Judy's Update: Convergence Exhibition 2025 at the Tom Thomson gallery in Owen Sound, Ontario

I Stand within a Walled Garden
by Tanya Zaryski, acrylic on cradled panel 2025

"My grandmother taught me to name the things in nature I observed: lady slipper, sparrow hawk, garter snake. Their names were like magic spells. As an artist, I've always been drawn back to nature for inspiriation. In these days of dire environmental warnings, I struggle with how to meaningfuly respond. So much heartbreakingly devestation is out of my hands. My conclusion is that I can only control my immediate surroundings. " Tanya Zaryski

Ferel by Tanya Zaryski acrylic on cradled panel, 2025

Convergence installation view.
Foreground - Potato Field by Susan Barton-Tait. wax castings of potatoes, 2025,
Background - Sacred Ground by Judy Martin, wrapped thread on wool quilt, 2024,
and two paintings by Tanya Zaryski, Ferel and I Stand Within my Walled Garden, both 2025

The Tom Thomson gallery in Owen Sound welcomed a packed house to the opening of Convergence on October 18, 2025. Artists from across Ontario had been invited to submit their recent work that focused on the theme of the environment. "These may include ecology, climate change, sustainability, natural landscapes, and our evoloving relationship with the planet " stated the call for entry. Also in the call for entry were these words: "the exhibition will embrace a wide range of mediums and practices that reflect tbe depth and vitality of environmentally engaged art in the province." Over 200 entries were recieved, and 26 artists were invited to show one or two pieces. Two large floor sculptures took up much of the floor space in the main gallery of the Tom Thomson. The first of these was Potato Field.

In Potato Field, I address the eco-anxieties surrounding food insecurity, farmland degradation, and the monopolization of seed by large agribusiness. The instability of today's political and environmental climate serves as a reminder that all life exists in a precarious balance that may shatter at any moment. These translucent wax forms speak to human resiliance. Susan Barton-Tait

The time that my hand quilted work requires gives me a quiet place where I can gain perspective on what is happening each day in this uncertain world. The slow touching of the cloth and thread gives me sustenence. Each piece I create is message of care and hope. The concept and technique of wrapping and being wrapped grounds my work. Red Thread, a worldwide symbol of protection, is used in nearly every piece." Judy Martin

Foreground: Migration by Zhan Zhang, cut paper.
backround: For All that Still Might Be and Farmers Fields in Medium Transparency
by Matthew Varey, both oil on panel, 2025
Dreaming in Still Waters and In Search of Greener Pastures,
by Nicole Graham, oil on canvas, 2024-2025

Migration,: Presenting a kind of loneliness in a crowded place allows the paper sculpture to create an emotion in a very simple way. Viewers often read the individual paper sculptures as surreal creatures that migrate together, forming an uncertain path. The installation as a collective system portrays a tendency of unrelated animals and plants to evolve superficially similar characteristics under similar environmental conditions. Zhan Zhang

Matthew Varey has participated in Artistic Visions of a Shrinking Landscape, an exhibition to raise awareness and to raise funds to protect land in and around Hamilton, Ontario as well as several other exhibitions about diminishing wild and natural lands around Dundas, Ontario.

Working primarily in abstract landscapes, Nicole Graham creates atmospheric compositions that dissolve boundaries between place, memory and perception. Each work functions as a site of reflection, connecting external environments with the inner landscapes of human experience.

untitled by nicholas x bent, photography with watercolour and natural materials, 2025

My photographic practice centers on the evolving dialogue between the natural environment and human presence. My work is not just a visual document but moments of quiet tension that ask us to reconsider our role in the systems we shape and depend on. Nicholas x Bent

Natural Science Study: Rot by Julie Sando.
Photo collage printed on linen with recycled linen and cotton trim 2024

Natural Science Studies is a collage based, digital print to linen series that merges imagery sourced from vintage natural science magazines with previously used printed textiles. The pieces submitted were produced using water based inks in a facility committed to zero inventory waste, minimizing the use of harsh chemicals, energy, and water typical of traditional photographic methods. Julie Sando

In the Centre: Unfurling Horizons by Chih-ling Chang, ink on linen 2025
On the pedestal: Counterweight by Naomi Dodds, metal sculpture 2024 (curator's award)
Behind on wall: The Birds and the Bees by Paul Drysdale, mixed media 2023.

I paint on thrifted bed sheets. I choose them in any colour, and if there are stains, creases, or small patterns, I embrace them rather than cover them. What began as a practical way to work large has become central to how I think about materials, valuing what already exists and finding possibilities in imperfection. I think of each piece as part of a larger conversation about how we navigate identity, impermanence and place. Chih-ling Chang

In projects like Counterweight, mirror-like stainless steel forms act as reincarnations of glacial rocks from the Bruce Penninsula. The object embodies the tension between our attempts to measure and control the inherent instability or ecological and social systems. Naomi Dodds

In a study of the wild bird population of North America it was found that from 1970 to the present, 3.9 billion birds have been lost. This was the impetus for the piece, The Birds and the Bees. Global warming, land use practices and pesticides have been endangering the bird population for years. As artists we may not have the answers to world problems, but we do have the ability to expose them so that they can be analyzed. Paul Drysdale

Convergence Installation

For more information about the three jurors, please follow this link.

The statements I've included in this blog have been severely shortened. Please follow this link for the complete statements of all 26 participants in this year's Convergence.

There were two awards given at the opening.

The Juror's award went to Rachel Kochistry for End of Summer oil painting (below)