IRIS ARNON

"Art is so wonderfully irrational, exuberantly pointless, but necessary all the same."       -- Gunter Grass

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Iris studied Mechanical Engineering at Carleton University and obtained an MASc in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Toronto in 1989. After working at IBM Canada and spending time full-time mothering, Iris realized the truth of the above statement and rekindled her first passion. She shared this passion with the children of Ottawa Jewish Community School as a volunteer art teacher for many years.

In 2007 she began to study figure drawing and painting at the Ottawa School of Art with Pamela Lasserre, developing an expressive style with charcoal as well as watercolour. In 2009 she started exploring the world of clay - she had the privilege of meeting and studying with Jim Thomson until 2012. In 2012/13 she enrolled in mixed media classes with Vanessa Coplan, from whom she continues to study.
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At present Iris is a member of Gladstone Clayworks - a cooperative ceramic studio.  She also persues her mixed media work on mylar in her home studio. Much of Iris's work is figurative, but even those pieces that aren't have a curvaceous figurative influence.