SALLY THURLOW
AT THE ROOT

MARCH 4 TO MARCH 28, 2015
OPENING RECEPTION: SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 1 - 5 PM

The Red Head Gallery is pleased to present At The Root, an exhibition by artist Sally Thurlow.

Sally Thurlow is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Greater Toronto. Her practice is based in sculpture, installation, photography and painting. For several years she has been exploring the dynamic range of figurative forms using driftwood, and other ephemera collected on her beach walks. This is often complementary to her work with other media. Questioning our cultural and environmental practises are a constant in her work. Currently, she is introducing paints, stains, and manufactured additions to her anthropomorphic figures, creating symbols for re-examination of dominant cultural ideas and re-evaluation of our propensity to judge. In an era of social disintegration and ecological collapse we may reconsider what the latest justifications are to conform. The pre-historic sacred and profane nature of the complex female forms she advances, are a choice for movement into wholeness and integrity. Her dark muses, emotionally charged with deep earthen colours, express anguish, ecstatic energy aborted, war on life forces. The playfully overt sexuality in the new figures lie somewhere between the lyricism of earlier driftwood forms and the dark emotional underworld of root forms.

Sally Thurlow received a BA majoring in Fine Arts from the University of Toronto, finishing with Cultural and Environmental Studies at Trent University, with significant earlier studies at OCAD and George Brown College. She has given numerous artist talks and workshops at educational institutions and public galleries. Her work has been shown internationally and she has been the recipient of various Ontario Arts Council Awards. She is a member of The Iris Group and The Red Head Gallery, both artists’ collectives. Her work is held in private collections across Canada, and at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa ON. For more information please visit her website: www.sallythurlow.com and You Tube: Sally Thurlow, for a four minute video.

Articles : Must-See by Now Magazine & Feature Interview for Artronto

The Fascinator (detail), 2015.
Tree limbs, wood house, LED light, glass, bird’s nest, nylon stockings, acrylic paints, wood stain,
96” x 30” x 32”