EMBASSY CULTURAL HOUSE
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kerry ferris 

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circa 1970
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“i am a landscape, my wrinkles expressing movement – the wind my soul, the toad my magic – nature fragments us into being – our spirits dance – mine in colours and line.” – kerry ferris
kerry ferris, (1949-2016) who preferred in her professional life for her name to be written in all lower case letters, was born and raised in London, Ontario. She attended H. B. Beal Secondary School, and then Fanshawe College where she studied cinematography. While ferris felt she was a self-taught artist, her studies at Fanshawe College inspired her to paint in a style similar to the way a camera can capture a fleeting moment. kerry had worked for Western Libraries for 29 years, and was a founding member of London’s artist-run center, the Forest City Gallery. kerry’s works are in the permanent collections of the McIntosh Gallery, Western University, Museum London, the Art Gallery of St. Thomas-Elgin, the Woodstock Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and many other public and private collections. 

In regards to her 1999 exhibit through webs of light at the London Regional Art and Historical Museum (now Museum London), then LRAHM curator James Patten (now Director and Chief Curator of McIntosh Gallery) observed:

“For ferris, life is cyclical, and her past experiences of the natural environment and the people she has met through her travels inform her work. People and animals she has seen in Zimbabwe, the Canadian arctic, or the Galápagos Islands cross paths with the butterflies and thistles of her own garden. By ignoring the rules of chronological time and boundaries of geography, ferris is able to depict her experience of the world with incredible originality and eloquence.”

ferris’ work expressed her interconnectedness with people and nature. With a unique sense of movement and colour, her works endeavored to capture what she referred to as the “ancient rhythms” that govern nature and the cosmos. ferris’ work emphasizes a highly detailed, fractured surface, paired with a flattening of space that merges foreground and background into a larger, shifting pattern.

“I paint people and landscapes – with people – their lives are on their faces – clenched in their hands or – in children – their eyes – lines are the landscapes of people – I paint people with interesting landscapes or children with the excitement of landscapes – it could be said in reverse I paint landscapes with the interesting lines of people…”

Over the decades she remained an active contributor to exhibitions at the Forest City Gallery, the McIntosh Gallery, Museum London, and the Embassy Cultural House. At the Embassy Cultural House, she had a solo exhibition storm lines in 1985 and participated in Drawings, a group exhibit the same year, as well asSilent Auction: A Benefit Exhibition in 1989.

kerry ferris passed away in London, Ontario on September 20th, 2016, at age 67. The estate of kerry ferris is represented by Westland Gallery, London, Ontario. Please visit the Westland Gallery website for more information and images of her work.

Recent Work

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"autumn", watercolour, conte and watercolour mediums, 2000
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"autumn, quebec", acrylic
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"hawk over lake", watercolour
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"watchful eyes", watercolour
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"green storms/golden souls", watercolour, 1998


EDITORIAL TEAM

ONLINE FOUNDER
Tariq Hassan Gordon

COFOUNDERS & CURATORIAL ADVISORS 
 
Jamelie Hassan 
& Ron Benner

ADVISORY CIRCLE
Samer Abdelnour, Marnie Fleming, Wyn Geleynse, Fern Helfand, S F Ho, Lorraine Klaasen, Judith Rodger, Ruth Skinner, Mary Lou and Dan Smoke,  and Lucas Stenning 

COORDINATING EDITORS
Tariq Hassan Gordon & 
Olivia Mossuto

WEB DESIGN & SOCIAL MEDIA 
Tariq Hassan Gordon, Ira Kazi, Olivia Mossuto, Niloufar Salimi,  JoAnna Weil 

VIRTUAL TOUR
Andreas Buchwaldt

PRINT PUBLICATIONS
Blessy Augustine, Shelley Kopp, 
Olivia Mossuto

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Andreas Buchwaldt, Blessy Augustine, Anahí González, Ira Kazi, ​Shelley Kopp, Ashar Mobeen, Niloufar Salimi,  Jenna Rose Sands, JoAnna Weil & Michelle Wilson. 

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OUR STORY
Artists Jamelie Hassan and Ron Benner and jazz musician Eric Stach founded the Embassy Cultural House (1983-1990) located in the restaurant portion of the Embassy Hotel at 732 Dundas Street in East London. Other former members of the board were: Debrann Eastabrook, Henry Eastabrook, Sharron Forrest, Wyn Geleynse, Janice Gurney, Jean Hay (1929 - 2008), Doug Mitchell, Kim Moodie, Gerard Pas, Peter Rist, Wanda Sawicki, Jean Spence and Jennie White. In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Embassy Cultural House was re-envisioned as a virtual artist-run space and website. 

This project is supported by the Ontario Arts Council and the London Arts Council through the City of London's Community Arts Investment Program.
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Thank you to our partners

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E M B A S S Y  C U L T U R A L  H O U S E . C A

​London, Ontario is on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Lenape, Attawandaron and Huron-Wendat peoples, at the forks of Deshkan Ziibi (Antler River), an area subject to the Dish with One Spoon Wampum and other treaties.

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  • Background
    • Past Programming >
      • Exhibitions 1983-1990 >
        • Index of Curators
        • Index of Photographers
        • Index of Visual Artists
      • Film 1983-1990
      • Music 1983-1990 >
        • Index of Musicians
      • Performances 1983-1990 >
        • Index of Performers
    • Embassy Hotel History
  • About