Visual Arts Mississauga (VAM) at Riverwood is pleased to announce it will launch its anticipated 43rd Annual Juried Show of Fine Arts online today: Thursday, January 14, 2021 at 3pm live on the VAM Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/vamriverwood. The virtual exhibition will also be linked to VAM’s website at visualartsmississauga.com. This prestigious art exhibition will kick-off Mississauga’s 2021 season of cultural events.

VAM43 will showcase an eclectic mix of traditional and contemporary visual art works. Over 150 artists applied to the exhibition province-wide. VAM's expert Jurors have selected 43 artworks to be on exhibition on the VAM43 website from January 14 – December 31, 2021. The Awards are proudly sponsored by DeSerres.

“VAM43 is an opportunity for VAM to stay connected with the community of artists across the province" explains VAM's Cultural Development Manager Eldiana Begovic. "Moving VAM’s Juried Show online allows us to support the community of artists we value so much by showing and celebrating their work. We are grateful to all 150 applicants and this year’s Jurors for putting together another amazing exhibition from both emerging and established artists”.

Here’s a link to the list of the finalists.

VAM43 PANEL OF JURORS

elle alconcel is committed to the diversification of the GTHA's art and culture scene. As a programmer, producer and curator, her principal area of interest is in championing the work of culturally diverse artists. She champions programs and spaces that are designed for creative practitioners. As the former Curator of Exhibitions & Programs at Artscape, elle was integral to establishing Daniel’s Spectrum as a cultural hub and breeding ground for promising artists. In 2017, CBC Arts named elle one of the "new generation of Curators who are defining the Toronto Art Scene.”

Gordon Shadrach, a Toronto-based artist was born and raised in Brampton, Ontario. Gordon started painting in 2013 and paints in oil and acrylic on wood. He has exhibited in solo and group art shows in Canada and the United States. He works from photographs at his in-home studio. He received his B. Des. (MAAD) from OCAD University and has a Master of Education degree from Niagara University. In the Spring of 2018, Gordon's painting, "In Conversation", was included in an exhibit developed by the Royal Ontario Museum titled, "Here We Are Here: Black Canadian Contemporary Art." Later in 2018 the exhibit went on tour and was presented at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in 2019. Aside from his portraits, Gordon is known for his insightful artist's talks and has appeared as a panelist on TVO's The Agenda and CBC Radio's Metro Morning.

Matthew Varey lives and works in Toronto, Canada. He has exhibited in more than fifty solo and one hundred group exhibitions. His work is in the collections of the Fondazione Bevilacqua la Masa in Venice, the McMaster Museum of Art, and the Art Gallery of Hamilton, and in private and corporate collections in Korea, Greece, Germany, Italy, Norway, England, the US, and Canada. He is the founder of Etobicoke School of the Arts Contemporary Art, the world’s leading high school art program.