Ken Fraser's "Brief Encounters"
September 30 – November 1, 2025
Tuesday to Saturday, 11 am – 4 pm
Opening reception:
Friday, October 3 | 7:30 pm
Show sponsors:
Glenda and Jean Menard
Jocelyne and Michael Moran
Ken Fraser's Artist Statement
All but three of these pieces have been completed in the last year. The first ones were done during a two-week residency last September at Gibraltar Art Hub on the Toronto Islands. The rest were completed on our farm in Hybla over the winter and a few this past summer.
Each piece is based on drawings I have sketched from various sources: photographs, news photos, old magazines, etc. I usually combine or alter these images to come up with some new interesting composition. I stop working on the piece when the painting feels like it has some life if its own. You be the judge.
The title “Brief Encounters” refers to how these paintings try to capture brief moments that we encounter at any given time. Someone helping someone up, a person napping on the couch, someone petting a dog or simply a stare from a stranger.
Enjoy.
About the Artist
I grew up in Sarnia then escaped to the big city as soon as high school ended and spent most of my adult life in Toronto, working and going to school. I have a BA and MEd from the University of Toronto.
I moved to the Bancroft area in 2014 and for the last 10 years I have exhibited my work in the Bancroft area, at Wildewood Gallery in Maynooth, A Place for the Arts, Bancroft, Art Gallery of Bancroft, and the Bancroft Area Studio Tour in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
I am a self-directed artist who has gathered skills and knowledge from associates, books, videos, podcasts, galleries and museums.
I am inspired by the Outsider Art movement as well as Art Brut and Kunst art movements. Although I do not paint many landscapes, the natural beauty of Hastings Highlands is a constant inspiration to me.
I am blessed to be surrounded by nature. I live on a 100-acre homestead outside of Bancroft, in the ghost town of Hybla. I have converted part of one of the barns on the property into a studio where I work.
