Meet ASK Artists

Mui Ching (Caroline) Davey is a self-taught visual artist. She developed her skills by painting in her studio, attending workshops offered by local artists, and reviewing online resources. She understands that continuous learning and exploration are essential to further developing her skills and style.

She enjoys painting with watercolours not just because of its transparency and delicate hues but also the spontaneous interplay between water, pigment, and paper. This watercolour phenomenon infuses her paintings with energy and uniqueness. Her second preferred medium is acrylic. She loves the vibrant colours and textures that acrylic paints can showcase her subject matter. 

Having lived in three different countries, Mui Ching draws inspiration from the varied landscapes and cultures she has encountered. Subjects of her paintings are diverse, ranging from exotic flowers found in Hong Kong’s public gardens, to quilted green fields in the English countryside, and tranquil winter landscapes in Canada.

In general, her paintings aim to capture nature’s beauty through the placement of shapes, lines, colours, and textures. She seeks to evoke joy, nostalgia, and calm for the viewer. For several years, Mui Ching has successfully participated in the Kingcrafts Annual Fine Art Show in King City. She is eager to expand her participation with other art associations and venues, continually seeking new opportunities to share and promote her vision.

Arwynn Davey is an established fine art painter. Her work is a collection of joyful, detailed paintings of simple motifs such as dandelion wishes, sweet birds and wildlife. Each piece strives to capture the feelings of optimism, hope, whimsy and pure joy. 

Her uplifting collection of paintings are painted on birch wood panels with low viscosity paints in rich, layered colours with fine details. The pieces are finished with a high gloss resin to saturate the colours.

Pamela Dey loves to capture nature and movement of color into her paintings. In her landscape paintings, the focus is to create an emotional picture depicting the luminosity and awesomeness of nature. As an artist, she wants to transform the ordinary and not-so-ordinary into something that is extraordinary.She gets inspiration from taking frequent hiking trips and bike rides to various local and provincial parks in and around Ontario. Pamela strives to bring on full magic using her artistic license and aesthetic sense combined with what she sees and feels when she is out in nature.

Sherry Dubé is a self-taught traditional artist who creates acrylic works with a highly-detailed and realistic style. She loves learning how to express nature’s subtle nuances of light and shadow and its enormous array of colors onto canvas. Her specialty is landscapes but she also enjoys painting florals, birds and various animals. She spends a lot of time outdoors photographing the Ontario landscape, flora and fauna to use as reference material. One of her works, “A Glance Into the Past,” was recently chosen for the Ontario Society of Artists Emerging Artist Exhibition.

Her wish is for viewers of her work to gain a new appreciation for the beautiful world we live in and to experience a sense of peace at the end of a long day. In her words, “the beauty I find in nature around me is what inspires my work, and my desire to preserve this vision is what motivates me to create.”

Her work is found in many private collections across Canada. 

A former principal dancer then professor at a theatre school, Karen Duplisea now lives outside Toronto, Canada. She started formal atelier training in 2007, but later left to pursue other approaches with Jason Mayr (California), Sloan Mitchell (Ontario) and Lewis Noble (online, England). Using charcoal, acrylic and oil, she has produced landscape, portraiture and more recently, the abstracted landscape using mixed media. Movement and intention danced their way off the stage and onto canvases as a through-line of expression, and she moves freely between genres, mediums, and subjects.

Patricia L. Earl paints to convey the light, colour, and mood of what she sees and feels around her as Mother Nature so generously provides. She doesn’t have to travel far to find subjects that inspire her.  The gentle rolling hills, farmlands, forests, and wild flowers that she loves to paint are found in abundance in Ontario’s countryside, on the hiking trails, and in her own backyard. Some of her inspiration comes from her view from the pillion/backseat of their motorcycle as she and husband Jim travel the Ontario countryside or American southwest.  

Pat enjoys painting with both acrylics and watercolours in her studio and on site / plein air. Watercolour is her preferred medium as she enjoys the freshness and spontaneity of the medium. Whether her painting begins by applying paint with brush or pouring colours directly on the paper, the painting process is fun and magical! Pat enjoys the constant challenge of keeping the white of the paper and uses the transparency of watercolours to make the subject matter glow. 

Michelle Eissler, BFA, OSA, SOVA, ASK

Michelle Eissler received an Art & Art History degree from the University of Toronto and a diploma from Sheridan College’s Illustration program. Her studio practice has focused on the exploration of semi-abstracted reality and surrealistic compositions through the fragmenting and interweaving of imagery. She has exhibited with McMichael Art Gallery, Visual Arts Mississauga, Peel Art Gallery, Quest Gallery, and at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, among others. In 2023, she set up her new studio space at the Alton Mill Arts Centre, Studio #210 in Alton, Ontario, and has recently become a member of the Ontario Society of Artists, Canada’s oldest working arts society. 

Jacqueline England resides in the Mississauga, Ontario, area. She was born in Nottingham, England, and immigrated to Canada as a young child. She returned to the U.K. to further her education and while there, she became introduced to the world of horses and, as a young teen, spent many a day “mucking out”, grooming, riding and showing horses. She has worked in various mediums, such as pastel, watercolour, gouache, acrylic, graphite and oils but favours oils as she loves the intense colour that is achieved by using them. When she paints, it is imperative that she strive to create photo-realism, especially for her horses. As long as she can picture in her mind her hand moving over the body of a horse, she is able to achieve the height of realism she demands. Jacqueline’s greatest wish is that upon viewing her paintings, the viewer will be able to feel and see what she saw while painting all these gorgeous creatures of nature and to have a greater insight of the animal it portrays.

Helen Hermanns  paints naturally and with intent, strict ideals and a thirst for constantly keeping depth and feel through the use of light in her paintings. She enjoys capturing the feel and beauty of horses in their natural surroundings or in work. Helen’s medium is oil on canvas or board.

Karen Hunter attended the Ontario College of Art in 1981 and received her diploma in Design/General Design in 1985. Karen has been designing and making jewellery since 1983. In 1990, she took a workshop, working with Niobium and Titanium, where she found the metal for her! All of her jewellery is handmade at her home studio and workshop, and each piece is hand-cut and formed.

Maryam Khani was born in Tehran, Iran in 1979. She graduated from university with bachelor degree of engineering in 2002. She immigrated to Canada in late 2005 and continued with her education in Canada until she became a mother.  Her husband introduced her to the world of art and became her biggest supporter and encourager. Maryam loves to spend more time with her children and provide them with a safe, loving and learning environment. She changed her career and became an artist.  She believes world of art would give her confidence to portray her feelings and her thoughts, where she is able to provide safe and loving place for her boys to grow.  In January 2014, Maryam became a member of Kingcrafts in King City, Ontario where she started pottery and since then she’s been in several different pottery workshops. She continued her artistic work by learning watercolor in October 2016. So far, she has been at several art exhibitions to show her pottery works  and watercolor paintings in Canada.

Ileen Kohn has a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art from York University, but her most serious training was taken at the Michael John Angel Studios, later to become the Academy of Realist Art where she learned the skills of Florentine artists of the 15th century, and Old Masters methods (16th-18th century.) She also sought various courses in watercolour, abstract art and animation at George Brown College. As a life-long artist, Ileen is a life-long learner and takes advantage of some current on-line classes, as well as in-person workshops, for interest and further development.  

Ileen believes that the best way to learn painting is to DO painting, and one of the best teaching methods is “en plein air”, painting right on the spot in parks, beaches and neighbourhoods. This automatically makes the artist an “impressionist” painter as one has to work with time, sunlight, wind and people. These studio and outdoor experiences are reflected in her art and themes: still life, portraits, animals, cityscapes, landscapes and floral arrangements. It is hard to say which is her favourite since there is so much beauty in nature and in her love of Toronto. Her mission is to capture old city scenes before they disappear. Ileen has exhibited at the Rosedale Art Fair, and Schomberg Street Gallery.

Melina Lisi is an abstract Resin artist, born and raised in Toronto. She moved to King Township in 1981 and is an active member of the Arts Society King.  Melina has participated in various juried shows, including the Schomberg Street Gallery event.  Melina had a long-time interest in the arts.  It was not until 2002 when she became afflicted with a chronic condition known as Trigeminal Neuralgia, a disorder which affects the facial nerves, that her passion for the arts was reignited.  One of the outlets she turned to was her love of contemporary art. Melina began to experiment with acrylic paint and then moved on to other various mediums including ink and Resin.  She describes her artistry as, “Creating my inner peace and becoming totally immersed with my creation. My concentration takes me away and my pain subs  ides. Art is my therapy.  Art fulfills me”.  She recalls a very spiritual mentor once told her, “You’ve been given a wonderful gift, one that must be shared”. Melina is self-taught and creates her paintings with various ediums, acrylics, inks and pigments, just to name a few, but it was Resin that captured her attention with its lustrous glasslike finish and 3-D effect.  She was captivated.

Ann Murray Livingstone

A Nova Scotian by birth, through my formative years I lived Coast to Coast. The land-scapes and the animals therein are part of my psyche and cross-Canada heritage.
Horses have played a huge part in my life, from my first ride at six until now, when I still ride my boy, Rory.
Drawing since childhood, I have continued Drawing and Painting as part of my life.
In 2000, at 55 I graduated with an Honours B.A. in Art/Art History from U. of T. at Mississauga and Sheridan College.
My process….? I like to paint series dealing with similar subjects. I become enamoured of a subject whether it be trains, the game of croquet, animals, women in diaphanous dresses…and of course, doing it my way. Mixing my own colours for the most part, I paint in oils with a limited palette.
I also am a quilter. I use quilting to create vibrant, excitingly coloured saddle pads trimmed with braid. I also do smaller pieces… lap robes, table top pieces, as well as wall hangings. My biggest quilt was the “Star Quilt” for my cousin, Anne Murray. That quilt had 5,220 one inch squares. I sometimes make a garment for fun from fabric scraps and leftover pieces.
All in all I am always moving forward to create alluring and different projects.

Hans Martin retired after a career in Atmospheric Physics in 1998 and in 2003 took up painting.  He enrolled in Donnah Cameron’s watercolor classes in Newmarket until a few years ago when she moved. In time he became familiar with various art organizations including SOYRA and ASK. He has participated in several shows and other special events. He has won several watercolour awards including three first prizes and two honourable mentions.

Ida Masi likes to explore the figurative image in different contexts applying layers of colour or keeping them monochromatic and simplistic. Her education and arts background consists of studies in Art History as well as learning and understanding the Fundamentals of Art, creating this armour strengthens me as an artist. In Ida’s own words, “My only weakness is wanting to learn more.”

Yi Mei focuses on landscape painting and still life, inspired by her natural surroundings. She works primarily in oil and acrylic and uses mixed media and texture techniques on her canvas. She loves integrating natural materials, such as dry plants or moss, mixed with modeling paste onto large-size canvases to create a sense of intimacy. Yi achieved the Certificate of Art and Design Studio Skills from OCAD University and she holds a master’s degree in art and design from Donghua University in Shanghai, China. Her art pieces have been selected and sold in many art exhibitions.

My name is Anastasia Meicholas, a visual artist living in Toronto. I predominantly work with acrylics on canvas, alternating between abstraction and representation art and, on occasion, incorporating mixed media. My exotic colour palette and subjects are strongly influenced by my Bahamian background where there was constant sunshine and the bright blue ocean was never far away. The pieces I create are drawn from inspiration, experiences and lessons learned, sprinkled with influences from the land of my birth. The miles of forests and the wilderness of my former home in Fort McMurray, Alberta, have also had a strong influence on the direction of my work.
Art has always been my outlet to cope with the stress and uncertainties of everyday life. At the same time, I use art to express some of my deepest joys. Art provides me with a safe and comfortable place to express myself. As I am constantly trying to make sense of my world, exploring different ways of presenting my observations and interpretations, I don’t limit myself to one medium, one style or a single process. I am constantly evolving and exploring.
If anyone takes the time to peruse my work and pauses long enough to be stirred in some way, to wonder, to question, to simply feel… then I have succeeded in my work as an artist.

Mary Morganelli immigrated from Italy where her love for art developed at an early age.  Her artwork was put aside to start a family, but recently she revived her passion by taking private lessons.  She adores painting whatever inspires her, including portraits, landscapes, flowers, animals, automobiles, and more. Using an array of mediums, her therapeutic creations tell stories, express emotions, and some are just for fun.  For Mary, variety is the spice of life.

Valeria Mravyan is a fine artist who turns canvases into vibrant expressions of emotion. With a Master’s Degree in Applied Arts, she explores creative frontiers in oils, acrylics, watercolors, batiks, and various other mediums. Nestled in Kleinburg, ON, Valeria draws inspiration to bring her passion for painting to life. Her global gallery presence includes the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Arts and the Los Gatos Museum of Art. Beyond visuals, her art is a sensory journey—capturing misty days, vibrant sunsets, golden autumns, and frosty winter mornings. Recognized in ‘Who’s Who in America’ 2021, Valeria’s unique perspective solidifies her as an impactful artist, painting not just the world’s looks but its profound feelings.

Olga Muhortyh is a Ukrainian-Canadian artist and designer living in York Region. Growing up in Ukraine, she has always had a deep connection with art. Not being able to follow the education she aspired to as a child, she ended up following a different career path. She became a digital graphic and web designer after moving to Canada two decades ago. After battling depression, she decided to use her earlier passion as part of her game plan to keep herself healthy and happy. She slowly started painting, improving, and looking for her own artistic voice. Then COVID 19 came along and she promised herself to do at least one new painting every month. She also took some courses to learn new techniques and mediums. In 2020, she created a few pieces themed “My Happy Place.”  She is currently experimenting with oil and acrylic paints, modelling paste, epoxy resin, and mixed media.

Michele Nash
MichelesMagic Art
“art inspired beauty”

Creativity is in my soul whether it be with paint, photography or words.  It is the perfection in the imperfection that I take to completion.  Exploring our environment (rural and urban) allows me to see different textures, movement and light/dark components which open up unlimited possibilities that I incorporate into my art.

Colour is a key component to my artistry.  Colour seeps into my minds’ eye whether I am awake or dreaming, allowing my vision to come alive in clips.  As a self-taught artist and spiritual being, I fill each art piece with healing and joy.  Delving into many art forms over the years, I have build a solid foundation which I continue to expand on my artistic journey.

Presently, I am focussing on several mediums including Abstract Art, Alcohol Ink, Cold Wax and Oil, Mixed Media, Photography, and Textured Art. 

I am an Artist, a Certified Crystal Healer, Crystal Reiki Master, Level 1 Reiki teacher and a Crystal Grid Master.  I am an avid cook and baker. I live with my husband and our 2 dogs.  I reside in King City, Ontario, Canada.

My name is Jenny Nicholson and my passion for art started when I retired and 2 years ago joined a drawing class at the local Aurora Seniors Centre.  This was quickly followed by a watercolour paint class.  To my surprise, I had ignited a curiosity and passion I didn’t even know I had and during the lockdown period of the pandemic, this new passion kept me excited and sane.

I have attended in person classes and workshops from wonderful local artists like Nancy Newman, Karen Levert, Bonnie Steinberg and Judy Sherman. With so few in person opportunities during the pandemic, I have praised the wonder of technology and enjoyed the many online tutorials available on YouTube and the brave and adventurous instructors who have embraced it.

My goal is to continue to learn and grow in this wonderful medium of watercolour and to connect with like minded people in the vibrant world of art.

Ivanka Pipinikova mainly paints with oils. Figures of people have always been a source of inspiration for her. She hopes that through her work, she can convey the feeling and mood of a moment in a way that the viewer can become a part of it. Constantly growing and evolving as an artist, Ivanka aims to create beautiful, impactful art. She has exhibited her paintings at various Juried Art Shows and Art exhibitions.

Mahtab Rezvani was born in Iran and is a self-taught visual artist based in King City, Ontario. She works with different mediums but her main mediums are oil and acrylic in vibrant colours. She has always been interested in painting but never had the courage to consider it as her main career. During the quarantine, when gray was the dominant colour, her love for creating a new vivid world was reignited. She started with illustration and, later on, tried portraits but now enjoys a mixture of both. If she could define her emotions with words, she would be a poet! “Si je pouvais définir mes émotions avec des mots, je serais poète!”

Amanda Riccio is the artist behind The Fox and The Plum Studio. She creates acrylic paintings and personalized linocut prints that transform family stories into meaningful artwork. The current theme of her work is Whispers of the Earth: The Stories We Inherit. Amanda is inspired by, and invites others to share, the stories that have shaped each and every one of us—stories passed down through generations and those that live in the landscapes and creatures around us.

Lorraine Roberts is an award-winning artist that creates landscape and botanically inspired soft pastel, impressionistic paintings. Her art hangs in private and corporate collections and has been juried into exhibitions across Canada and the USA. Lorraine is a juried Member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, a juried Member of The Pastel Society of America and a Signature Member of the Pastel Artists of Canada.

Life comes full circle as Lorraine pursues her passion for art to express the beauty of nature. Her mission is to create art that evokes an emotional connection to nature and inspires a profound spiritual awareness of the present moment.

Douglas Robinson’s artistic journey began in the creative embrace of a family steeped in the artistic tradition, where he was born in Vancouver, BC, Canada, and grew up in Toronto and now calls home in Nobleton Ontario. This rich environment instilled in him a profound appreciation for art’s transformative power. Even from a young age, Douglas was attracted to the world of painting, diving into the vivid spectrum of colours and spirited forms that would later dominate his work. , Douglas pursued formal education at the Ontario College of Art & Design University, where he graduated with honours. During his time there, he received a working scholarship, which launched him into a successful career in advertising as an art director, then rising through the ranks to become a Creative Director/Chief Creative Officer, and even establishing his own award-winning agency. While Douglas thrived in this world, creatively directing advertising campaigns, he never lost sight of his true passion: painting. Eventually, the call of the canvas was simply too strong, and he returned full-time to pursue this lifelong love.

Alex Rojas is a fine art photographer based in King City. A graduate of OCAD University’s photography program (BFA), his work explores themes of movement, isolation, and the human experience. Drawing from his background as a national-level trampoline athlete, Alex captures the body in motion, often using suspended or fragmented imagery to challenge perceptions of space and time.

His notable works include In the Void, a series examining emotional and physical isolation through stark, atmospheric compositions, and Adrenaline, which documents high-performance athletes in moments of peak intensity. Alex has exhibited his work at GradEx 109 at OCAD University and internationally at the INTAC: “Ebb & Flow” Exhibition Fukuoka, Japan. He will also be Exhibiting Work “Shards: A Self Portrait ” in Mexico for the 2025 INTAC Exhibition “Invisible String.”

In addition to his fine art practice, Alex runs a photography business and is expanding into fine art prints and digital downloads. Through his work, he continues to push the boundaries of movement and storytelling in contemporary photography.

Judy Sherman. After a successful career in graphic design, Judy travelled to Florence, Italy to study classical painting. In 2006 she received an Ontario Arts Council Emerging Artist Grant. Judy was interviewed for a Rogers TV series, Colour and Vision – Portraits in Art, was published in American Art Collector Magazine and has appeared on City Line, City TV with Marilyn Dennis. She has juried shows, conducted workshops, has been teaching privately for over 15yrs and is presently teaching classes for the McMichael Art Gallery. She has won awards, is represented in galleries and has paintings in corporate and private collections worldwide.

THINGS AREN’T ALWAYS AS THEY APPEAR TO BE
At first glance my paintings may make you smile but the true meaning lies just beneath. Through the juxtaposition of old masters style and present day life, my work is a visual commentary on world circumstances. With a little humour and a gentle nudge the message is delivered.

Melissa Sherman is an Artist, Teacher, and Yoga Instructor living in Maple, Ontario. Formerly from New York, Melissa began her career working in the ceramic and glass industry as a model and mold maker. Since then she has turned towards paint, clay and mixed media to create. Her current body of work explores the universal qualities of emotions be they human or animal. 

Steve Silverman. A native of Toronto, Canada, Steve Silverman is a Canadian award-winning, fine art photographer with a keen and unique artistic vision. His love and passion for black and white photography are reflected in his dramatic landscapes and engaging cityscapes from across Canada and abroad.
Steve’s photos are visual metaphors. An intimate, interpretive view of the world around him. An implied comparison creating a link between the mundane and the sublime. He uses strong tonal contrast, texture and mood to express his artistic vision. His photos are easily recognizable by his use of strong leading lines combined with the interplay of light and shadows to create depth, giving a two-dimensional image the illusion of three dimensions. Simple put, he can transform a simple, mundane scene into a compelling black & white fine art photograph. Steve’s photos have been published in many international books and magazines. He is also a guest speaker at local camera clubs. Steve works with several Canadian art galleries and publishers on a variety of corporate and home decor fine art projects.

Catharine Somerville was born in Canada and lives both in the UK and Canada. Her work has won major awards and is in public and private collections throughout the world.
Primarily a colourist, it is Catharine’s aim to touch the emotional chords in the viewer with her unique colour pallet.
 
She works in all media and subject matter.

Phyllis Vernon paints in a variety of media and styles – her art is an exciting and constantly changing event as she explores and experiments with her love of colour, texture, light, form, media, and a wide variety of subjects. Originally a watercolour artist, she has broadened her scope to include acrylics, inks, graphite, collage and hand-pulled prints.  Sometimes her paintings are highly realistic, as in the Barns series,  or they may be inspired by her imagination with a realistic subject focus.

Phyllis has traveled extensively and often paints from  her photographs and sketches from around the world. She has participated in workshops with professional artists in Canada, United States, France and Spain, as well as extensive reading and research on her own.  She often paints commissions and delights clients by capturing in paint a favourite location or idea. 

Nina Vicol is a visual artist who has always been captivated by the beauty of nature. As a self-taught artist, she found herself gravitating towards realism and impressionism. She wanted to create paintings that captured the beauty and depth of the natural world, from the smallest blade of grass to the grandest mountain peak. With every brushstroke, she aims to convey the feeling of awe and wonder that nature inspires in her.For her, art is not just a means of expression, but a way of connecting with the soul of the world. When she paints, she feels a deep sense of peace and joy, as if she is communing with the spirit of nature itself. It is a meditative process that allows her to tap into the beauty and wonder of the world around her. Through her art, Nina hopes to convey the message that nature is not just a physical phenomenon, but a source of deep spiritual nourishment for the soul.

Michelle Zikovitz has been weaving functional baskets for over 20 years and teaching for the past 15 years, throughout southern Ontario. Her early weaving years were spent at her 2 floor looms focusing on woven tapestries, rugs, placemats and runners. A basketry workshop taught by a fellow guild member, a love of baskets and the ability to weave baskets almost anywhere all led to a new found passion of basket weaving.  Reed is her personal material of choice for teaching, incorporating her own hand dyed reed whenever possible. Michelle enjoys experimenting with random dyed or “space dyed” skeins of reed, creating many unique colour combinations and resulting in truly one of a kind baskets.  When not basket weaving or working, Michelle dabbles in photography, sewing, fibre arts and various painting mediums. She loves to explore and find local basket weavers, artists, shops and galleries on her travels.