{"id":37182,"date":"2025-11-13T14:26:33","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T19:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=37182"},"modified":"2025-11-13T14:26:43","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T19:26:43","slug":"shifting-reality-show-is-culmination-of-more-than-25-years-of-artistic-collaboration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/shifting-reality-show-is-culmination-of-more-than-25-years-of-artistic-collaboration\/","title":{"rendered":"Shifting Reality show is culmination of more than 25 years of artistic collaboration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

They found a kinship through creativity and their unique outlooks on the world, and 25 years after their first meeting, they\u2019re letting respective \u201crealities do the talking,\u201d in a new exhibition at the Aurora Cultural Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shifting Realities, a gallery show featuring the work of local artists Eva Folks and Judy Sherman, opened October 30 in the Homeroom Galleries at the Aurora Cultural Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c25-and-a-half-years,\u201d corrects Sherman as Folks explains how they first joined artistic forces at Chameleon Decorative Arts Studio, a store once run by Folks on the southeast corner of Yonge Street and Dunning Avenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They developed an instant rapport and, before too long, Sherman became an instructor in the Studio, and their creative collaboration only went from strength to strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As artists they are very active in the community, including workshops hosted by the Aurora Public Library. This exhibition at the Aurora Cultural Centre, however, is a first for them \u2013 and a long-time coming since it was first planned just before the global pandemic hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world may have changed since then, but their worldviews haven\u2019t, as viewers of Shifting Realities: Adventures in Portraiture will see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPresented as a double-solo exhibition, the show highlights their shared flair for humour and character-building through paint; Folks in acrylic, Sherman in oil. Blending realism with a touch of surrealism, their new works invite viewers down the rabbit hole into their two boldly-inventive and unfettered artistic minds,\u201d says the Aurora Cultural Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Folks, a long-time Aurora resident, has been a full-time artist since 2011 and has won numerous awards for her surreal work. An art teacher for more than 15 years and a current instructor at the McMichael Gallery for Canadian Art, Sherman has become known for her tongue-in-cheek paintings, mostly of animals that aren\u2019t as warm and fuzzy as they look on the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you look closer, a bird sitting on top of a cow\u2019s head might be wielding a knife \u2013 while a painting of a polar bear enjoying a tropical cocktail in front of a blazing orange sunset might just have something to say about climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s all surreal \u2013 it\u2019s always surreal,\u201d laughs Folks. \u201cWhether it\u2019s animals driving cars or people in odd surroundings \u2013 or just a little bit off, the show is called Shifting Realities and we\u2019ve just shifted things a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adds Sherman on what inspires her, \u201cIt just kind of happens. I think for me, because they\u2019re narrative paintings, I realized that being in graphic design and marketing, my stuff has always been narrative through the years. Now it\u2019s just with animals, what\u2019s going on in the world, and just making people aware of what\u2019s happening out there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey just tell stories; it\u2019s all about telling stories.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, if you can make an impression, so much the better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Shifting Realities began taking shape before she joined the Aurora Cultural Centre team, Gallery Manager Samantha Jones says she has vivid memories of seeing the works of both Sherman and Folks as a child when her mother first took her to the Aurora Art Show & Sale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s almost a shifted reality growing up now that I\u2019m in the role of putting your art in the gallery that I manage,\u201d Jones told the artists as they began installing the work. \u201cI think I\u2019ve learned a lot about you two as a relationship and I think this show is really about how artists meet each other and how they kind of subtly or maybe subconsciously feed off each other and grow from each other. I think artists need each other to grow and exist. Imagine what you\u2019d be if you didn\u2019t have each other. It\u2019s probably still great work, but it helps you grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis show kind of comes at a good time because we need more comedy in the world to handle those harder topics. It\u2019s how you (Sherman) approach difficult issues like environmentalism and animal rights \u2013 you do it in a way that\u2019s very graceful but makes people feel welcome to talk about those issues and be comfortable, so this is carving out a really good space for that. And with Eva\u2019s work, what\u2019s really powerful is, I think, when you become an adult artist, you almost get afraid to totally unleash your imagination and go into those really weird corners of your brain \u2013 and I like that you don\u2019t have that barrier.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sherman agrees, offering: \u201cI think it\u2019s true we can change the world in very soft kind of ways, in different ways, and I want people to see that, too \u2013 a different view, a shifted reality, a different view, and let them take away something a little different, even if it is just for a little while.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shifting Realities is on now at the Aurora Cultural Centre through January 17, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, January 2, the exhibition and its artists will be at the heart of a New Year\u2019s Art Jamboree from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., an interactive workshop where, on a first come first serve basis, all materials will be provided. All ages are welcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information, visit auroraculturalcentre.ca\/shifting-realities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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