1 John Street Killaloe, KHR Municipal Office
Open during KHR Municipal Office hours and on Saturdays from 11 to 4 via the library entrance.
A Community That Dances
Welcome to the first exhibition of the Art Gallery of the Ottawa Valley! In this inaugural AGOV exhibition, ten artists have been invited to contribute artwork expressing the spirit of Killaloe as they experience it. These diverse artistic voices present an interconnected journey shaped by community care, deep relationships to land and water, and the rhythms of everyday life. Themes of movement, passages and waterways dance with people of deep generational roots, newcomers, and beautifully eccentric characters. Together the artwork and the stories behind them reveal a community alive with both history and possibility.
It is clear that for these artists, the natural environment is not merely a backdrop, but an active participant—holding memory, guiding and grounding their creative practices. This exhibition honours creation as an ongoing process, where memory and the present moment coexist, and where many ways of knowing and being come together in Killaloe.
Anya Gansterer – Art Gallery of the Ottawa Valley Director and Curator
May, 2026
ARTWORKS
Many pieces from this exhibition are available for sale. Please reach out to anya@ov-caos.org for details on how to purchase.
ARTISTs
Linda Archibald is a community artist and workshop facilitator whose interests are at the intersection of art, community and mental health. She holds a Master of Social Work with training in Expressive Arts and Open Studio Process facilitation. Linda is a founding member of Ottawa Valley Community Arts (OV-CAOS) and creator of an occasional analogue zine, (un)RAVELLED. Her artistic practice focuses on mixed media collage. She lives in an off-grid log cabin outside of Killaloe.
Painted Loon, aka Naomi Blondin, born in Laval Quebec and has spent most of her life in the Ottawa Valley. She is Algonquin and French-Canadian and a member of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nations Community. Coming from a family of artists – canoe makers, basket weavers, story-tellers and visual artists. Naomi aims to create art forms in all aspects of her life, including gardening, seed keeping, herbalism, sewing, crafting, story writing, interior design, murals, painting and public art. www.paintedloon.com
Anna Camilleri is an interdisciplinary artist working across visual art, theatre, writing, and public art. Her practice spans gallery, theatre, and community contexts, with a focus on material exploration and site-responsive work. She is the co-founder and artistic co-director of ReDefine Arts, a multidisciplinary arts organization established in 2005.
Micheal Dombroksie has been painting for about forty years. He works mainly in oils and acrylics, but has done some artwork using alcohol ink and chalk pastels. He has a preference for landscapes and still life, but has explored floral, figurative and, more recently, abstraction. Intense use of colour is what he enjoys most.
Tanya Lyons graduated with honours from the Sheridan College glass program, studied at the University of Art and Design Helsinki, Finland and the Toyama Institute of Glass Art in Japan. She taught at Sheridan College, was a resident at the Harbourfront Centre and on the Board of Directors for the Glass Art Association of Canada. After 14 years in Quebec, Tanya has moved back to Ontario. She teaches at the Haliburton School of Art and Design, collaborates with the Ottawa Valley Community Arts organization and was the Coordinator of the Madawaska Valley Studio Tour. Her work has been exhibited and collected throughout North America, Europe and Japan. www.tanyalyons.ca
Through Maureen MacMillan’s photography, she seeks to illuminate the quiet, often overlooked beauty in every individual. Each subject carries a deeply personal narrative. Their stories are shaped by love, loss, joy, and resilience. The hope is that within these layers her work finds its meaning. Drawn to raw and unguarded moments, she embraces the authenticity of each person in front of the camera, allowing that persons truth to take center stage. Her work gently invites a deeper appreciation for the complexities and imperfections that define us. In doing so, she creates space for connection, reflection, and a renewed understanding of what it means to be seen. Instagram/Facebook @galcaponephotography
Megan Spencer is a multimedia artist, currently working mostly in pen and ink, shadow puppetry and stop motion. She lives with her family in Golden Lake on unceded Algonquin Territory, growing food and herbs, watching bugs and making wild infused food creations. With Ottawa Valley Creative Arts, she has led and participated in many community art projects, including an outdoor mosaic mural conceived and created by local youth and a collaborative outdoor sculpture created with natural materials as part of Art Helps. meganspencer.ca
Sylvia Tennisco is an Algonquin Cultural artist based in the Ottawa Valley. She works with a variety of mediums including, illustration, painting, photography, multimedia and dabbles a little with pebble mosaic design. With over 25 years of experience in the visual arts field, Sylvia’s public artwork can be seen throughout the Ottawa Valley, this includes murals of Algonquin theme with various local school boards and community spaces. For several years she was also an active participant on the Madawaska Valley Studio Tour and participated in the Ottawa Valley Community Arts Pop-Up exhibitions since 2019.
Pat Thurston graduated from Ontario College of Art and Design, majoring in Textile Arts. Since relocating to Killaloe her work has been featured in two shows at The Wilno Gallery, in the 1990’s, and a show of fiber art at Joyce Burkholder’s Wilno Garden Gallery, titled ‘Earthlight’ in 2000. She has also participated in exhibits at the Art Gallery of Bancroft and several group shows at the South of 60 Art Center in Barry’s Bay. More recently she was an exhibition artist in the Pop Up Art Ottawa Valley exhibitions. In 2020 she hosted a solo show ‘The Fabric of Life” at Dream Share Gallery in Pembroke.
Genevieve Townsend is a painter and maker – creating from her home studio in Eganville, Ontario. The natural landscapes of the Ottawa Valley are what most inspire and inform her work. She is primarily a painter but loves to create in multiple mediums like pyrography, textile, fibre and block printing. Her illustration work includes a children’s book, short stories, book covers, whimsical maps, event posters, murals and is currently creating a colouring book. Besides commission, exhibit and illustration work, she has collaborated with OV-CAOS Ottawa Valley Community Arts, local townships and individuals to facilitate workshops and community art projects that focus on playfulness and exploration. genevievetownsend.com