Lori Kallay

I have had a life-long passion for art and have been fortuate enough in my life to persue this passion.  I am a self-taught artist. I grew up spending summers and weekends year-round in the Haliburton Highlands in Ontario. This has had a profound influence on my art. I work in acrylics and watercolour although I find experimenting in new mediums to be exciting. I become like a kid in a candy shop when I bring home a different medium. I have worked in clay, metal embossing, silk resist and painted glass. My work is realism although I tend to see colours that others miss.

 I volunteered as an illustrator for my cottage association's newletter for 9 years. The newsletter has a readership of approximately 550 members. I created pen & Ink illustrations for both the cover and articles within the newsletter. This was a great opportunity for me to really explore my cottage surroundings and present the images to my fellow cottagers in an artistic manner.

I created the cover for my cottage association's 50th anniversary commemorative book.  This was a great challenge for me to create a nature scene in a more graphic art sense.

I have always believed that children are the best artists. When they are in the junior grades of elementary school, they have no fear of judgement. Their art is pure expression. What a joy it is to experience that. So, for that reason, I have worked as a volunteer in my local elementary school as an art instructor for grades 1 to 8 since 1997. I encourage them to understand that art is subjective. Art created may not be appealing to one person, but beautiful to another. I also introduce the kids to as wide a variety of mediums as possible. We explore work by various artists and styles. It is fun for both the kids and myself! We organize a yearly art show where each child in the school has at least one piece of art in the show. We make art important. It is a very fulfilling activity, and one I hope I can continue to do for many years to come.

The Scarborough Arts Council and the Haliburton Arts Guild are two groups that I am proud to be a member of.

I am also currently involved in a Toronto district School Board art initiative called "Creativity Can". I sit on a committee for this important project. This is a wonderful project designed to make the arts more important in our schools.  It gets the kids and the teachers invloved in visual art, drama, music and dance.

Coming in mid-January 2012, is a coffe table book entitled "Artists of Algonquin". Within the pages are 37 talented artists from the area around Algonquin Park. Each artist presents thier interpretation of this most magnificent and iconic Canadian landscape. I am fortuate enough to be included with these amazing artists and Robert Bateman has written a forward expressing his love of this area and support of the artists featured in this wonderful book. It will be available for sale at local galleries and shops in the regions around Algonquin including the Muskokas, Haliburton and Algonquin Park Visitor Center.

I have participated in numerous shows at Metro Hall in Toronto with Art for All Canada and The Colour of Life group exhibition at Cultral Expressions Gallery in Ajax Ontario.

 I hope that I may be blessed with many more opportunities to create for years to come. I have passed the torch for creating beautiful images to my children and they possess an amazing talent for artistic endeavours. I couldn't be more proud!