Back by popular demand!
Welcome to The Stratford Artists Takeover Show featuring over 30 local Stratford artists.
The shop is organized in alphabetical order by artists.
Shipping cost may not be accurate and a credit will be issued in such a circumstance.
Scroll through, click on the arrows to see more and enjoy!
Any questions, give us a call or send us an email!
WAYNER ARENBURG
Been working in the art industry for the last 30 years but only been painting in the last few years.
LAUREN BAILEY
Artist, Designer, Burnout. I wear my heart on my forehead which is a blessing and curse. To me, creating art is evoking feeling. No matter the feeling, as long as it is something. I like to build a sense of ease, I like to be ‘real’, I like to offer a simple form from complex emotions. We're all going through something, might as well do it together.
HENRY BUKENYA
I am an acrylic portrait artist from Uganda. Recently, I had a 6-week solo show at Station Gallery in St. Mary's, ON. I grew up as an orphan in Uganda and was not doing well in school, where I liked to draw in my school books. I was caned for doing so but eventually, a new art teacher realized that I had a calling and opened my eyes to the world of art. While in the Neema orphanage, I completed primary school and for 5 years, I travelled to Canada with the Neema Children's Choir. Eventually I enrolled in a 2-year program at the Michelangelo College of Creative Arts in Kisubi, Uganda, where I earned my certificate in Art and Design Skills. I am so appreciative of my art teacher, Mr. Isaac, and others who recognized my calling and encouraged me to pursue a meaningful life in the arts.
CATHERINE BUTLER
The Catherine Butler Collection is a Stratford-based (by way of Niagara-on-the-Lake and Toronto), independently owned jewellery and art business. It all began back in 2008 with Catherine making jewellery out of a love for creating one-of-a-kind statement pieces using vintage materials and unique stones, with some of the proceeds of the sales going towards helping take care of her special needs rescue dog. A couple of years later, and with new rescues in tow, Catherine picked up a paint brush and a new creative outlet was born. Catherine is happiest when at home, creating and surrounded by her furry coworkers.
KAYLA BUTT
As an artist working with mixed medium, Kayla Butt combines aspects of collage, found imagery, and acrylic paint to explore the ephemeral nature of memory and the complexity of identity. Her work is informed by a fascination with nostalgia, and the way that our recollections of the past help shape who we are in the present. Through her art, Kayla Butt seeks to create a dialogue about the personal relationship we have with our memories and the emotions they evoke. By layering different textures and images, she aims to capture the fragmented and fleeting nature of these experiences, as well as the ways in which they can be simultaneously vivid and elusive. Ultimately, my goal is to engage a wider audience in a reflection on the power of memory to shape our sense of self. By prompting viewers to consider their own experiences of nostalgia and the role it plays in their lives, I hope to create a space for contemplation and connection.
CARLA COLES
Carla Coles is an award winning multi-disciplinary artist, poet, screenwriter, entrepreneur and woman-about-town living and working in Stratford, ON. Her paintings are abstracted backgrounds with a main focal inspired by nature that leans towards whimsical. She is a multimedia artist but loves the bold colours and flexibility of acrylic paint spending weeks perfecting the chaotic backgrounds using many varying techniques from sprays and splatters to adding and removing objects to create voids in the space. Thinning and thickening the paint with different mediums until it all comes together. This series of blackbirds against sometimes high energy backgrounds speaks of fear, survival and bravery. Crows and ravens are smart and resilient and their meanings speak to good omens, transformation and destiny.
LISA COMPTON
My inspiration is drawn from the natural world. When choosing subjects, my primary intention is to create pieces that I enjoy painting and hopefully prompt feelings of happiness and appreciation for the viewer.
VIVIAN DE WINTER
I'm inspired by the visuals of nature and propelled by a relentless intuition. The results of my expression are meant to be lost in translation. Interpretations are as unique as the individuals who interpret them After many years of creating works based on “realism,†I have finally and fully embraced the challenges of producing abstract art. Interesting colour combinations and the various ways to apply paint and other mediums have widened my scope of subjects.
E.C. DIMOCK
My name is E.C Dimock and I am a multidisciplinary artist. My work explores our relationship as humans to the natural world & the subcultures we create as to feel more at home within it. Currently I use painting, collage, sound design & song to better understand these ideas. The group of paintings I've submitted are from a series "Fire As Cleanser". This series examines the purifying nature of fire as it relates to our lives.
GABRIELLA FORTUNE
As a young, upcoming black artist, I find immense joy in infusing vibrancy into my artwork and expressing the beauty of the world around us. Vibrant colors are at the core of my artistic expression. They not only represent the diversity and vitality of life but also serve as a visual language to convey emotions, stories, and connections. Through a kaleidoscope of hues, I seek to invoke feelings of joy,inspiration and mystery within the viewer, inviting them to immerse themselves in the richness of the artwork. I approach my work with an open heart and a compassionate mindset. I believe art has the power to heal, unite, and transform lives.
BARBARA HAGARTY
Barbara Hagarty is an emerging fiber artist. In 2017 she began to actively engage with the history of fiber art through the practice of tatting. From here she transitioned to working with other historical forms of fiber creation such nalbinding, drop spindle spinning and sprang. This interest in the history of fiber art has sparked a creative direction in using historical practices of creating textiles for both practical and artistic purposes. Her hope is to bring relevance to ancient techniques of fiber creation and create contemporary interest in these ancient practices. Her practice has recently expanded to include wet and needle felting.
MARK HARRIS
Illustrator living in Stratford
LYNNE HURAS
Born in Stratford, Ontario and living in both Banff and Stratford, Lynne is known for her interpretations of Canadian landscapes, particularly trees. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto and Sheridan College, and she has painted landscapes from coast to coast. Each painting begins as sketches on site before an image is ready for canvas and paint. Working from these sketches, paintings evolve from the rhythm of the lines where trees meeting sky and roots meet rock. The intent is to evoke a sense of calm and connectedness.
MICHELLE JAMIESON
Michelle Jamieson is a multidisciplinary artist, playing with different mediums to create stories and characters in her work. For 20 years she worked as a propmaker for the theatre, and has taught all across Ontario. She is fairly new to ceramics, and it has felt like home since she began experimenting with the medium over a year and a half ago. Michelle's mission in life is to cultivate joy which she is actively pursuing by connecting her art to her love of felines, nature and healing.
LOIS JUSTRABO
Noticing, celebrating and sharing the beauty and fine details found in the natural world is what inspires my art: the intricate design of a flower, the antics of a chickadee or the wide-open space of a cloud-hung sky. Although I often work in watercolour, my journey as a self-taught artist has found me exploring pen and ink, acrylic, print-making and abstract collage. I find abundant inspiration for my creative work in my travels and in the gardens, woodlands and waterways around my home in Stratford.
KEVIN KEMP
After working as a scenic painter in film and theatre in Toronto, I moved with my family to Stratford and began work with the Stratford Festival and teaching scenic paint with the Off The Wall artist alliance. After 30 years, I have retired and continue to paint and study music.
JANINE MINOR
Janine Minor is a mixed media artist living in Stratford, Ontario, after a career in teaching visual art. She works with paper, wax and relics from nature, in high relief or three dimensions. Inspired by both natural and manmade processes, she combines handmade and found materials to simulate structures, surfaces, and the stories they suggest.
ANDREW MITCHELL
Andrew Mitchell is a graphic artist originally from London who has called Stratford home for the last few years. He works in digital and traditional mediums in a variety of styles and subject matter. Often experimenting with elements such as graffiti art, typography, character design and illustration and really, whatever else comes to mind.
KATE MULRONEY
Emerging Stratford artist taking a long, loving look at the Real.
BORA PLEASANCE
Like most artists, I have been creating since I can remember. The medium always changed, but the instinct did not. Eventually this creativity combined with some Eastern European practicality and I became a designer, first interiors, then graphics. The more digital my day job became, the more I craved the analogue. I missed paper, I missed holding a pen, I missed being away from the screen. When I finally decided to start making art, it took me a few years to loosen into it. I found watercolour and fell in love with its reactions on paper, the depth it created. I tested over 100 patterns with pen before I found the right one. My own language of abstraction has since slowly emerged. It’s made up a little bit of landscape, a little bit of emotion, some meditation and sometimes the memory of my great-grandmother’s weaving. <br/><br/>For me, this work is my voice, it is my freedom, it is my internal landscape expressed. It has also, rather surprisingly, become a way of connecting with people that goes beyond the spoken word.
DEVON ROULTSTON
Devon Roulston is an artist, musician and woodworker based out of Stratford, ON, Canada, who holds a Bachelor degree in Percussion Performance from Wilfrid Laurier University. She creates abstract watercolour and acrylic paintings that give people permission to take a moment out of their busy lives to enjoy the beauty of colour, shape and form. Her work provides a pleasurable and immersive experience that allows people to feel intrigued and engaged in their own creative sides. She studied acrylic painting with local artist, Scott Fillier in 2004, and wood engraving with Gerard Brender à Brandis in 2006. Her biggest inspirations come from nature, experiencing other artists work, and from the freedom of expression that comes from abstraction.
SANDRA SALIBSURY
Financial analyst by day, creator of glorious nonsense by night. I'm a lifelong Stratford resident specializing in lush oil paintings and elaborate jewelled reliquaries.
BRENDA STOREY
Brenda Storey is a self-taught artist. Facing the isolation and limitations of Environmental Illness since 2010, she discovered the world of watercolour in 2016. She began showing her work publicly in 2019. Using gestural ink drawings and limited palettes, faces have been a favorite subject. With a recent discovery of lower VOC acrylics more expressive spontaneous pieces, incorporating collage work, are emerging. Constantly growing, ever evolving, whether abstract or figurative; human emotions, environmental messages, or local scenes are the focus of her work.
NOELLA UPITIS
ADAM VANDERHEIDE
In his experiments with narrative and comics Vanderheide expresses his love of storytelling.
WILMA VANDERHEIDE
ZACHARY VOROS
LEAH WELLS
My inspiration began with my roots; growing up on a farm. I fell in love with big skies over the open fields and the colours during sunsets. My paintings resemble the way I view the world, bright and optimistic. I strive to capture my positive outlook on life with the fluid medium, paired with my love for colour and all things handmade When the pandemic began, I threw myself headfirst into my art and was reunited with my passion but in a more expressive way. I discovered a unique way of painting in acrylic pouring. With a measured combination of acrylic paints, oils and conditioners, I am able to create a fluid paint that is loose and unpredictable. The bubble patterns known as 'cells' are unique in each piece and bring a more granular interest to my work.
