestigious Ontario Power Generation Award – 2019 – Pine Ridge Arts Council Annual Juried Art Show
Best Small Painting – 2018 – The Art Guild of Scarborough
Best Drawing – 2017 – The Art Guild of Scarborough
Honourable Mention – 2018, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2012 – The Art Guild of Scarborough
Award of Merit – 2012 – Toronto Watercolour Society
Honourable Mention – 2010 – Arthur Show – The Art Guild of Scarborough
Honourable Mention – 2008 – Art on Main St., Newmarket
Best in Show – 2000 – “Remember When: Our Scarborough 1796-1997” Scarborough Arts Council Members Juried Art Show
Sunset, Pog Lake, Algonquin Park, 30 x 22 Watercolour
Temagami Giant, 32 x 27 Graphite
25th Anniversary, 23 x 18 Graphite
Beach Market, 9 x 12 Graphite
Lake Muskoka Looking East, 19 x 23 Watercolour
Duck! Copenhagen, 4 x 6 Graphite
Granville Ferry Lighthouse, 19 x 23 Watercolour
Muskoka Sunset, 5.5 x 9.5 Watercolour
Bob’s Place, 15 x 20 Watercolour
If you would like more information about a painting or the artist contact the artist directly through their contact information on this page or complete the form on the Contact Us page.
Copyright notice: The copyright for these artworks resides with the artist. It is illegal for these images to be reproduced in any way or by any means, in whole or in part, without the written permission of the artist.