News and Events
Ione Thorkelsson´s glass art displayed in Toronto
Working from her studio in Manitoba, far from the main centres of Canadian glass art, and being virtually self-taught, Ione Thorkelsson has managed to establish for herself a unique place as a glass artist in Canada.
In 1993, after twenty years of making the vivid blown glass pieces for which she has become well known, she surprised everyone (and perhaps even herself) by producing a series of edgy, pseudo-ornithological pieces on the theme of a future biotic dystopia. What was remarkable was the fact that to produce these pieces she had to master a whole new medium - cast glass. Since then, she has devised for herself a vitrified world populated by a curious cast of creatures. It is a slowly evolving world, about forty-five pieces in a dozen years less than four pieces a year.
This fall Ione will be coming to Toronto with a major body of work that will be displayed in two galleries. The show will be called 'Ossuary 501'. The first half will open October 26 at the Toronto Free Gallery, 660 Queen Street East; and the second, on November 2 at Material Matters, 215 Spadina Avenue. Anyone interested might check out her website later this month where she will have a small section posted to accompany the show ( www.thorkelsson.com).
Ione is very grateful for all the support she has received from family and friends over the years. This includes the Icelandic-Canadian community. She has had a long-term relationship with Manitoba's Islendingadagurinn festival; and the Canada Iceland Foundation has generously given her financial support for major shows: at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in 1998, and at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, Waterloo, in 2004.
Unfortunately, one of her greatest fan and supporter, her Dad, Edwin Thorkelsson, died in 2003. Edwin was born on Canadian soil at the Narrows in Manitoba shortly after his parents and family arrived from Iceland in 1914. His mother, Gudrún (Árnason), was from Njardvík, and his father, Halldór, from Klúka in Hjaltastadathinghá.