| Iris
Gammon was born in Parry Sound and has lived all of her
life in Muskoka. Her love of the landscape surrounding
her MacTier family home began in her earliest childhood
and has remained a lifelong infatuation. A gift of oil
paints on her sixteenth birthday gave Iris her first
opportunity to capture what she saw on canvas. It was the
beginning of an artistic relationship with a landscape
that, for Iris, would never lose its allure.
Iris raised
seven children, pursued a teaching career and then
continued her creative journey in earnest, painting in
oils the craggy shores, windswept pines and weathered
barns of her beloved Muskoka. Mostly self-taught, she
learned what she could by visiting galleries, reading
art books, enrolling in workshops and two years of
university courses - colour and design as well as the
history of Canadian art. She attended Chris Cooper's
Algoma School of Landscape Art and Bridge Water Retreat
under the instruction of Jane Champagne.
Iris joined
Muskoka Arts & Crafts and during this time because
one of the founders of the Brown Baggers-Artists of
Muskoka.
At this time,
Iris received several awards for her paintings,
including The Good Old Boys which is in the Permanent
Collection of Muskoka Arts & Crafts.
Iris has
traveled and seen the world, but today as always remains
enamoured with the rugged landscapes of Muskoka.
Her paintings
may be viewed at her Studio in the Glen located in Glen
Orchard. |
