TORONTO - Vancouver 2010 Olympic medallists Joannie Rochette, Clara Hughes and Becky Kellar are among the athletes featured in a new fine-art portrait exhibition in Toronto.
"Canadian Olympic Athletes: A Dialogue in Art," presented by the Portrait Society of Canada, runs Tuesday through March 26 at the John B. Aird Gallery.
A total of 34 works depicting Olympians and Paralympians are on sale in the show, which holds a reception on Thursday with twin track-and-field Olympians Paul and John Craig as guest speakers.
Hughes, who won a bronze medal in speedskating at the Games last week, is posing in a chair in her portrait.
Rochette, who captured bronze and Canadians’ hearts by figure skating just days after her mother’s death at the Games, is seen in black workout leotard in two paintings.
The portrait of Kellar, a defender on the gold-medal-winning women’s hockey team, is of her in a jersey.
Also in the show is a three-panelled painting of Alex Baumann, a two-time Olympic gold medallist in swimming.
Created by Toronto artist Susan R. Makin, Baumann’s portrait has him in three different poses, including one celebrating a victory in the water.
"When I looked at it, it certainly brought back a lot of memories," said Baumann, who is in charge of the Canadian Olympic Committee’s version of the Own the Podium plan for the Summer Games.
J.A. Fligel sculpted two bronze busts for the show: one of Sami Jo Small, a former gold-medal winning goaltender for the women’s Olympic hockey team, and another of Small’s fiance, Billy Bridges, a Paralympic gold medallist in sledge hockey.
Both busts show the athletes in their element, donning helmets and holding up their hockey sticks.
"Artists are very inspired by athletes," said Fligel of Mississauga, Ont.
"Their movement, their grace, co-ordination and their abilities are quite inspiring."
Money from the sales of the portraits goes toward the Olympic athletes, the artists and the Portrait Society of Canada, a non-profit organization that mounts art events across the country.
Baumann, Makin, the gallery and Nathalie Lambert, who is also featured in one of Makin’s works, will donate their portion of the proceeds to Haiti disaster relief.
After the exhibition closes, the portraits will be on sale for a year via the Portrait Society website.
On the net: www.portraitsociety.ca
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