Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

PAMA is the place this month to take in the Sikh arts  by Stephen Weir for the Peel Weekly News For the month of April and beyond, the rising stars in the Sikh art world have their work on display in the Peel Art Gallery Museum and Archives (PAMA) in downtown Brampton. Three exhibitions of Sikh art opened today, and, media attending the Friday morning presser learned that the gallery is free for the month of April thanks to the Sikh Foundation of Canada. The shows - RUPY C. TUT: A JOURNEY BACK HOME: AMARDEEP SINGH: LOST HERITAGE: A SIKH LEGACY IN PAKISTAN and KAUM: CELEBRATING CONTEMPORARY SIKH ARTISTS embrace paintings, photography and mosaics.   The artists with works on display at PAMA hail from America, India, Hong Kong and Canada. Rupy C. Tut is a contemporary Indo-American artist based in Oakland, California. She came of age in Punjab, India but as a young child moved to the USA. The visual artist has a strong spiritual connection to her Punjabi Sikh backgroun

15 year old model Emily Graham and artist/aunt Heather Graham flank M’s portrait  -  Herman Custodio   By Stephen Weir - for Brampton Guardian  - Over a hundred art lovers attend a rare triple exhibition launch and free reception at the Peel Art Gallery, Museum and Archives (PAMA) on Sunday. Now open at the Brampton gallery is a contemporary art exhibition, an Inuit doll show and an poetry / art installation created by Stephen Lewis and Seneca College art students. 15-year old Emily Graham stands beside her portrait  right, photo by  Herman Custodio Toronto artist heather graham was the keynote speaker at the afternoon event. She spoke about her new Brampton exhibition heather graham: Reminds me of M, Words to Pictures.   This is a multi-media exhibition in which the artist explores boundaries between seeing and experiencing art. Reflecting her interest in ideas about memory and the notion of perception, Graham's art conveys a sense of the passage of time and t

- Mishibinijima, The Last Artist Standing (And Still Painting Really Good Stuff) Manitoulin Island artist James Simon Mishibinijima’s life path is about survival. His mother’s stories of her harrowing past in a residential school and his own survival as one of the last working artists from the first wave of Woodland First Nations’ Art movement At a time when his contemporaries (i.e Carl Ray,   Arthur Schilling, Carl Beam and Daphne Odjig)   are falling off the mortal coil, 63 year old Mishibinijima continues to be a First Nations inspirational artistic force. His work is in constant demand from arts institutions, private galleries, museums, and currently can be seen at PAMA – Brampton, Ontario’s and Peel Region’s public gallery. A series of his paintings in the current Peel 150 exhibition is entitled “Indian Residential School Paintings”. They tell Mishibinijima’s mother’s stories as she gave them to him and as they revealed themselves in his dreams. Her stories are depict