Froid' art-Our Artists and their Art

Kingston Visitor Information Centre - Heidi Larkman - "Winter Cats in Hats”

Undoubtedly, Heidi Larkman's favorite aspect of creating art is the joy it brings to people, evidenced by their smiles.

Admitting to a lack of focus on a single artistic pursuit for the longest time, Heidi held an equal passion for pottery, fibre art, and heritage crafts, eagerly moving from one medium to another. In recent years, however, she has honed in on creating whimsical paintings as her true artistic love. Drawing inspiration from her family, pets, history, and everyday life, Heidi often finds herself awakening in the early hours with a new concept to translate onto canvas. While not every piece turns out as envisioned, she finds the creative process to be therapeutic nonetheless.

Throughout Heidi's artistic journey, she has dedicated time to studying illustration and graphic design, perpetually enthusiastic about exploring new mediums and techniques. Her preferred tools include pencils, pastels, acrylic or gouache paint, and an extensive collection of watercolor pans that outnumber practical use.

Thrilled to be one of the artists at Martello Alley, Heidi expresses that home is where the heart is, and for her, downtown Kingston encapsulates that sentiment for many reasons. Recognizing Martello Alley as a special and unique place, she hopes others enjoy it as much as she does.

Kingston Visitor Information Centre - Lucy Carvalho DeSousa - "Enchanted Forest"

Lucy, a versatile multimedia artist and sculptor, specializes in acrylic portraits of pets, farm animals, and people on canvas or wood. She crafts distinctive 3D art and custom pieces in various styles, including ornaments, jewelry, vase lanterns, wreaths, and outdoor art. Lucy also excels in painting still life, landscapes, waterscapes, and finds joy in capturing a wide range of subjects in her artwork.

72 Pembroke St - Leith Channen - "Spring"

Leith Channen often thinks of her life as a crazy quilt, a varied mix of roles, skills and endeavours all patched and embroidered together. In November 2020, she took on the challenge of painting a watercolour from a daily prompt. She’d always done creative work with her hands (mostly wool, fabric, and thread-based crafts) and wanted to branch out to painting and drawing. This call spurred her to leap. She loved it! Even the terror of putting a paint-loaded brush onto pristine white paper. She completed those 30 works and itched to learn more about letting water flow pigment across and into cold-pressed cotton.
Leith found Angela Fehr and her Heartled Artists Community where Leith’s fledgling passion found nurture and support to be brave with water, colour and mark-making.
Her Mother’s artist’s voice echoed in her mind, helping her see the wondrous colours and shapes of the ever-changing skies and hidden in the woods and fields of Ontario.
When some of these make their way onto her paper, Leith’s heart is content.

Martello Alley - Kyla Mayne - "Miss Kingston"

Kyla Mayne is a Psychology major at Queen's University with a passion for all things creative. A daydreamer since day one, she is inspired by both the world that surrounds her, and the one in her imagination. She likes to create visually striking pieces that combine the real and the fantastic in a style that conveys deep meaning. Working primarily in oils, her unique, eye-catching portraits incorporate a variety of different themes and motifs, tackling such concepts as the progression of fashion throughout the ages, the beauty, power and diversity of humans, and the splendor of nature!

Always looking to grow and evolve, she is constantly seeking to challenge herself and experiment with new media and subject matters. Recently, as a huge advocate for recycling, she has been repurposing old vinyl records, transforming them into one-of-a-kind pieces of art!

Her job as a social painting instructor has instilled in her a passion for making art more accessible, and she is ecstatic to continue her artistic voyage at Martello Alley. Aside from painting and drawing, she also loves writing novels, reading, researching, and telling lame jokes!

Rochleau Court - Gayle Dowsett - "Theodore Too"

Gail was born and raised in Kingston, Ontario. She worked in design after college and since retirement has returned to Kingston. Gail enjoys Kingston’s vibrant art community. Her art include Watercolour and Acrylic Painting, Sea Glass art—cards, shadow boxes and jewelry.

Recently Gail submitted a piece for Froid Art, an outdoor art exhibit presented by Martello Alley, with sponsorhip by various Downtown businesses. Gail’s piece is a vibrantly painted scene of Theodore Too, the tugboat that visited Kingston recently.

Rochleau Court - David Dossett - "This Way to Awesome"

Tara Natural Foods - David Dossett - "Chairlift"

Rochleau Court - David Dossett - "Keewatin"

BMO Nesbitt Burns - David Dossett - "Tropical"

Rochleau Court - David Dossett - "King of the Castle"

A Kingston native, David is a visionary artist who is passionate about community.

David has been the force behind recent public art projects such as Froid’Art and Jardin’Art. Seeking to unite art, artists, business and the public for the benefit of the entire community through art, these projects have been great successes for everyone involved. David created Martello Alley. From the darkness of an old alley, David saw beauty and opportunity. He saw a unique place where art is shared. There is no exclusivity and everyone from the public who come in for a peek to the artists working on site, the Alley is relaxed and has a fun, friendly approachable feel to it. Again, art and the community connect.

David’s work has a beautiful relaxed, impressionistic feel to it. Wonderfully painted, his work often reflects his love for simple childhood memories; whether the images are from his childhood or his children.

Always thinking of new ways to get art into the community, David began experimenting with taking the outdoor art concept one step further and began creating wonderful images on window screens. Ready to be put in a garden or in a window, the work is fun and colourful and reflects David’s desire for art to be approachable.