2012...you were a great year at Argyle Fine Art!

It's hard to believe that yet another year has passed. This is the second year at our "new" location on Barrington Street, and we can honestly say we are still delighted to be on Barrington Street with lots of great local businesses that have become wonderful neighbours and friends.

photo by Chris Green

 
We've met many new art lovers too and have even converted some into collectors (careful, ART can become addictive). Why, we've even attracted some wild life this year, such as Oliver the Owl, who visited the gallery one afternoon.

Oliver the Owl who lives at Hope for Wildlife. His portrait by Melissa Townsend hangs behind him. 

Artist Melissa Townsend met Oliver at the gallery. The painting of Oliver by Melissa raised over $1000 for Hope For Wildlife.  (Melissa delivered a baby boy into the world in the Fall...his name is Vander. We can't wait for you to meet him at her next show, perhaps)

We love our windows and have become known for our ever changing displays, which we try to make entertaining, beautiful, whimsical and thought-provoking...or just inviting. Sometimes we even use our windows at night for moving pictures.

Looping short film by Mark Brennan about...Mark Brennan and his paintings. It shined into the night and stopped many in their tracks.

We couldn't be here without ALL of YOU!  So thank you for supporting Argyle Fine Art! Special thanks to our artists who work hard everyday to create such wonderful creations who  are patient and thoughtful to us as well.

Two of our lovely gallery artists, Gordon MacDonald and Mary Garoutte

We started the year of 2012 off with a great BIG show of SMALL art...we'll do the same this year...we can hardly wait!!!  We had over 400 works last year on our walls!

One of the nooks of the gallery, filled with "Pre-Shrunk" paintings and sculpture and textile and everything! The only rule: the work must measure 4" x 5"

In February, we were delighted to showcase a new artist to the gallery, Jennifer Harrison. Jennifer moved from Ontario and has made her home in Lunenburg. We love Jennifer's work and so do many others it seems! The texture and repeating patterns and colours are lovely.

Two gallery patrons enjoying the latest works by artist Jennifer Harrison

In March we celebrated this rather dark time of year with two shows that hightlighted "light". A beautiful collection of Nocturnal scenes by Gordon MacDonald, such as this one...

We even had light sculpture and lamps by Andrea Saint-Pierre.These shows brightened our March!

Before we knew it, April was here!  Little signs of Spring were in the air with works by Shelley Mitchell. We also featured a very special Paper Dolls shows in memory of The Titanic.

Painting by Shelley Mitchell

Paper Dolls by Bryanna Chapeskie for our Titanic Show...many of the works shown in an antique trunk of that period

In May we had wonderful works by Mark Brennan and Twila Robar-DeCoste...another new aritst to our gallery.

Painting by Mark Brennan

Painting by Twila Robar-DeCoste

We also were pleased to present new works throughout the Spring and into the coming months by Adrienne Godbout, such as this piece:

Painting by Adrienne Godbout

In June, we were delighted to have Trevor Van den Eijnden visit us all the way from Vancouver with a new body of work. Trevor's family home is in Pictou, NS so he trys to coordinate trips home with a new show at the gallery. We may be seeing him soon again, in February 2013 with some new goodies too!

Painting by Trevor Van den Eijnden

Trevor was also joined by Nick Brunt, who was just recently named BEST ARTIST of Halifax by The Coast and it's readership. Nick,has won many awards this year actually and is excited about becoming a new dad in the Spring too!  Hoooray!!!!

Nick  Brunt busy in the studio.....yes, his show this year was called "HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS!"  He gets the gallery's vote for best show title ever!

 

Painting by Kathy Richards

 July was also another great month, with lot of great things happening in the city such as Tall Ships. We hosted a very special show for artist Melissa Townsend's that SOLD OUT within less than a week, in fact! She was also joined by yet another new comer to the gallery, Mary Garoutte, who also had a very successful show and has continued to show in our group shows. We can hardly wait to see what she will be creating in 2013!

Painting by Mary Garoutte

August is always the month that you can expect to see a wonderful solo show by Gordon MacDonald. This year Gordon experimented with a variety of mediums, sizes and subject matters, but what remained the same was his magical way of capturing light and the feeling of a painting...making the viewer feel as if they had been there themselves. Gordon has also offered a few workshops this year, with the new one coming up on January 13th at the gallery.

Painting called "From the 16th Floor" by Gordon MacDonald. Oil on Copper

Heaven's Gate by Steven Rhude

The Fall wouldn't seem complete without our annual Steven Rhude show....and as usual, he always delivers beautiful works that are collected by a growing number of corporations and private collectors alike.

We were also very excited to offer emerging artist Andy MacDonald a solo show in our lower gallery!  Thanks to so many of you purchasing his works, he's been encouraged to continue creating lots of great works. Fingers crossed he gets something ready for Pre-Shrunk 2013...no pressure Andy...ha ha..

Installation shot of Andy MacDonald's show in our lower gallery.

AND......our Favourite time of the year....NOCTURNE!  God bless all the people that make Nocturne happen...it's all volunteer based you know. The event has grown into a huge success story. On one night in October, over 15,000 fill the streets, the galleries the hills the valleys the waterfront the everything of Halifax and Dartmouth....because they love ART.  This year Ed Beals and Nick Brunt joined forces to bring you "Retro Robots, Rockets and Rayguns" complete with an original soundtrack created by Mike Diabo. The crowds were amazing! It was so much fun!!!

Panoramic view of Nocturne...early in the evening...the fun is just beginning!

Look!  A Robot!

Even the Alien Life outside our windows had to stop and stare!

Having fun in our Photobooth with our Space Ponchos! Who knew people could have so much fun with an emergency blanket cut in half..ha.

November was a great month too...we were joined by John Houston and a very special collection of Inuit prints, textiles and sculptures as well as lecture. You can still catch the recording of his talk at our gallery on EastLink Television. The place was full for this talk...we expect there will be more! We also we lucky enough to show amazing photographs by Steve Richard. Steve took these in his new studio, the models posed under water in a pool he built in the studio...no post production. Stunning.

Photograph by Steve Richard

In December, well...we celebrated lots of new works and all of our artists....and started to get ready for the new season ahead, which will begin with PRE-SHRUNK 2013 opening on January 25th and a CAT SHOW in February..it will be purrrrrfect.

Until then, Happy New Year everyrone!  Thanks for reading this far down...wow...didn't realize I had so much to share, but there ya go. Oh, one more thing...thanks for voting us BEST GALLERY this year...that was amazing.  Let's make this year even more amazing!!!

Adriana, Crystal and Nick Brunt Celebrating!