biography
"Art is so wonderfully irrational, exuberantly pointless, but necessary all the same." -- Gunter Grass
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.
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.
shows
19 October, 2017
Group Show "Shifting Ground" by The Clarence Street 5
Gallery 66, 66 Muriel St., Ottawa
Nov22-Dec4 2016
Figureworks 2016 - juried show
St Brigid's Centre for the Arts, 310 St Patrick Street, Ottawa
June 2015
Group Show "Personal Palettes" by The Clarence Street 5
Gallery 66, 66 Muriel St., Ottawa
Nov 2014 Limmud Ottawa art exhibition, Soloway Jewish Community Centre, Ottawa
Oct 2014 Gladstone Clayworks Annual Open House, Ottawa
March 2014-present Gladstone Clayworks gallery
May-Aug 2014 Bloomfields Flowers, Ottawa - artist representation
Jun 2014 Glebe Strutt Your Stuff Art Show, Glebe Community Centre, Ottawa
Dec 2012, Dec 2011 Ottawa School of Art Holiday Fundaraising Art Sale
Sept-Oct 2011 Figureworks second annual jusried award show, Orange Art Gallery, Ottawa
Sept-Oct 2010 Figureworks first annual jusried award show, Rothwell Gallery, Ottawa