Vanessa McKernan | Dusk, Boyd Waites | New Works Feature

Vanessa McKernan | Dusk, Boyd Waites | New Works Feature


Exhibition Dates: Sept 13–27
Vernissage: Saturday, Sept 13, from 3–5 pm

Ottawa, August 2025 - WALL SPACE GALLERY is excited to present the latest solo exhibition by Vanessa McKernan, Dusk, and a curated selection of new works by Boyd Waites.

Vanessa McKernan | Dusk
Dusk invites us into a world where the seen and the felt intertwine. Through luminous oil paintings and dreamlike figuration, McKernan explores the quiet transitions that shape our inner and outer lives. The exhibition unfolds in the in-between moments: where day gives way to night, clarity yields to reverie, and waking drifts toward dreaming. We look forward to seeing you at the vernissage on September 13 from 3 - 5 pm at our gallery location, 1090 Bank St. at Sunnyside.

Vanessa McKernan (Ottawa, ON) - Vanessa McKernan is an oil painter from Toronto who recently relocated to the countryside of the Ottawa Valley with her family of four. Vanessa views the act of painting as a dynamic practice, where the unconscious intermingles with ideas and imagery taken from dreams, observations, historical works of art, and personal experiences. Often drawing on the inherent symbology of the garden, her paintings explore cycles of death and rebirth, impermanence, intimacy, mothering and the intricacies of the feminine psyche.
Vanessa holds a BFA from Concordia University and is a two-time recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshield Foundation Award. Her work is generously supported by the Ontario Arts Council.

Feature Artist | Boyd Waites - Wall Space Gallery is proud to present Boyd Waites’ latest feature of new works. With imagery that is partially obscured and grounded in landscape, these paintings encourage a personal and emotional response. Waites invites viewers to interpret each piece through their own sensory experience. The use of soft blending, thin layers, and subtle transitions creates a quiet, atmospheric quality. This approach may evoke a sense of calm, contemplation, or memory. The works suggest a reflective mood and a quiet strength, offering space for thought and interpretation rather than directing it. This collection continues Waites’ exploration of tone, space, and feeling.

Boyd Waites (Kingston, ON) - Boyd Waites has been drawing, painting, and creating since an early age. He attended the Chester School of Art foundation course and then earned a BA (Honours) degree at Central St Martins in the UK, where he was brought up in the south (Kent), but with family roots in Yorkshire. After his degree, he continued to paint in earnest for a few years, was involved in a few exhibitions, and took part in a performance piece at the Tate London. However, eventually, after meeting his wife Carol and starting a family, he entered the IT systems arena. He followed a career in IT for many years while sporadically working on drawings and paintings, as well as producing rafts of doodled drawings in notebooks at work, which he wishes he had kept. He has now returned to painting in earnest and full time, operating between studios at Lake of Bays and Oakville in Ontario, Canada.

info@wallspacegallery.ca
1090 Bank St, Ottawa ON, K1S 3X5