Online Painting Class |past and actual participants (2020 - 2025)
At Walk the Arts, we start our personalized teaching according to the level of each participant. With serious questioning under our supervision, and as a group, we move on forward. We promote creativity and authenticity in a much more demanding and complex “artworld”. Enjoy the uniqueness of everyone.
Click on some thumbnails to see the works – some not visible.
Current participants (Fall 2024 and Winter 2025)
Laura Malbogat
For me, painting is also a deeply personal journey, a space where I can simply be. It offers a rare opportunity to connect with myself, to listen to my inner world. At the same time, it invites others to experience my vision and share in the beauty I see.
When I paint, I am fully present, grounded, and replenished. It is a practice that brings me both peace and joy, offering a sense of renewal with every stroke.
Julia Takahashi
Painting provides me with an activity of making that helps bring the subconscious to the present moment and allows the expression of complex emotions and metaphysical concepts that are difficult to verbalize. I express this visual poetics with a layering of metaphor, symbol, emotion, gesture, and image in a creative practice that is similar to writing poetry in that it is intuitive, non-linear, and pulls from both personal and collective memories.
Suzanne Michaud
Je peins, car la beauté de la nature humaine me donne de l’espoir même en ces temps de grands chaos. Je suis profondément touchée par les émotions, les croyances, la culture et la manière de vivre d’autrui. Cet état d’intimité nourrit mon inspiration, apaise ou agite mon esprit, et enrichit mes œuvres abstraites, imparfaites et vibrantes.
I paint because the beauty of human nature gives me hope, even in these times of great chaos. I am deeply touched by the emotions, beliefs, culture and way of life of others. This state of intimacy feeds my inspiration, soothes or agitates my spirit, and enriches my imperfect, vibrant abstract works.
Janice Mallison
When I was young, I believed that unless you had a natural talent, there was no way you could learn to sing, draw, or paint. Now I know differently I see that I have the ability and the desire to express myself and my love for beauty through painting.
Sylvie Faulkner (Forêt)
Painting is when I feel most alive, most connected to my authentic self. The creative aspect of painting is what fuels my artistic fire. I paint to express an idea, a thought, an energy an emotion or an impression inspired by nature and the human condition.
C’est en peignant que je me sens le plus vivante, le plus connectée à mon moi authentique. L’aspect créatif de la peinture est ce qui alimente mon feu artistique. Je peins pour exprimer une idée, une pensée, une énergie, une émotion ou une impression inspirée par la nature et la condition humaine.
KJ Scott (Quédjé)
Art has always been a fundamental part of my being, a constant thread weaving through my life, regardless of the twists and turns it has taken. Time and again, I have discovered that without art, an essential piece of myself is missing—as if my soul feels incomplete. I have tried to set it aside, but the pull of creative expression is undeniable.
Karen Alberti
I am drawn to the physicality and immediacy of paint—the dynamic push and pull of shapes and colors. I love the process of balancing spontaneous marks with carefully considered ideas, where both coexist and inform one another. Through my work, I aim to express emotions, uncover humor in the mundane, and explore what lies beyond the surface of what I observe.
Hyacinth Paul
Art gives me a way to express my opinions and feelings at a particular moment through the colors I transfer to my various fabrics. The quest to create is to attain my own state of Nirvana, which, to date, is elusive.
Last Winter Semester (2024)
Elizabeth Burkholder
I paint to explore the space in myself where intuition and intellect come together. Art is the way I understand what I am seeing, thinking and feeling about the visual world around me
Jennifer Haney
I paint because of the need to create. To experiment with what happens when loaded brush splashes paint across the whiteness of the canvas. To ‘Let Go’, without thought or plan, as new and dynamic images appear — full of surprise. The struggle continues, and the challenge remains, as I continue to explore the challenging genre of contemporary abstract art.
Lisa Clark
I paint because there are days when I need to paint, to be playing with paint or to release something that builds inside me. I paint in oil with either cold wax or medium. I love the colour, the luxurious texture, the way I can use tools, scrapers, brushes to make my marks, globs, fine layers or thick impasto.
Sarah Cowling
Sarah’s approach to the figurative is personal, rich in colour and texture and unexpected. A sense of humour and a free direct brush stroke generate a compelling narrative.
Online Past Participants (Fall 2020 to Winter 2024)
Janet Mann
Painting gives me emotional power, independence, and choice. It gives me hope, joy, and solitude. Painting gives me the jolt that reminds me how blessed I am as I get closer to my 8th decade. Action is more important than belief.
Carole Ince
I paint because of a deep-seated need to understand the world around me. I strive to capture the essence of what I see in order to interpret my vision of a community that is kind, vibrant, and inclusive in order to inspire and create a more hopeful and compassionate world.
Tamia Moe
I paint because the act of creation is a mental release that is a necessary part of my life and wellbeing.
Sylvie Beaudet
For me the practice of painting is a form of power _ to create art_ and of courage because exposing oneself to criticism requires it but it is also an “addiction” without danger for others and which allows me to be selfish because its practice opens the door to a secret universe “my own world” keeping worries of everyday life at bay.
Pour moi la pratique de la peinture est une forme de pouvoir _ créer de l’art_ et de courage, car s’exposer aux critiques en demande, mais c’est aussi une « addiction » sans danger pour autrui et qui me permet d’être égoïste, car sa pratique ouvre une porte sur un univers secret « mon propre monde » tenant à distance les tracas de la vie quotidienne.
Katherine Barrett-Lee
I paint for my love of life, art, beauty, and the creative process. It is a way to express and communicate my thoughts, feelings, and vision to myself and others. It is a gift I give or return to myself and those who view or experience what I have made.
Sondy Mackay
I feel a deep connection to the earth when painting it. Painting the landscape really makes me pay attention to the fields, the forests and much more…
Denise Lombard
In my 80th decade, to create, which for me is painting, fulfils many of the criteria of a contented and satisfied life.
Gerry Giuliani (1945-2022)
Cécile Barrière
Christine Monhollen
Felix Policarpio
Jim Payette
Chris Hamilton
Lanoix
Our invaluable guest crits; established artists from Canada, United States, and Colombia.
Breden de Montigny
Ottawa, Canada
Owner of Contemporay de Montigny Contemporay
“Since 2008 Brendan A. de Montigny (he/him) has worked to build the legacy of creatives in Canada and beyond with public and private organisations and individual collectors.
Brendan holds a Master of Fine Art from the University of Ottawa, and a Bachelor of Fine Art from Concordia University, with a Major in Painting & Drawing and a minor in Print Media.
Brendan lives on the un-ceded Anishinaabe Algonquin territory known as Gatineau, Quebec with his partner and son. When not working, how is probably cycling, cooking, or playing cribbage”
https://demontignycontemporary.com/
Robert Hoerlein
Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
https://www.roberthoerlein.com
https://www.instagram.com/roberthoerlein/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL9eLHhaHUE&t=15s
Michael Mahoney (United States)
From Indiana
Bio
“I was born in Detroit, Michigan into a working-class family, the first child in a family that grew into ten children. As a child I often amused myself by drawing, then painting. By the time I was in high school, I had no doubt that I was to be a professional artist. At a university in Detroit I majored in art, concentrating in painting. After receiving an MFA, I went to Italy for five months to travel and paint. Upon returning to Detroit, I began to teach at several colleges and art centres in the area. Some years later I took a full-time position to teach in Illinois and, now retired from teaching, I continue to live there where I have a studio and work every day. Now, a bit about my work.
Work
I work mostly in oil paint, pastel and various drawing mediums. While still in school, I found that I like to work from direct observation of things, people or places. I still do today. I choose to search and discover form rather than impose it a priori. I admire the tradition of artists who express consciousness indirectly in the medium and form of their work. For subject matter, I observe ordinary things to discover, and from what I have found, I make an image that, addressed through the eye, moves me. I’ve been influenced by a very many artists but even a short list will always include Cezanne, Giorgio Morandi, and Louisa MaIhiasdottir. Other influences include the writers Roger Fry, Clement Greenberg, Jed Perl and Karen Wilkin.”
Dr. Gerald Cupchik (Canada)
University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Specialist in Imagination, Emotions and Aesthetic Reception > Gerald C. Cupchik is a professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto Scarborough. His research focuses on imagination, emotion, aesthetic, and design processes, using quantitative and qualitative methods to elucidate underlying processes across Eastern and Western cultures. He explores the roots of creative imagination in science and the arts by working closely with practitioners and those who interpret or utilize their works. His goal is to develop unified models which account for imagination and emotion.
Prof. Cupchik analyzes people’s sensitivity to works of art and the emotions they feel during the artistic encounters. He is the author of numerous publications, including the book The Aesthetics of Emotion: Up the Down Staircase of the Mind-Body (2017, Cambridge University Press). In 2010, he was awarded the Rudolf Arnheim Prize (American Psychological Association); and in 2018, the Gustav Fechner Prize (International Association for Empirical Aesthetics).
Shelley Horton-Trippe (United States)
Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States
Shelley Horton-Trippe was born and raised in Oklahoma City where she attended the same public high school as Ed Ruscha and Elizabeth Warren. While attending graduate school at the University of Oklahoma, Horton-Trippe was influenced by visiting/studied artists, Robert Irwin, Robert Morris, Elenor Antin and her professor, Donald Lipski. More »
“As a painter, I have experienced the moment when paint, color, texture transcends its physicality and becomes something else. Artists, musicians, poets know this state of being-when process becomes all, when the encapsulated experience of creation becomes universal-timeless.” More »
Website > https://shelleyhortontrippe.com
Vicky Neumann (Colombia)
https://www.galeriaelmuseo.com/archives/287/
Vicky Neumann is one of the important artists of Colombia. She is represented by the best galleries in her country.
Vicky Neumann demeure l’une des artistes importantes de la Colombie. Elle est représentée par les meilleures galeries de son pays.
Vicky Neumann was born in 1963 in Barranquilla, Colombia. She studied Fine Arts at the School of Fine Arts in Barranquilla, as well as at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, Italy, and Mairie de Paris, France.
In 2018, the Museo Rayo in Roldanillo, Valle del Cauca, held a retrospective of her work entitled Vicky Neumann. In 2017 he showed his most recent works in the exhibition Doméstico Alterado at Galería El Museo, Bogotá. In 2015 she presented the exhibition, Juventud sin divino tesoro at the Universidad Nacional in Bogotá and in 2012 the exhibition Vicky Neumann, at the Museo de Arte de Caldas in Manizales, among others. His works are part of important national and international collections, including Delaware Art Museum, United States, Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, California, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Bogotá and Museo de Caldas, Manizales.
The artworks of Colombian artist Vicky Neumann present a contemporary reality, which is disconcerting to some viewers because of its fresh, haughty, creative, and innovative language. From a chromatic and compositional point of view, Neumann’s work delves into the subject of the paintings in a different order, oriented and reformulated as a pretext to paint.
The artist’s works become compositions that incorporate cut canvases, reconfigured paintings, and, particularly, Clementina’s embroideries. These works require attention and attention; beyond the colors and the drama of the gesture, there is a reality that is perceived in the transformed landscape, in the threads that tell a story. Vicky Neumann gathers, as a visual and plastic homage, elements that challenge her from the daily life of Clementina, from her environment, and from the bond built between the two of them.
Milly Ristvedt, RCA
Milly Ristvedt was born in Kimberley, B.C. and studied at the Vancouver School of Art (now Emily Carr University). She began her art practice in Toronto and had her first exhibition there in 1968 with the Carmen Lamanna Gallery. Her work was included in the 7th Biennial of Canadian Painting at the National Gallery of Canada and the 3rd International Pioneer Galleries Exhibition at Musee Cantonal, Lausanne and Musee d’Art Moderne, Paris during this period. During a three-year period in Montreal, from 1970 to 1973, Ristvedt was a founding member of Véhicule Art Inc., the first artist-run centre in Montreal, and had a solo exhibition at the Musee d’Art Contemporain de Montréal.
Since 1968 Ristvedt has had more than fifty solo exhibitions, including a travelling ten-year survey exhibition in 1978 organized by the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, and her work has been included in national and international exhibitions. She has received grants for her work from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council, and in 2012 was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for her service as Advocacy Representative for the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.
Her work can be found in the collections of the Canada Council Art Bank, Art Gallery of Ontario, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Vancouver Art Gallery, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Glenbow Museum, Musee d’Art Contemporain de Montréal, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and Harvard University, amongst others. In 2011, Ristvedt earned a Master’s degree in Art History from Queen’s University, with her thesis, Reinhardt, Martin, Richter: Colour in the Grid of Contemporary Painting.
More links
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milly_Ristvedt
https://oenogallery.com/artists/milly-ristvedt-rca/
Gregg Simpson
Vancouver, Canada
Gregg Simpson stands as a celebrated figure in the realms of art and music, his prolific career earning critical acclaim across continents. His paintings, drawings, and works on paper have graced galleries and exhibitions in Canada, the United States, Europe, South America, and Asia. A distinctive voice in modern art, Simpson’s oeuvre has been enshrined in academic studies, art history books, and journals published worldwide, from Canada to Europe and Australia. His contributions have been showcased in pivotal historical surveys on surrealism and abstraction, cementing his legacy as a visionary of his time.
Nestled on Bowen Island, British Columbia, near Vancouver, Simpson’s studio is both a sanctuary and a crucible of creativity, surrounded by the serene natural beauty that often echoes in his work. His art resides in prestigious museum, university, and public collections around the globe, a testament to its universal resonance.
Beyond his visual creations, Simpson’s artistic endeavors extend to the written word and the screen. He authored Luminous Desires in 1975, a work that reflects his interdisciplinary spirit. His creations have been featured in television and film, bridging the boundaries between mediums. A tireless advocate for the arts, Simpson has received numerous grants and awards and played a vital role in founding several art and music organizations, fostering a vibrant cultural landscape that continues to flourish.
Lori Victor (Canada)
Ottawa, Canada
https://www.lorivictor.com
Lori Victor, a full-time visual artist in Ottawa, Canada, has exhibited since 2006. Her practice includes and often integrates installation, painting, photography and video. Lori’s work questions and reflects subjects such as cultural history, identity, and the environment/climate change. She creates hand-constructed representational or abstracted shapes and forms, and uses accessible materials like found and manipulated objects. Her abstract paintings include both organically and mechanically painted imagery. Often her canvas is used as a material to manipulate through cutting and folding rather than just as a support. Much of her work evolves from systems theory – the knowledge that we are all a part of a larger whole – both physically and metaphorically.
Lori completed an MFA at the Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2017, and earned a BFA from the University of Ottawa in 2011.
Marc Adornato (Canada)
Contemporary Art | Adornato Contemporary Fine Art | Canada
Marc Adornato is a non-religious, Italian-Canadian contemporary artist based in Ottawa, Canada. His subversive and provocative art practice consists of dark and dystopian subjects, but often with a satirical, playful, irreverent twist.
Pollution & climate change, domestic terrorism & gun violence, state surveillance, wealth inequality, and Capitalism-gone-wrong are regular motifs in his paintings, street art, performances, sculptures, and videos. Adornato also explores a wide range of other mediums and disciplines including building instruments, music, assemblage furniture, mischievous pranks, and more.
His work resides in the permanent art collections of the City of Ottawa, the Diefenbunker Museum, as well as several prominent private collections across Canada, Italy, China, and Spain. Adornato has also received grants and awards including the Artist Production Grant from the City of Ottawa in 2018 for his most recent medieval painting series, Dystopia Rising.
Career highlights include solo exhibitions at the Diefenbunker Museum (2018), The Ottawa Art Gallery Annexe (2016), group exhibitions at the Bank of Canada’s Currency Museum (2007), the Canadian War Museum (2006), and a 7-year (ongoing) residency at the politically contentious gastro pub, UNION 613 in Ottawa.
For more information, visit Contemporary Art | Adornato Contemporary Fine Art | Canada
Michel V. Cheff (Canada)
Michel V. Cheff has, for many years, contributed to the development of various cultural organizations, educational institutions and museums. He has participated in the work of boards of directors, governance and strategic planning committees, acquisitions, exhibitions and programming committees, grants and award juries and has conducted art critique sessions.
He was curator of the exhibition Hommage à Dallaire: Que la fête commence !, marking the centenary of the birth of Hull’s artist, Jean-Philippe Dallaire, presented at the Galerie Montcalm, Gatineau, in 2016. In 2018 he curated the first phase of the exhibition Suzanne Joubert: 30 ans de forêts. He is currently curatorial advisor on the AT HOME exhibition project about the Danish painter Wilhelm Hammershøi (1864-1916), a project led by the Ottawa photographer Leslie Hossack. The exhibition will be presented in 2021.
Michel V. Cheff taught drawing and art history at Algonquin College, the Ottawa School of Art and the Université du Quebec à Hull (1970-1980); he was Education Officer and Head of Educational Services at the National Gallery of Canada (1974-1988), Chief Curator and Director of Curatorial Services at the Musée du Québec (1988-1993), Executive Director of the Winnipeg Art Gallery (1993-1998) and Director, Special Initiatives in the Office of the CEO, Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation, Gatineau (1998-2011). Between 1984 and 2010, Michel was involved in numerous museum and visual arts associations. He has served as President of the Canadian Museums Association and as President of the Canadian Art Museum Directors Organization.
Michel holds a Diploma in Creative Arts from Sheridan College, Oakville (1970), an Honors BA in Visual Arts from the University of Ottawa (1974) and an MA in Art History from the Université de Montréal. His thesis focused on Le dessin chez Jean-Philippe Dallaire (1916-1965) jusqu’en 1938 (1983). Mr. Cheff studied andragogy at the Université du Québec à Hull in the late 1970s, Italian at the University of Ottawa in the 1980s, and theology at the Dominican University College in Ottawa between 2000 and 2008. Michel V. Cheff lives in Ottawa.