I am honoured to be selected as a runner up for the 2021 MERA Award for Excellence in the Fine Arts and Fine Crafts.

Fred Fowler is the recipient of the Award “with runners up Catherine Orfald and Cheryl Straby, in recognition of their excellent work”. The MERA Award will be presented to Fred Fowler at a reception on Friday, September 24th, 2021 from 4:00 pm until 5:30 pm at the Schoolhouse in McDonald’s Corners. Cheryl Straby and Catherine Orfald are also invited. The artwork will be displayed for all to enjoy.

Victoria Henry, curator and art critic, and the former Director of the Canada Council Art Bank, writes about Catherine Orfald’s paintings: “Orfald responds to the landscape she knows well with fine attention to detail.” Susie Osler, ceramic artist, and the founder of Fieldwork, a decade-long, land-based art project in Lanark County, comments, “Catherine’s accomplished, detailed work shows both a deep commitment to her practice as an artist, and the deep connection to the landscapes, and the people enjoying those landscapes, that inspire her paintings.”

Come on out to the reception Friday September 24 from 4:00 to 5:30 at MERA, 974 Dalhousie Concession 9A, McDonald’s Corners, ON, K0G 1M0.