Expand the imagination with Sherway Gardens’ current Gallery in the Garden exhibit entitled Over The Road. The acrylic and mixed media paintings by Margaret O’Flanagan-Byerley, Pamela Avril Pols and Catherine Shane featured in this exhibit reach the imagination in a variety of ways. Their diverse and unique paintings are very complimentary to one another and will be on display until August 14, 2010. Call 416-621-1070 or visit www.sherwaygardens.ca for more information.

Mississauga artist Margaret O’Flanagan-Byerley’s work involves the layering of canvas on canvas or collage on canvas. She began her artistic career as a watercolourist and now works primarily in acrylics creating abstracts and semi-abstracts that she says “have allowed me to explore my artistic soul as I haven’t done since I was a child. It is exciting to follow the ideas that seem to come from some uncharted inner source and to see what happens on a canvas.”

For the last 11 years, Margaret has taken lessons at Visual Arts Mississauga and Neilson Park Creative Centre with Bill Biddle, Anne Fullerton, Linda Kemp, Doug Mays, David McKee, Ann Sutton, Tim Packer, Kai Lee McGinnis and Steve Rose. A member of the Purple Studio Painters, she has exhibited work for three consecutive years at Compass Canada and in shows at Royal Lepage, Gallery Streetsville, Neilson Park Creative Centre, Meadowvale Theatre, Lorne Park Library, Riverwood, Art in the Park at Benares House and has shown art as part of the annual garden tour by the Horticultural Society of Mississauga. She has been chosen to display at both the Delta Hotel and Novotel and has finished a commission to create art for the newly remodeled Billiard’s Room in her condo as she did last year for the remodeled Guest Suite.

Brampton artist Pamela Avril Pols’ textured surfaces add another dimension to the images she creates. Born in Leamington, England and emigrated to Canada in 1953, Pamela has always been creative and enjoys both acting and painting. In the 1960s while working as a teacher in Peel Region, she earned a Supervisors Certificate in Art from the Ontario College of Art and then English Honours and Fine Arts degrees from York University. Since her retirement in 1997, she has been studying with Steve Rose, Lila Lewis, Brian Smith, and John Leonard.

Pam is a member of Beaux Arts Brampton, Neilson Park Creative Centre, and The Etobicoke Art Group. She has taken part and exhibited at: Shoppers World / Bramalea City Centre (2005), A two-person show at Neilson Park creative Centre( 2006), Impact Annual Juried Exhibitions at Neilson Park Creative Centre (2008, 2009), Coffee Culture Cafe, Brampton (2009, 2010), 12 Palettes show at Neilson Park Creative Centre (2009), Taking Space (2009), T.G.I.F. again at Neilson Park Creative Centre (2009), Etobicoke Art Group, 45th Annual Juried Exhibition (2009), McMichael Canadian Collection, Progression Exhibition (Dec 2009/ September 2010), V.A.M. 32nd Annual Juried Exhibition (2010), and the Beaux Arts Juried Exhibition (2009, 2010).

Oakville artist Catherine Shane’s world view is slightly topsy-turvy, causing you to look twice to see if you really saw what you thought you did. Following a long career with a telecommunications giant, she pursued her artistic passion and embarked on her “Make Your Walls Laugh” series of imaginative, whimsical and abstract acrylic paintings, utilizing vibrant colours and humour in paintings that tell a story and may encourage a chuckle or two.

Catherine recently joined The Purple Studio Painters, an inspirational group of watercolourist/acrylic painters. She has studied with numerous artist mentors and has also studied the arts at Sheridan College, Oakville Art Society and Neilson Park Creative Centre.