Face to Face: A portrait exhibition

By Phil Jenkins

February 5, 2025

Low Down To Hull and Back News

Local artist Drew Bernard is standing next to a self-portrait entitled ‘A Damn Good Cup of Coffee’ in which he sips the first jolt of the day. Bernard is addressing a crowd of artists, art lovers and the art curious at the Jan. 30 opening of the 100 Mile Art Network Portrait Exhibition in the Network’s cozy, bright gallery on Riverside Drive in Wakefield. In the course of talking about his work, Bernard said something profound. “Art,” he said, “has an infinite ceiling.” There is, in other words, no limit to the creativity that artists ply in the ongoing, global production of art, past, present and future. And that was certainly true of the works by a dozen local artists and one outlier on the gallery walls, artists from Chelsea, Wakefield, Masham, Lascelles and Lac-Notre-Dame.

Before she made her opening remarks, I had a quick chat with Jennifer Lynn Bisson, curator and gallerist with 100 Mile. “We invited artists to explore the theme of portraiture,” she told me, “and we encouraged creativity – they did not need to identify as portrait artists to apply. We simply asked that all submissions engage with the broader themes of reflection and self-awareness in a meaningful way. It also allowed the various, scattered artists to come together and meet each other, sometimes for the first time.”

With that in mind, I weaved my way around the walls and was struck by the diversity of approaches and results, and I encourage you to see for yourself. Viewing the works of the artists of our community in one place like this is invigorating and an antidote to the ugliness of current affairs. I will briefly mention the artists on display here as a sort of circus barker urging you to come inside the tent and witness the wonders. Most artists submitted two works.

Masham’s Jessica Weatherhead submitted one of her partner, Robin, and one capturing a surprised look from one of her young daughters. Kendall Ayoub Nichols had one of former Nikosi owner Wapokunie Riel-Lachapelle and one of coffee-crusader Anne Winship. Franziska Heinze of Nudes of Wakefield had her striking black and white photos, and J P Campbell, the show’s other photographer, entered ‘Portrait of a Mood’. Spencer Hanna-Haworth, whose co-authored mural adorns the Wakefield General store, had a dramatic, low palette piece and Janice Moorhead contributed two works made during the COVID lockdown. Reid McLachlan’s paintings embody humans born from his imagination and Marie-Pier Lopes presented her evocative ‘Inner Félins’, filled with symbolic imagery and many hands. Colette Coughlin displayed intimate self-portraits that focus on body-acceptance and radical self-love. From Val-des-Monts, two sculptors, Béla Simó and Angèle Lux, submitted a reflective welded aluminum sculpture each. Last but not least Carole Cyr, the outlier, had a work of bold colours and rich textures.

The 100 Mile Arts Network portraiture exhibition runs until Feb. 23 and is open every Saturday and Sunday from noon until four. The gallery is at 721 Chemin Riverside on the second floor, entrance at the back of the building, in Wakefield. The next group show, ‘A Plea for the Earth’, will be up in the summer.