ABOUT THE ARTIST

Ina Gilbert earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Economics from the University of Toronto with the intention of continuing her education at law school, to follow in her father's footsteps and become a lawyer. She married a law student and decided to concentrate on her inborn artistic skills instead of law. She studied art under the tutelage of several Toronto artists. Her studio was a corner in the furnace room where she set her easel under the single light bulb. She found time to paint while her eldest daughter attended nursery school, her toddler played beside her and her infant slept upstairs in her crib. Her first exhibition of drawings and oil paintings was presented in the Willowdale Public Library in 1961.

The antics of her growing family and neighbourhood children were expressed in drawings and etchings. Her almost human extra terrestrials mimicked humorous human traits. ET bears a striking resemblance to these works of art created years before his first screen appearance. The drawings were exhibited at the prestigious Dorothy Cameron Gallery in1963, the etchings in shows with the Society of Canadian Artists.

The development of fast-drying acrylic paints for artists heralded new explorations in design and colour.  Using masking tape to outline an area, Gilbert created shapes with smooth curves or perfect straight edges. Within half an hour the freshly painted area could be masked to paint the adjacent area. Not satisfied to work only in simple shapes Gilbert asked the 3M company to make up wide rolls of tape backed with release paper so that she could cut intricate shapes into the edges. To her surprise they did! From 1968-72 she created hard-edged paintings. In addition to works on canvas she painted on clear Plexiglas assembling several sheets together to create three-dimensional works of art.

Gilbert continued to invent unique techniques. She created and patented a modular art system. It enabled anyone to create thousands of different abstract compositions from sets of reversible shapes made in different colours or varied in thickness. She produced a series of children's design sets from felt and from cardboard under her registered trade name "Designart". In 1979 her Designart sets were submitted to the Arrango International Toy Design Contest called "Child's Play". They were selected for exhibition at the Lowe Art Museum, Miami and the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. Gilbert used her modular system in her own art to create large felt wall hangings, carpet murals and wood wall sculptures. She used a similar concept to create abstract collages by cutting up multiple copies and reversed images of her photos of canyons, close-ups of rusted farm equipment, flowers etc.

A trip through Arizona's canyon country inspired a series of large paintings but they could not convey the fact that from even a slightly different angle each formation became a different entity. She then created canvas wall sculptures. She laid a large wet sheet of canvas, its underside coated with acrylic medium, over a stretched canvas, also coated with acrylic medium. She pulled and creased the canvas to form intricate shapes resembling those in the canyon walls. When dry and stiff the sculptured canvases were painted with acrylic paints and glowing interference colours. As the room light changes these 3D paintings display new moods. They can be viewed on line at: http://www.artfocus.com/Ina.html

Since 1993 Gilbert has employed a stylus and tablet to create paintings on her computer. Her first digital paintings evolved from scans of her photographs. In some digital paintings she retained some of the photo elements; others were changed beyond recognition. Her recent digital paintings start from a geometric composition. Using the distortion features of a digital art program seems like instant magic. But, then she must enlarge the digital image section by section to the maximum print size planned for the painting and spend hours and hours perfecting each segment. Printing digital art on large sheets of special paper or canvas is a slow and very expensive process. However, the intricate patterns and unique forms achieved using a computer cannot be achieved with pen or brush. At the 5h Toronto Indoor Art Show Ina Gilbert's digital art was awarded "Best in Print Media".

More of Gilbert's digital art can be viewed on line at: www.art4today.com

For further information, contact :
Ina Gilbert  3211-55 Harbour Square Toronto, Ont. Canada M5J 2L1
Email: jack.gilbert@rogers.com

EXHIBITIONS

2012, St. James Cathedral, Event Centre, Toronto
2009, Cleveland Clinic, Toronto
2004, Carrier Gallery, Columbus Centre, Toronto
2000, ARTS MULMUR , sculptured paintings & Original Prints, digital art
1998, HOLY BLOSSOM TEMPLE, Toronto. Original Prints (solo)
1998, SASSAFRAZ CAFE, GARDEN GALLERY, Toronto, Original Prints (solo)
1997, HEADWATERS ARTS FESTIVAL, Ontario, Prints & Sculptured Canvas
1997, LINK GALLERY, Don Mills, Ont. Original Prints (solo)
1996 to present, Annual Art Show, Harbour Square
1996, 5TH T.I.A.S., exhibited Original Prints, awarded 1st prize for print media
1992-08, HILLS OF MULMUR ANNUAL FALL STUDIO TOURS
1990, 291 GALLERY, Toronto, Electrographic Collage (solo)
1989, 291 GALLERY, Toronto (invited group)
1987, ROBERTS GALLERY, Toronto (invited group)
1986, GALLERY 76, Toronto, "Electrographic Art" in 6 solo salons (juried)
1976, NANCY POOLE'S STUDIO, Toronto, Oils and Drawings (solo)
1976, ARCHITECTURAL ART, Toronto, sponsored by the Interior Designers of Ontario, Modular Wood Constructions (invited group)
1974, NATIONAL INTERIOR DESIGN SHOW, Toronto, Modular Art
1973, NATIONAL INTERIOR DESIGN SHOW, Toronto, Modular Art
1972, NANCY POOLE'S STUDIO, Toronto, Felt Hangings & wall sculpture (solo)
1970, GALERIE LIBRE, Montreal, paintings on Canvas & Plexiglas (solo)
1968, DUNKELMAN GALLERY, Toronto, Paintings on Canvas & Plexiglas (solo)
1967, COLOUR AND FORM SOCIETY, Toronto (juried group)
1967, SOCIETY OF CANADIAN ARTISTS, Toronto (juried group)
1967, CANADA: THE NEW ART at McMaster University (invitation)
1966, GALLERY PASCAL, Toronto, Oils and Drawings (solo)
1963, DOROTHY CAMERON, Toronto, Figurative Ink, Drawings (two person)
1961, WILLOWDALE LIBRARY GALLERY, Toronto (two person)

AWARD

BEST in PRINT MEDIA 5th TIAS 1996

ART ORGANIZATIONS

1966 Founding President of Society of Canadian Artists

SELECTED CORPORATE COLLECTIONS:

Baycrest Geriatric Centre
Cindy Mae Resources Ltd
Investment Allocation Unlimited
Samoth Capital Corporation
Toronto Dominion Bank
Cleveland Clinic (Toronto)

MEDIA REFERENCES:

ART FOCUS 1993, Fall issue
GLOBAL T.V. July 1993
ART MAGAZINE 1970 Fall issue, "Profile"
1972 Vol. 3, No. 11, "Exploring New Media"
CHATELAINE MAGAZINE 1973-3, pg. 82
GAZETTE, Montreal, 1970-9-21 (critique)
GLOBE AND MAIL, Toronto, 1976-8-14, 1972-1-26, 1968-2-28, 1965-3-13
METROPOLITAN TORONTO 1969, cover
MIRROR, Toronto, 1975-10-15, 1968-3-6
MONTREAL STAR, 1970-9-12 (critique)
NATIONAL INTERIOR DESIGN SHOW DAILY, 1973, 1974
OFFICE EQUIPMENT AND METHODS, 1975-2 cover and story
LA PRESSE, Montreal, 1970-9-12, (critique)
TELEGRAM, Toronto, 1968 -3-2, 1976-8-13, (critiques)
TORONTO CALENDAR MAGAZINE, 1973-9
TORONTO STAR, 1968-3-2, 1976-6-1 (critique)
TV INTERVIEWS, CBC-TV 1963, CFTO-TV 1972, CITY TV 1993