Upcoming Exhibits: Bec and Mapi, together again, in Windsor and the Sault, Spring/Summer 2010 Table for Four, featuring Deb Sparks, Tim Harris, Terry Hill, Maria Parrella-Ilaria...at the Art Gallery of Algoma, January 2011! Drawn Together in Algoma--Reprise, set for Fall 2013 at the Art Gallery of Algoma.
moons, stars, clouds/mixed media on canvas/©2007MAPI
Done and Feted:  Done and Feted:  Done and Feted:  'Drawn Together in Algoma',  invitational group show organized by Paula Trus, happening at the Art Gallery of Algoma, Sault Ste. Marie, ON, Fall 2008 'prototypes'--an invitational group show and sale organized by a friendly bunch of artpals, running for the month of November '07 at whitespace gallery, SSM....and watch for the Nov. 23rd Artists Market at Arcadia... 'he(ART) in a box',  Rebecca Draisey and Maria Parrella-Ilaria, together again at whitespace gallery, Sault Ste. Marie, ON April 16-May 13, 2007, opening fete April 17 with guests of many sorts...  'Home is where the ART is....' ,  Rebecca Draisey and Maria Parrella-Ilaria, together at last, at ARTspeak in Windsor, ON April 1-15, 2007, opening fete on Good Friday, April 6 at 7pmish (or there abouts)--http://www.mnsi.net/~acwr/exhibits.html; on April 7 @ 8:30pm, catch MD Dunn's performance at Taloola Cafe, 396 Devonshire, Windsor; and on April 14 he'll be at the Phog Lounge in Windsor, starting at 8pm...
		works shown are by M.Parrella-Ilaria, ©2006-7, Houses Series, ARTspeak Gallery, Windsor, ON
*****  Exhibit 'Touch the Monkey', June 8-July 1, 2006 at Loplops Lounge, Sault, ON featuring new works by Tim Harris, Terry Hill, Deb Sparks, Maria Parrella-Ilaria   Welcome to the Monkey’s House  by  M. D. Dunn, Sault, ON, June 2006               It’s going to be a real zoo at Lop Lops in June. And while it’s wise to follow the signs – Keep Your Hands Out of the Alligator Pond, Don’t Feed the Iguanas – everyone is invited to Touch the Monkey.             A show of recent work by four area artists, Touch the Monkey is a collection of textual multimedia paintings and photographs. Colours clash and run, images are blurred, and texts are obscured by shadows and stars in this eclectic show. The works move the eye, allowing little rest. This could be a hard monkey to catch.             Deborah Sparks works in acrylics with photos and laminations textured into the compositions. Images from Gray’s Anatomy inform Sparks’ exploration of internal and external realities. Sparks fears that she sleeps with her mouth open, that while preoccupied with dream the wall between external and internal vanishes through a gaping maw. She is haunted by the 1980’s Rockwell song “(I Always Feel Like) Somebody’s Watching Me.” The fear of unconscious vulnerability and the catchy yet disturbingly paranoid strains of ‘80s pop dominate her work and torment her waking hours.             With the Touch the Monkey show, Maria Parrella-Ilaria anticipates the kitsch of tomorrow in the form of SpangleArt™. Although Parrella-Ilaria guards the techniques of this innovation, it has been discovered that SpangleArt™ involves the application of shiny bits of unlikely bric-a-brac to the canvas. Her less spangly acrylic works deal with memory and the perception of the self, barn swallows and monkeys. A graduate of Many Brutes University, Parrella-Ilaria spends her time saving the world from its own stupidity.             Photographer Tim Harris will emerge from his secret mountain lair with a new set of digital images designed especially for the show. Harris much prefers the term android over robot. “Android sounds nicer,” says Harris. “More human or something.” Harris is well known locally for the choral compositions penned and performed with his partner Burt the Donkey. Unfortunately, Burt the Donkey will be touring Mexico for the entire month of June and will not take part in Touch the Monkey.             Adam West, television’s Batman, once had his photograph taken with painter Terry Hill. The picture can be seen in the Friends and Admirers wing of the Adam West Museum in Troy, Michigan. For Hill, the photo was just another day in his life of high adventure. A pirate by training, Hill has worked as a seeing-eye dolphin, played second conch in the Atlantean orchestra, and has translated the holy scriptures of the zebra muscle into Penguinuese. Hill’s paintings are abstract representations of movement, development, and progress. Impressed with his own oeuvre, Hill boasts, “I don’t have a monkey to touch.”             Touch the Monkey, recent works by way-out folks, will run from June 8 to July 1, 2006.
(detail)/mixed media on canvas/ ©2005Deb Sparks   Diagnostic Drawing Series--Person(detail)/mixed media on canvas/©2006MAPI
[Both photos by Tim Harris©2006]
*****   *****   *****   *****   ***** Group Exhibits                                                                           Upcoming: New Works with Rebecca Draisey, Windsor & SSM                2010--Spring/Summer Table for Four, Art Gallery of Algoma, SSM                                              2011—January Drawn Together in Algoma (invitational), Art Gallery of Algoma, SSM          2013   “Whodunit”, invitational—fundraiser, Art Gallery of Algoma, SSM             2008—October Drawn Together in Algoma, (invitational), Art Gallery of Algoma, SSM     2008—September In Memory: A Studio Review, (invitational), Art Gallery of Algoma, SSM   2008—July Prototypes, organizer/participant, whitespace gallery, SSM                       2007—November (He)ART in a Box, with Rebecca Draisey, whitespace gallery, SSM          2007—April Home is where the ART is, with Rebecca Draisey, Artspeak, Windsor, ON Touch the Monkey, with Tim Harris, Terry Hill, Deb Sparks,                     2006—June                  Loplops Lounge and Gallery, Sault Ste. Marie, ON Fine Arts Faculty Exhibit, Algoma U, Sault Ste. Marie, ON                     2003 Art Teachers’ Invitational, Alberta House Gallery, S.S.M., MICH             2001 Patchwork (as curator and participant), Fireball Coffee’n Arts House, Sault Ste. Marie, ON The Really Bad Art Show (as curator and participant—open call), Fireball Coffee’n Arts House, Sault Ste. Marie, ON Creative Minds, Healing Hands (as curator)                                           2000 In conjunction with the Sexual Assault Care Center; Fireball Coffee’n Arts House, S.S.M., ON Earth Works (curated by S. Lang—open call)                                          1999 Fireball Coffee’n Arts House, Sault Ste. Marie, ON The Jock Strap Unveiled (as curator—open call)                                    1997 Fireball Coffee’n Arts House, Sault Ste. Marie, ON Bra-Vu-Rra, The Bra Show (as curator with Doleske—open call)              1996 Fireball Coffee’n Arts House, Sault Ste. Marie, ON What Lies Underneathe, John B. Aird Gallery, Toronto, ON                      Full House (curated by M. DeVoni--invitational), Soothing, S.S.M., ON      1991 Among Friends: Final Exhibit (invitational), Meta Gallery, S.S.M., ON     1990 Heart of the Matter (curated by M. Burtch), Art Gallery of Algoma, Sault Ste. Marie, ON Tempered Motion: Installation with Midori Nagai, Meta Gallery, Sault Ste. Marie, ON This is Not Hockey Night in Canada (curated by Meta Gallery), Crooked Tree Gallery, Petosky, Michigan Gallery Artists, Meta Gallery, Sault Ste. Marie, ON                                  1989 Human Rights Now!  Meta Gallery, Sault Ste. Marie, ON                         1988 New Images, Art Gallery of Algoma, Sault Ste. Marie, ON             Speculum: A Question of Gender, Art Gallery of Algoma, S.S.M., ON     1987 Triad with Theresa Morin & Alison Van Wyck, Meta Gallery, S.S.M., ON   Annual Fibres Exhibit, VAV Gallery, Concordia University, Mtl., PQ         1986 Works by Four Artists, Gallery North, Ontario Place, Toronto, ON            1985 Open House, Ontario College of Art, Studio, Florence, Italy                       1984 Algoma Artists, MacDonald Gallery, Toronto, ON                                    1983 Recent Works with Doug Johnston, Gallery 76, Toronto, ON                     Open House, Ontario College of Art, Toronto, ON                                     1981/2/3/4 Solo Exhibits Limbo Dance: Installation, Definitely Superior, Thunderbay, ON              1990 Positions: Video Presentation, Interpretation, Discussion, Concordia University, Mtl., PQ Decompensation Series: 6 Month Outdoor Installation, featuring work from Limbo Dance, installed in bush lot, Fourth Line East, Sault Ste. Marie, ON Limbo Dance: Installation, White Water Gallery, North Bay, ON              1989 On Active Imagination: Installation, Concordia U, Montreal, Quebec       1988 Limbo Dance: Installation, Meta Gallery, Sault Ste. Marie, ON                1987 A Personal Reality: Installation, Concordia University, Montreal, PQ        Limbo Dance: Installation, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec          A Story in Five Parts, VAV Gallery, Concordia University, Montreal, PQ    1986 Works on Canvas and Paper, Art Gallery of Algoma, S.S.M., ON             1985 Instances: Cibachrome Prints, Art Gallery of Algoma, S.S.M., ON