Qualia, or the Feel of Steel
Delio Delgado, Shelley Niro, Judith Schwarz, Bryce Kanbara, Samina Mansuri, Andrew McPhail and Steve Mazza
Seven artists explore the steadfast imprint of steel on Hamilton.
Curated by Ingrid Mayrhofer and produced at centre[3] for print and media arts.
Various locations and exhibition runs.

1. Hamilton Museum of Steam and Technology
900 Woodward Av
Exhibition ongoing from July 7
Opening Reception: Saturday, July 7, 2 – 4 pm, free tour of the museum

STEVE MAZZA
Industrious (Skyway View)

Hamilton artist Steve Mazza describes his recent works with miniature bricks as "slightly naive in their execution and extremely time consuming." His installation near the miniature railway track on the grounds of the Hamilton Museum of Steam and Technology continues his exploration of Hamilton, of industrial shapes and forms, and of work as art.
In addition to making art for exhibitions, Mazza works as a theatrical scenic painter and prop maker, and is the business agent for IATSE Local 828. He received an Emerging Artist Grant in 2010, and was voted "Best Local Artist" by the readers of VIEW magazine in 2007.


2. James Street North (exterior building façade, at Cannon)
Exhibition runs July 7 to August 18
Opening: Friday, July 13, 7pm–10pm.

BRYCE KANBARA
Flyers

Hamilton artist Bryce Kanbara collected scrap sheet metal to clad two plywood flyers - a screaming bird and a winged figure. They are mounted on a downtown building like commercial signs. His interest in the look and feel of industrial material flashes back to his summer student jobs at Dofasco in the late 60s, where he remembers "swing shifts and loving the smell of steel dust in the morning."
Bryce Kanbara is a Hamilton artist/curator and proprietor of you me gallery.


3. b contemporary
226 James Street North
Exhibition runs July 3 to July 28
Opening: Friday, July 13, 7 – 10 pm

JUDITH SCHWARZ
Steel Town

DELIO DELGADO
Corrosive (Through the footprint of another step)

Judith Schwarz's suite of three wall sculptures was fabricated by plasma-cutting hot-rolled steel. A response to the site visits and landscape of Hamilton, the sculptures compress imagined moments from the steel industry. Shipping and Receiving, Blast Furnace, and Smoke and Water comprise poetic shorthand that evokes the history and culture of steel town.
Born in Vancouver, Schwarz (BFA, UBC; MFA, York University) is currently Chair of the Visual Art & Art History Department of York University in Toronto. Her work has been exhibited across Canada and the United States, and is included in numerous public and private collections.

The three floor pieces by Delio Delgado reference remnants of human passage. Works on paper, found objects, scrap metal and rust collected from steel processing, offer a diachronic narrative: piles of cut-offs form part of the installation, and so do their rusty imprints on paper. Delgado draws on transitions from past to present, from nature to abstraction, as a way of marking his own steps through steel town.
Born in Dominican Republic, Delgado holds a BFA in multidisciplinary studies from the National School of Visual Arts in Santo Domingo, and a degree from Altos de Chavón School of Design, an affiliate of Parsons, NYC.


4. centre3 for print and media arts (formerly The Print Studio);
173 James Street North
Exhibition runs July 7 to August 18
Opening: Friday, July 13, 7pm–10pm

SHELLEY NIRO
Wings and Things (Before Sunrise)

SAMINA MANSURI
Steel Town and (steel)scrap

ANDREW MCPHAIL
Prick

Shelley Niro's recent photographic works question the meaning, space and time of power relationships. The icon of power lines, an electricity pylon, is placed in a pictorial corner, dwarfed by images of nature or symbols of significance to traditional Iroquoian knowledge. For Niro, "steel evokes a collision of thoughts about evolution of man and devolution of nature."
Based in Brantford, Shelley Niro (MFA University of Western Ontario) is a member of the Six Nations Reserve, Mohawk, Turtle Clan. An internationally renowned multi-media artist and filmmaker, Niro is the first laureate of the new Ontario Arts Council Aboriginal Arts Award.

Andrew McPhail's armchair pincushion challenges our sensory modalities. An object that would normally invite an anticipation of repose bears a foreboding title. The artist states, "I know steel. i know its prick...." His reference to the everyday household object positions intimate personal experience at the centre of industrial relations.
Hamilton-based Andrew McPhail, (BFA and MFA York University) was born in Calgary, Alberta in 1961. Recent exhibitions include the MacIntosh Gallery, London, ON, Art Gallery of Hamilton, Gallery Connexion, Fredericton, NB and the Textile Museum of Canada in Toronto. He is represented by the Birch Libralato Gallery in Toronto.

Samina Mansuri's projection/installation speaks to the constructed realities and myths of the steel industry in Hamilton. The works were created following the artist's interaction with the industrial space, which she describes as being rife with "tactics of subterfuge and blurring of boundaries." Mansuri's footage was shot at Hamilton's Samuel Steel, an impressive family operation with a history of 157 years of steel processing in the area.
Samina Mansuri (BFA, Pratt Institute and MFA, Carnegie Mellon University) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Toronto. Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Mansuri has exhibited internationally for over two decades. Her works have been featured and reviewed extensively and are represented in public and private collections.


Centre3, the curator and the artists gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Samuel Steel, Nova Steel, Wentworth Metal, and ArcelorMittal Dofasco.

For information call 905 524 2415 or e-mail communityarts@centre3.com
http://www.centre3.com