September 7 – October 19, 2024

Experience the Power of Colour and Passion

Lonsdale Gallery is pleased to present A Journey Through Time, an immersive solo exhibition by prominent Canadian Abstract painter Pedie Wolfond. This two-story exhibition takes audiences along a rousing visual journey through focal points of Wolfond’s dynamic five decades long artistic career. She remains one of the leading female colourist painters in the region, known for her immersive vibrant and expressive paintings, which captivate the heart and imagination.

Wolfond brings her compositions to life using a soak-stain technique she developed in the 1970s, by mixing acrylic paints with water and acrylic medium to create her own original pigments. Flooding the surface of the raw untreated canvas with luscious and vibrant hues, she combines bold gestural strokes with harmonious layers to create the illusion of light emanating from the canvas.

Red Gallery

Entering the gallery, audiences experience the grandeur of Wolfond’s signature red paintings.

Renaisance
2011
acrylic on raw canvas
68 x 117 inches
$36,000

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“It is a considerable undertaking and a not inconsiderable to acheivement to decide to make big red paintings and then carry them off. Red is difficult and demanding. […] it is a highly emotive colour – passionate, assertive, inescapable. 

Red, especialy the red that Wolfond sluices and veils into her big, absorbing canvases, burns with an optical intensity from which there can be little escape, an intensity that cannot be softened, subdued, avoided or deferred.”

– Garry Michael Dault, 2011

Sangria
2011
acrylic on raw canvas
104 x 87 inches
$36,000

Conterpoint I
2013
acrylic on raw canvas
67 x 67 inches
$17,000

Red is a colour that symbolizes passion, energy, courage, creativity, and love. Each hue of red is unique, achieved by skilfully combining and layering pigments until she achieves the perfect colour. The monumental bold red canvases vibrate with preternatural intensity that exudes a sense of power, strength, and vitality.

“The emotional impact of Wolfond’s ‘red gallery’ encourages the viewer to pause and enter into a state of altered conciousness”

– Judith Nasby

Carnival in Rio
2011
acrylic on raw canvas
104 x 87 inches
SOLD

Passion
2024
acrylic on raw canvas
70.5 x 47.5 inches
$15,000

Linear Landscape
2024
acrylic on raw canvas
36 x 53 inches
$8,000

Montego Bay
1989
acrylic on raw canvas
56.5 x 65.5 inches
$15,000

“I want the viewer to ‘drink’ in the intesity of the colour red. The longer you look the colour seems to penetrate your mind and emotions”

– Pedie Wolfond

Secound Floor Gallery

Song of Summer
2000
acrylic on raw canvas
72.5 x 98 inches
$25,000

Contrasted to her red paintings, the upper gallery transports viewers into a sanctum of light and joy. Delicate soft hues dance across the canvases, promoting feelings of positivity and tranquility. The artist mines her memory and experiences to create expressive work that explores the human condition. From lush jewel toned hues, to the diaphanous layers of her white over paintings, the pieces highlight the diverse spectrum approaches and maturity found Wolfond’s paintings.

Promise of Spring
2014
acrylic on raw canvas
83 x 71.25 inches
$21,000

Tranquility
2015
acrylic on raw canvas
83 x 71.25 inches
$21,000

Ascendance
2020
acrylic on raw canvas
84.5 x 68 inches
$19,800

Magic Memories
2020
acrylic on raw canvas
55 x 73 inches
$12,000

­Ocean Breeze
2023
acrylic on raw canvas
80 x 60 inches
$16,000

 

“She applies washes of thin colour onto heavy, unprimed canvas to acheive subtle affects that engage the viewer emotionally and contemplatitivly. […] Wolfond approaches her canvas in a state of mnetal concentration that allows her to freely express her own emotion as she lays down streams of colour.”

– Judith Nasby

Sea Breeze
1987
acrylic on raw canvas
68 x 43 inches
$9,500

Calm
1987
acrylic on raw canvas
22 x 30 inches
$3,000

Wolfond’s paintings contain multitudes. Her canvases vary from the bold and dramatic to airy and meditative. Her deep tenacity and continued dedication to her practice remain unparalleled. She rejoices in the artistic process: pouring all its joys, exaltations, and challenges on to the canvas. Each piece tells its own story, using colour and rhythm to elicit a spectrum of emotions withing the viewer.

Serene
1987
acrylic on raw canvas
44 x 51 inches
$8,500

Patchwork Quilt
1990
acrylic on raw canvas
57 x 68 inches
$14,800

Sunny Days
1988
acrylic on raw canvas
48 x 56 inches
SOLD

Exploring Wolfond’s prolific practice, the exhibition takes the viewer through an evocative visual and sensory journey, highlighting the enduring message behind the artist’s career: sending thoughts of love and kindness out into the world. The works presented are just a small taste of her artistic achievements. She remains unstoppable her golden years, consistently painting and creating. Her unending passion and tenacity is testament to the enduring power of the creative spirit.

Illusion
2017
acrylic on raw canvas
55 x 46 inches
$7,000

Introspection
2017
acrylic on raw canvas
46 x 60 inches
$8,000

The Meeting
2004
acrylic on raw canvas
84 x 57.5 inches
$18,500

Velvet Stripe
1999
acrylic on raw canvas
48 x 36 inches
$6,700

White Dancing Cubes
2008
acrylic on raw canvas
48.5 x 71.5 inches
SOLD

PEDIE WOLFOND began her artistic career in the 1950s and has been actively exhibiting her work since the mid 1970s. Her paintings can be found in prestigious corporate and private collections in England, Israel, Belgium, France, Italy, Mexico, Australia, United States and Canada. She belongs to a generation of women artists, embarking on their careers during the rise of Abstract Expressionism, who had to assert their vision in a predominately male-dominated field. Like many of her female contemporaries during that period, her work remained at the periphery until years later. Pedie Wolfond is recognized for her signature radiant energetic paintings and her contributions to legacy of Colour Field painting in Canada. As an artist and community advocate, she seeks to uplift the world and foster positive change through her art.