James Nye at The Accelerator Centre

Art Allies teamed up with The Accelerator Centre and The Communitech Hub to rotate work from local artists through those venues on a regular basis and this afternoon kicked that off with the fabulous work of my good friend James Nye at Accelerator.  The inaugural tour has been generously sponsored by Ernst & Young.  And going one step further, Accelerator and The Hub are going to be purchasing a painting per quarter to support local arts. 

Right on!

In from the chilly north campus…

To the more hospitable inside with James (right).

Looks like I’m not the only one covering this event.

Hey, this is new.  This piece is killer.  I think someone bought this before we wrapped up.  Alison De Muy, was that you?

Close-up from the boardroom painting shown at top.

Lewis tries out as Chairman

I first met James last year at a kwartzlab event, which led to a visit to his studio open house, which led to hanging his work at the lab, and another studio open house.  It’s great how these things snowball.

Meta-photography.  It’s likely this guy did better with the flash, but I’m not there yet.

Big pieces.

Small pieces.

Checking in with another of my favourite artists on a work in progress.

Pieces in multiple rooms.

This hits you right inside the door…

and before the infinite corridor.

This is my kind of gig: guerrilla art display.

Jacqui Murphy, the driving force behind Art Allies, pow-wows with Andrew Jackson (Manager, Client Programs at The AC)

Trading tips with Lewis on fabricating your own stretchers.

The after work crowd started to come in.

Amid the work.

Jacqui and Lewis laughing it up.

Greg McCauley (left) with his crew from Ernst & Young with James (centre).  Big thanks to you.

Jacqui and Dave White, my brother from the very same mother.

Tim Ellis (COO, AC) centre with Greg McCauley (E&Y) at right.

Soaking up the work.

Hey, there’s Brock Hart (2nd from right) of MFX Partners.  MFX was announced as sponsoring the next artist!

Andrew Abouchar (Tech Capital Partners), Tim Ellis, and Andrew Jackson.

More chatting.

Snacks!

Andrew Jackson, our emcee.

Jacqui gave a good pitch on the Art Allies mission.  She must have practised this at The Record this morning where she got the nod for community contribution in the 40-under-40 crew.  Congrats Jacqui!

Time for…

James to say a few words about the work.

Greg McCauley of Ernst & Young described what an easy decision it was to support such a great cause as this.

James is a full-blown, 100% working artist.  He paints full-time.

The Accelerator Centre purchased this piece from James called “The Awning”.

Ok, so Jacqui is always making crazy eyes and wild hands when I’m shooting pics, so I think this pose is directed at me.  Note how James and Lewis are unperturbed.

Great show, guys.

Happy making,

DW