Rails End Artist Member Profiles

Finely crafted ceramics - one of a kind bowls, mugs, platters and vases. 

 Upcycled glassware by Artech Glass Blowing Studios, a traditional glassblowing studio nestled in the Highlands of Ontario, Canada producing great upcycled glass tableware and handmade barware.  

Light reflecting on glass has been a lifelong fascination. In 2019 I was captivated when introduced to warm glass at  Haliburton School of Art & Design.
I enjoy the adventures of mastering the unpredictable nature of glass shifts when exposing skillfully crafted shards to heat and pressure to produce fun and functional one-of-a-kind art.  Inspired by a rich life immersed in nature, each creation offers a multisensory experience influenced through the beauty of light, colour, shape, texture

 All work speaks about utility but more importantly about being nourished! 

Janet Bradley works mostly in oils and sometimes in acrylic. Her favorite subjects are horses, birds and kids. She finds landscapes a challenge but she continues to accept the challenge by painting beautiful Haliburton County. 

 Rachel Charyk is an artist born and raised in Georgina, Ontario. She graduated OCAD University in 2015 majoring in Drawing and Painting.  Rachel loves traveling around rural Ontario, discovering its beauty and translating it onto the canvas. 

Jacquie  taught needlework for almost 30 years in both Canada and the USA. She is drawn to nature especially flowers, and has created ornaments that have hung in the White House (now part of the Smithsonian Collection), wearable art and jewelry.

 I have worked in different media over the years, but prefer acrylics for my Paint Parties and mural work!  I am Happy Painting !!!

I am a local teen and lover of words! I am a homeschool alumnus, avid book reader, and cellist. I hope I can inspire you to love each individual word and the beauty of small things. 

Ian Darragh is a photographer specializing in nature and environmental issues. He was editor-in-chief of Canadian Geographic magazine and has published feature articles in National Geographic. He is a lifetime member of the Haliburton Highlands Land Trust. 

 Ian's nature greeting cards are for sale at the Rails End Gallery Shop or via his website 

 I discovered the joy of art while teaching art as a part of my curriculum assignment as a teacher. I have worked with printmaking and clay and a few years ago experienced acrylic paint pouring. While pouring with an idea in mind, the unpredictability of the vibrant paints and how they react together is exciting and very often surprising. 

I am an observational artist.  My  paintings are scenes of everyday moments and experiences. I focus on capturing the essence of a subject rather than expressly copying the information I see in order to create a work that expresses a sense of time, place and feeling.

Featuring maps of the area with iconic imagery, Alan's original paintings, magnets, reproductions and art cards make ideal gifts for home or cottage. 

Original paintings and reproductions. 

I have a deep interest in creating....working with various mediums, mainly watercolour, acrylic, graphite,   I started out drawing portraits when I was quite younundation that I built upon, my next step wMy goal today is to try to share my work as much as possible.  I believe the job of an Artist is to help introduce some beautiful culture to our everyday lives.

 I have a natural ability to replicate what I see or create images from my imagination and worked in IT for 20 yrs. Now that I am retired and my kids are grown, I have the time for doing what I was meant to do that brings much joy to my soul. I saw along the way that my eyes continued to develop even if I wasn’t practicing my art.  I defined myself as a drawer, not realizing I could paint till I tried it! I have a deep love for nature and photography.   

 HEARTMADE + HANDMADE
Ignis Borealis is a meditation on the elements that come together to create a hand-forged piece of jewellery. Made with heart and hands in Toronto, Canada by Lori Francescutti. 

I discovered that I was an artist, just like mom and grandmother before me, during a course with Lila Lewis Irving at the Haliburton School of the Arts. Since then I have explored watercolour crayons and acrylics and usually combine them to make paintings which illustrate quotations I like. I also love to write out what I have learned from living life. I just completed a trilogy exploring the 3 aspects of Soul Misery. My books are available in the Gallery Shop.

Mixed media visual art, encaustic paintings and magnets.

 I am an avid acrylic landscape painter who draws most of my inspiration from the beautiful Haliburton Highlands. I use my own photos, often taken from the bow of a canoe in the quiet of early morning.  My colourful paintings are rendered on texturized canvas, a technique learned at the Haliburton School of Art and Design. I love playing light against shadow, exaggerating colours and simplifying shapes. People say my work sings with vitality. 

 I've been doing INTARSIA for about 18 years. I'm self taught and I use, primarily, exotic woods (bloodwood, yellowheart etc). I compare INTARSIA to stained glass but with wood. Pieces of wood are cut (according to grain), shaped and fit together to make pictures of animals, landscapes etc.  

Over the years I have been fortunate enough to work in exploration camps across Canada. This has allowed me the opportunity me to cross the barren lands of the NWT and Nunavut, climb mountains in Yukon and BC, stomp through string bogs in Labrador and Newfoundland and wander through many amazing landscapes of Canada.

I now take great pleasure in transposing our Canadian landscape onto canvas using either oil or watercolour. Whenever I paint - its all one big adventure.

Susanne creates stoneware pottery, both hand-built and wheel-thrown, including mugs, bowls, and platters.  Her work is inspired by the natural beauty of her surroundings in the Haliburton Highlands.  Some pieces are imprinted with real pine boughs and pine cones, creating a true Haliburton souvenir.  Others have the ever-popular dragonfly motif.  Susanne has also developed a line of helpful pottery gifts for knitters.  Her glazes are lead-free and food-safe, and reflect the colours of nature.

 Gord is an elected member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour, The Society of Canadian Artists, and enjoys memberships in the Niagara Frontier Watercolour Society, The Haliburton Arts Council, Rails End Gallery, and is Ontario's representative of the International Watercolour Society. Gord is a certified Adult Educator. He is represented by various galleries in Ontario and participates in selected exhibitions throughout the year. 

Laurie Jones is a visual artist and currently the Curator at Rails End Gallery. 

Digital art, all occasion cards and photography. 

I studied Fine Arts at Redeemer College and Ceramics at Sheridan College.  Now I live in Haliburton, off-grid, with my husband and our dog. I painted abstract oils, but since developing an allergy to the paints, I've been doing abstract digital art and photography.  My inspiration comes from how I see and feel an image and what I am experiencing at the moment. 

I am an off-grid digital artist. 

L & N Beadworks is Louise Ewing and Nicki Brazier-Hagarty. Traditional  beading, bracelets, necklaces, earrings and cuffs for all occasions. 

Lyn is a local potter who takes inspiration from nature. She is intrigued by texture and thrown  and altered forms. 

These handcrafted items are made from locally sourced wood. Trees that provided the raw material were typically destined to become firewood before being turned on a lathe into useful, long-lasting heirlooms. The process involved roughing out the item then letting it sit for upwards of six months until the moisture content was at a manageable level. Only then were the pieces finish turned to reveal the surprises found within. The surface treatment is a combination of beeswax and mineral oil.

Doug started painting 10 yrs ago. and is Member of the Barrie Art Club and Rails End Gallery.  He started lessons in water color then acrylic and finally oils. He is also a Member of the summer Tour De Forest in Haliburton County.

 Pat Moffatt is an artisan with a breadth of talent that includes tatting, stained and fused glass, flame working, and wire sculpture. She loves to experiment by combining these various art forms - creating something new and unique. Pat resides in Haliburton Highlands, where she gets inspiration from the natural beauty of the  community.  

 A professional stained glass artist of 40+ years, Chris specializes primarily in custom work and restorations.
As a jewellery designer,she creates individual, unusual and original travel-inspired handmade pieces, these being the result of worldwide travels collecting various beads and gems.Innovative designs in both jewellery andglasswork, keeps her work fresh, exciting and interpretive of classical design.

I am an artist and expressive arts therapist. I am often inspired by emotional experiences. I love to play with colours that contrast one another.

Huw Morgan is a professional art and event photographer based in southern
Ontario. He has had solo and group exhibitions  of his work in Lyndsay and Toronto. Most recently, he had a solo show called City in Motion at Gallery 44 in Toronto. Huw is a graduate of the photography program at Haliburton School of Art and Design. 

 Jane has been painting and drawing since Iher my early teens. She started out using oils and later moved into acrylics, pastels and pen and ink. She attended Toronto School of Art but  is primarily self taught and her subjects  include landscapes, abstracts and whimsical images.

Lisa Pararh is a visual artist that is currently turning tea bags into small works of art to be used as bookmarks or diplalyed on their own. 

Luscious goat milk soaps; molded and bars. Simply perfect! 

John teaches workshops on how to make drums as well as percussion instruments, including found materials such as durable PVC plumbing pipe. He facilitates drumming circles and soundscapes for people of all ages who respond to the call and the dance of the drumbeat. His passion is building traditional world drums including the African Djembe, Taiko drums made from PVC, Ashiko and Frame drums as well as drums and percussion instruments crafted from Hard Shelled Gourds.

It starts with an image that triggers an emotion. I aim to capture the mood and feeling in my paintings. I paint using acrylics. I work each section 2-3 times till I feel I have achieved the detail desired. This process evolves over several days. Once done I give it a moment to do its thing and grab my attention. My paintings focus on the different subject matter, each reflecting life memories that evoke a sense of warmth and joy. 

In my art practice I work with many different materials including fibre, metal, glass and clay. I strive to make as little waste as possible in my studio. I attended Haliburton School of Art and Design for seven years. During my final year I wrote "The FEED Manifesto" which I use as a guide for my art and my life.

One of kind cases and handbags made from hand painted/printed and dyed canvas with leather accents. 

 Keli Schmidt brings 16 years of industrial pattern and sample-making experience to the Haliburton Clothing Co. (she moved to Hali from the GTA in 2020). The HCC is dedicated to providing high-quality locally and ethically-made sustainable fashion tailored for life in the Highlands. Every item is designed, printed and made here by Keli.   

Storytelling and reading have been sentinel pieces of my life. Whether it teaches me something, transports me away from my day-to-day reality, or makes me laugh, I enjoy reading all kinds of books.
There is always one within reach, be it in my bag or on my nightstand, to read. Now, I hope my books will play that same wonderful part in your day. 

Beeswax wraps made by Dani Stahle are a green alternative to plastic - and attractive too! She also creates animals of all kind with wool needle felting. 

My abstract, impressionist paintings, rich in colour, texture and depth, reflect a personal style that enhances any environment.

My art is happy and I hope to make the buyers happy.

Margaret paints with acrylics and enjoys the challenge of mixing the perfect colours. Like singer-songwriter Ray Stevens, she believes “everything is beautiful in its own way” and she likes to reflect that beauty in her paintings. Margaret is overcome with a sense of panic when one painting is finished before another is on the go. image: Cattail, acrylic, 12x12

In a world that is, at times, woeful and worrisome, Teddy prefers to focus on the whimsical. He wants to create paintings that are small islands of joy and comfort. Like the late, great Norman Rockwell, Teddy avoids the “sordid and the ugly” and paints life as he’d like it to be. His benchmark for success is a smile on the face of those who view his art. image: Pup's Point of View, acrylic, 16x20

 Janet Trull is a retired art and literacy teacher, currently working as an artist and a freelance writer in Haliburton.  She paints in fluid acrylics and experiments with mixed media.  Interpreting the colours and textures of Haliburton landscapes, she layers her canvases in the rough and random way that nature layers the forests.  She believes there is much beauty in chaos. 

After a number of years juggling a demanding business career while re-igniting my passion for photography, I decided to retire early and pursue a new career as a landscape photographer. 

I get tremendous satisfaction out of capturing hundreds of images and then selecting the photograph that has captured just the right amount of light and colour that allows others to see a spectacular scene the way I did.

 Scott Michael Walling is a multidisciplinary artist working in numerous mediums; analog & digital photography, printmaking, jewellery, fibre arts, sculpture, painting, mixed media and beyond. Strongly inspired by organic elements, a unifying theme of texture is present throughout his work. Growing up in Peterborough, the Haliburton Highlands are now home.  

I find the beautiful land up here inspiring in so many ways. There's hardly anything I see that doesn't look like a potential subject for a painting. Rocks, trees,and wildlife all figure large in my work.  

Nature's little dramas and relationships and communities are similar to ours. We parent, we grow where we are nourished, we build communities where we are supported. My hope is that my art reminds us of how connected we are to nature. Each piece is hand drawn, mounted on wood and resined. All pieces are unique. 

Renée creates unique stoneware and raku pottery.  Each of Renée`s pots begins on the potters wheel.  When pots are leather hard they are trimmed and meticulously hand carved in patterns that are evocative of dancing leaves.  Her intricate surfaces can also be found on mugs and bowls.