Kitchener-Waterloo

Street art subject of new 'Inside Out' exhibition at Homer Watson Gallery

The Homer Watson Gallery is hosting a new exhibit called Inside Out, it's first ever urban art show.

Inside Out runs until March 8 and features work about city life from 3 local artists

Dave Fox's painting, abused by rock and loving it, is displayed at the Homer Watson House and Gallery. (Peggy Lam/CBC)

The Homer Watson Gallery is hosting a new exhibit called Inside Out, its first ever urban art show.

The exhibit features artwork about city life in three different mediums — mixed media, sculpture and photography —created by three local artists.

"I've just been following street art for the last five years. It started when I took a trip to Berlin, Germany," said Nichole Martin, the curator of the exhibit. 

"I just got so excited by this art movement that I wanted to learn more and see more art like this." 

Martin says Inside Out has three parts: the Zone, Remix and Images from the Street. 

​The Zone, by Dave Fox

The Zone features images and paintings from Cambridge artist Dave Fox, who creates mixed-media pieces from objects, such as boards,  that he finds on the streets.  

Dave Fox is a painter from Cambridge. (Peggy Lam/CBC)
Dave Fox's painting, Return to Acadyville 12:08 am., is displayed at the Homer Watson House and Gallery. (Peggy Lam/CBC)

"With these abstract pieces, it can really be about anything. It starts as one thing and then it changes, and then I flip it around, so you can take what you want from it," Fox said.  

Remix, by Barbara Di Renzo 

Cambridge artist Barbara Di Renzo, uses recycled materials that she finds from torn buildings and creates nature-influenced sculptures out of them. With the leftover materials from her sculptures, she creates jewellery. 

"My favourite tool is the blow torch. It's my paint and paintbrush, all in one, so I create a variety of patinas to bring out the nice colours in copper, for example," Di Renzo said.  

Barbara Di Renzo's sculpture, Up in Smoke, sits at the Homer Watson House and Gallery. (Peggy Lam/CBC)
Barbara Di Renzo's sculpture titled, Too Much Information, is made of left over materials from a torn down building. (Peggy Lam/CBC)
Barbara Di Renzo is an artist who creates sculptures out of recycled materials from torn buildings. (Peggy Lam/CBC)

She says she has been re-purposing materials for art for 15 years. 

"I started going around to all these places," she said, adding at first, people who she was sourcing materials from thought it was odd she wanted scrap metal.

"They look at it everyday, and they see it as garbage sometimes right?"

Images from the Street, by Robert Skeoch 

Robert Skeoch's collection of photographs of people from Toronto, Hamilton, New York and other cities was shot on black and white film. The collection "Images from the Street" was compiled over the course of five years. 

"It's pictures of people who I probably don't know, taken on the streets. Sometimes I talk with them ahead of time, and sometimes I just take a photo and they don't ever know that it happened," Skeoch said. 

Robert Skeoch's photograph, Children Playing, Toronto, sits at the Homer Watson House and Gallery. (Peggy Lam/CBC)
Robert Skeoch is a photographer located near Fergus, Ont. (Peggy Lam/CBC)

The Inside Out exhibit is held at the Homer Watson House and Gallery until March 8.