Nouveau Louvre 2025

 

ceremony for wildness:  silk thread on vintage table linen 2023

Ceremony for Wildness sold on opening day of the Nouveau Louvre fundraising exhibition for le Galerie du nouvel Ontario.   

The deal is that you pay $225 for the art, and $75 goes to the gallery and the rest to the artist.  It is a very popular event in Sudbury, Ontario with most local artists participating. 

View the online sale at this link or visit the gallery in person 27 Larch Street, Sudbury, Ontario

Nouveau Louvre 2023 opens November 18

 Earth Dance  silk thread on watercolour paper, framed,  21 x 20.5"   (by Judy Martin)  sold on opening day!  

Lake Bell, soda fired ceramic vase, 10" x 6"  by April Martin  (documented in lake water) one of three such vases available for this exhibition.   View the others here and here.  

The GNO Nouveau Louvre 2023 opens in Sudbury, Ontario Saturday November 18 2023 at 2 pm.

The walls are plastered with artwork from members and the wider community of artists, and each one is sold for $225 with the artist and the gallery sharing the proceeds.  Both Judith and her daughter April are participating in this year's event.  You can purchase the art online.  You might need to pick it up at the gallery.  Here is address of gallery:  27 Larch Street, Sudbury Ontario, P3E 1B7  705 673 4927

Here is the link to view all the artwork and make a purchase: New Louvre 2023

Nouveau Louvre 2022

Anni Albers Visited Me   by Judy Martin   watercolour on paper, wooden frame with glass, 19" square, 2019.  This piece sold on opening day of the Nouveau Louvre on Saturday November 26 2022.

There are nearly 300 pieces of art available in person at the new GNO gallery in Sudbury, or online, click here to see and purchase.  All works are sold for $200.  Artist receives $125 and the gallery receives $75.  The sale continues until January 13, 2023.  You can give someone a gift certificate and they can choose their own artwork!   

Address of the gallery and hours: 

le Galerie du Nouvel Ontario, 27 Larch Street, Sudbury Ontario P3E 4R6 phone 705 673 4927

the GNO is part of the beautiful new Place Des Arts in Sudbury, northern Ontario.  

Nouveau Louvre opens Saturday November 24

Time Dream Memory: time

Antique frame, wool, stitch, van-dyke print on hand made paper, within a shadow box frame
20" x 20"

Part of Le Nouveau Louvre annual exhibition fund-raising sale at La Galerie du Nouvel Ontario in Sudbury.   Opens Saturday November 24, and continues until December 22, 2018. 

All artworks are available for purchase for $200 each and there is
a big selection
It is also possible to purchase the work online

Click here for complete gallery of images and information on how to purchase.

UPDATE  - this piece SOLD on opening day xo

Nouveau Louvre

How To Live Series:  Be Born   block print,needle prick, Judy Martin 

Hundreds of piece sof artwork fromlocal and out of town artists will be on sale during the 2015 edition of the nouveau louvre.

November 21 - December 23 2015
Galerie Du Nouvel-Ontario
Sudbury Ontario Canada

How To Live:  Survive Love and Loss    Block print, needle prick by Judy Martin 

Each year, the GNO invites artists to show their work and put it up for sale at the nouveau louvre. All works of art are for sale at single price of $200 each.  As the artist-run centre's most important fundraising activity, the profits are shared between the artist ($125 and the GNO ($75).  It is an ideal opportunity to acquire an original work of art while supporting the GNO and Northern Ontario artists.

Opening at the GNO  Saturday November 21 at 2 pm.
It is possible to purchase art over the phone or through email.  Click gno-org and scroll down to see some of the other art available.

P0P F0LK T3XTIL3S at Campbell House Museum in Toronto June 26-August 9 2015

Feel Better installation by Judy Martin, part of POP FOLK T3XTILES  exhibition 

With Feel Better, Judy Martin explores the act of wrapping, and its healing, feel-good effects. For her, the process of fabrication in textile arts is something that is strongly tied to familial relations, and there are many traces of this in her installation, which includes, for example, wrapped bundles, each with four twigs at their core- corresponding to her four children. Having started to explore wrapping in her art after the passing of her mother, Judy makes the reference of caringly wrapping a baby in a warm blanket, or wrap­ping a bandage for someone who is injured - in both cases, the act of wrapping becomes something that is helpful to another, and that we can associate with compassion, care, and feeling better.                                                                           Sophie LeBlanc  curator of P0P F0LK T3XTIL3S 

POP FOLK T3XTIL3S opens June 26 6 pm reception
Campbell House Museum
160 Queen Street West  (corner of Queen and University)
Toronto  M5H 3H3 and it continues until August 9

The exhibition is in partnership with Le Labo gallery, curated by Sophie LeBlanc.  There is a catalog with curatorial statement and essay on pop and folk art by Sophie LeBlanc.
The artists in the exhibition are:
Judy Martin
Mariana Lafrance
Danielle Gignac
Greta Grip

The goal for P0P F0LK: T3XT1L3S was to find artists who were interested in, or that practiced the use of textiles as an art medium, and to put together a showcase that would consider the relationship between textile practice and popular art.

By using a '133t' language, of vowels replaced by numbers, for the title of the exhibit, I also made reference to numerical coding, and of informational technologies that are integrated in our everyday lives, as much nowadays as artisanal traditions such as the fabrication of textiles would have been in the past.  These digital technologies allow the evolution of craft practices and give new ways of communicating them.  That said, the whole of the project also considers the techniques of textile practices, themselves technologies, as well as the effects of contemporary technology on these traditions, notably in terms of their presence in contemporary art.

The question of popular art, or pop art, also took an interesting turn in the ensemble of the projects.  We find in each work some element of daily life, whether it is a quilt that would cover the bed in which we sleep, or old socks that we have walked distances in.  Presented in the context of fine arts/contemporary arts, this element (of daily life) takes on a new shape: it no longer simply fills a need for warmth or protection for example, but offers a critical spectacle to those who observe it.

The projects chosen showcase an eclectic and interdisciplinary mix of artworks and mediums, all relating to textiles and making reference (either directly or indirectly) to the origins of textile fabrication practices as popular art.  For the artist Mariana Lafrance, the fabrication of textiles is motivated by a return to nature and to our ancestor's practices.  Using natural materials for dyeing, a quiltmaking technique and a three dimensional presentation, she transforms recycled sheets into an optical masterpiece.  For the artist Judy Martin, the fabrication of textiles becomes a ritual, even a spiritual practice that relates to familial life.  Her presentation of wrapped twigs resonates a reflection on mourning and healing processes.  Knitting artist Greta Grip is interested in the integration of new technologies with textile practices, by knitting igital QR codes that link to video documentations of the original resources that allow these fabrications (sheep), by informational diffusion.  Finally, artist-architect Danielle Gignac then explores the role of textiles as shelter, and as an active player in our experience of home.  She creates a tent structure made from recycled socks.

Sophie LeBlanc curator, P0P F0LK T3XTIL3S

Pop folk Textiles

Now on until April 18 is the exhibition Pop folk Textiles at La Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario in Sudbury, Ontario.  Sophie LeBlanc, a young curator mentored by Thom Sokoloski, was inspired by her studies of world textiles to examine how ubiquitous textiles are in our everyday life.  She invited four artists to participate.

Danielle Gignac constructed a tipi made from trees and old socks gathered from Sudbury and other communities.  Danielle recently graduated with a Masters in Architecture from the University of Waterloo.  Her piece was entitled 'Walking Home' referring to the homeliness and sheltering quality of the socks on our feet.  The weaving of the socks through the structure presents a nod to the paths we travel on our way home.  During the exhibition opening children and adults were cozy inside the structure in their sock feet, reading story books.

Greta Grip knitted QR codes.  Each  of the four codes was knitted from the wool of a particular sheep and actually work to bring up an image of that sheep.  Her installation included two videos, one of the sheep in their environment and being sheared, and one of her own hands knitting.

Greta also showed a hand knit sweater made from yarn gathered from the four sheep, Sara, April, Sammy and Dot.  In her brief talk at the opening she spoke about her interest in contrasting the slowness of wool with the speed of contemporary tech.  " We live a life of instant gratification, with instant results, much like how QR codes are scanned and information is attained. This work relates what you are wearing to what wore it before you, and  who or what made it so that you could wear it." G Grip. 

Mariana LaFrance showed her first quilt, a traditional tumbling blocks pattern made with plant dyed re-purposed cotton sheets.

Mariana hung her quilt in an innovative way.  She wanted it to appear three dimensional.  Mariana's performance that connected sleep, dream, and regeneration was the highlight of the exhibition opening on March 13.

An interesting collage on the back wall was created by the curator, Sophie LeBlanc.   She collected photos and 'wise statements' from artists and art lovers in the northern ontario region and then Andy Worhal-ized them. (detail shown)

These dried queen anne lace plants (above) were collected by Mariana Lafrance on Manitoulin Island. She placed them behind her quilt to make the quilt appear bumped out as if some one were sleeping beneath it.  Mariana also used queen anne's lace seeds in her performance that showed how humans are connected to nature more than we realize.

Judy Martin's installation consisted of 74 bundles of cloth and thread around 4 little tree branches.

A video demonstrated how to make these bundles.  The artist's premise is that by doing handwork we feel better, and she provided materials for an interactive bundle making station.

Several people who attended the opening created their own bundles to take away.


As usual for La GNO, there is a video of the opening statements with an introduction by Danielle Tremblay, the gallery's award winning director.  I will mention here that La Galerie du Nouvel Ontario focuses on Franco-Ontario artists and most of the video is in the French language.  Daniel Aubin, communication officer for the gallery, provides English translation during the opening.  Each artist spoke for a few minutes.  If you are interested, Judy Martin speaks about her bundles in the middle of the 23 minute video (11 minutes in).