Petroff Gallery
1016 Eglinton Avenue West
Toronto, Ontario
416-782-1696
Lauren Blakey
Barb Sachs
Jeff Margolin
The holidays are just around the corner and we are all starting to think, “What can I get for the people on my
list?”
For a change, why not buy something that’s a present and also an investment, something that’s going
to last and increases in value over time. What’s that you say? It’s Art, and believe it or not all sorts of
Original art pieces can be found at accessible prices that the average person can afford in galleries all
over the city.
The Petroff Gallery on Eglinton Avenue in Toronto, sells Contemporary craft works by leading Canadian and International artists. Out of their large and varied collection, I have chosen to highlight three ceramic artists that really stand out to me, Lauren Blakey, Barb Sachs and Jeff Margolin.
Pieces pictured here start at $75.00
Lauren Blakey
A recent graduate of Sheridan College and NSCAD is recreating nature out of clay. Pieces that mimic, mosses, plants, gathered leaves, underwater corals, bark, or geodes her art represents growth or decay strength and fragility. Many of the pieces are wired so that they can be hung up on a wall making it possible to see the multi faceted aspects of this art. Other pieces sit like a Sea anemone still glistening from the ocean. Amazingly realistic you would swear some of these pieces are swaying in the wind or still moving with the ocean current.
Barb Sachs
Is a ceramic artist from the Hamilton area. Her Polar bears and Penguins are affectionate emotional creatures that have a warmth and earthiness about them. They are made using a clay hand building technique and Raku firing that leaves the pieces with a smooth crackle glaze or a black stone like finish. Truly evocative art pieces that shout Canada!
Jeff Margolin
is a sculptor from Emeryville, California. His amazingly tactile pieces look like they were carved from some sort of giant dinosaur bone. These porcelain creations are painstakingly made using a coil building technique that is dried and burnished to create a smooth glaze like finish. The marble type veining is achieved in the smoke fire which incorporates human hair into the piece. He then sculpts into it to create the intricately detailed areas.
All of the pictures in this article are courtesy of Petroff Gallery
Alison Brown