Artist Statement
Colour, place and memory inform Hartman's paintings. Where inspired by a photograph, the aim is to convey what a mechanical lens cannot. The intuitive, expressionistic paintings capture a feeling, an imperfect memory or observation and invite the viewer to complete the thought or emotion using their own experiences. The use of the "no face" or "back view" motif is intended to convey the universal within the individual.
Photographs are a chance capture, and drawings, a line interpretation of colour, place and memory.
Home Page photos are chosen for a place, mood or colour and are archived on the Photography pages. The News/Events below are from 2016 only. Complete exhibit and event history is available elsewhere.
News/Events
June 10 - 21, 2026
Three works from Cogito Ergo Sum-thing exhibit can be seen at Gallery 1313's celebration in the Main Gallery of the collective's 29+ years on Queen West.
February 7 - 26, 2026
Drawing from Life 2026 Heliconian Hall's
annual Monday Life Drawing Group Show includes prints of three drawings featured
in the artist's solo exhibit: Cogito Ergo Sum-thing.
Group exhibit opening reception at 35 Hazelton Avenue is Saturday, February 7th
from 2 to 5 p.m., with second viewing on Wednesday, February 11th from 4 to 7 p.m.
Other hours by appointment.
August 20 - 31, 2025
Cogito Ergo Sum-thing, Hartman's solo exhibit in the Cell at Gallery 1313,
explored Descartes' observation on what it means to be human: "Cogito ergo sum |
I think therefore I am". When humans rely on apps and A.I. 'bots with thoughts' to do
their 'thinking' and 'doing', what is left? Using quick flawed line studies of the human
form, the artist contrasts the random beauty of human imperfection with the rigid
conformity of QR/Barcode and A.I. algorithms of machinery run and owned by oligarchs.
January to March 2025
The TIFF Lightbox Reference Library archival exhibit -
"A Feminist Lens - the 1973 Women & Film International Festival"-
continues until March 1, 2025 at King West and John, Toronto.
The Festival was a unique 10-day celebration of women in film, video and photography.
October to December 2024
TIFF Lightbox presents
"A Feminist Lens - the 1973 Women & Film International
Festival", a curated exhibit with artifacts from its Reference Library's archives of ephemera and
video and film recordings from the groundbreaking 10 day festival in Toronto
and its subsequent cross-Canada tour celebrating films and videos made by women
from 1897 to 1973.
As co-organizer of the festival's video programming, the exhibit
includes Hartman's festival emphemera as well as her drawings and promotional designs
for
Liberation Media, the video group she co-founded in 1971
to create programs for television that were 'for, by and about' women in 1972/73.
April 24 to May 5, 2024
A photo composition of a ttc duo, "A Face in Transit",
was part of In Focus, a curated photography exhibit by
Gallery 1313
featured in the inaugural 4 day nation-wide
Canadian Art Hop, April 25-28, 2024.
February 28 to March 10, 2024
A painting, "Raven at my Window" from
CONTACT07 bob65 exhibit, was part of
Gallery 1313's exhibit of portraits in the Process Gallery.
March 1 - 12, 2023
EMBODIED LINE | Soliloquy ,
Hartman's solo exhibit in the Cell Gallery of Gallery 1313, explored analog/digital
differences in the spontaneous solitary line of human observation of the model
in 5-10 minute life drawing exercises,i.e. pencil on paper v stylus on tablet.
Do the algorithms of commercial software programs express or suppress
what are the artist's inner thoughts and intentions when in search
of a single intuitive line?
February 2 - 27, 2022
The painting "Beijing Blue" was part of the in-person portion of the 25th Anniversary Members' Exhibit at Gallery 1313 and is reviewed here: arttoronto.ca
January 19 to December 31, 2022
Gallery 1313's online 25th Anniversary Members' Exhibit
features "Rock, Deception
Island" and "Beijing
Blue".
May 1 -31, 2021
In Camera Solo, Hartman's solo exhibit
as part of the virtual 25th edition of Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival,
the artist contemplated human impermanence and the machine's promise
of stopping time "for keeps" over the course of 25 photographs chosen
over decades.
March 3 - 31, 2021
Lockdown Exhibit - Members of
the artist-run
Gallery 1313 shared perspectives on living as an artist in
pandemic Toronto. The artist's 'no face' motif intended as an
inclusive expression of humanity, takes on new meaning in a masked
world. Included in the online exhibit were "Tokyo Visitor" (Asia Series)and "Arles Twins Dine" (Arles Series).
February 3 - 14, 2021
Hi Libido - The Sex Show - A hybrid online/in
gallery exhibit curated by Gallery
1313, included Libido LLC, the
artist's commentary on financial and sexual
XY power assumptions and liability avoidance.
August 19 to September 13, 2020
Eco Art 2020 - A hybrid online/in gallery exhibit curated by Gallery 1313, included two photographs viewable here, chosen to visualize the reality of climate change and global pandemics. "When water rises, even ducks stake out high ground" challenges the assumption that humans have their environment under control. "The levers might not be in your hands" represents the Covid 19 lockdown and fear of the unknown in familiar surroundings.
August 28 to September 8, 2019
In Hartman's solo exhibit, What is T.RUTH? Gallery 1313, the artist explored both her life as 't.ruth' and the meaning of 'truth' in her practice of art and law through drawings, paintings and photographs.
In 2019, when art is a brand and commodified, when lives are polled, trolled, monitored and mined for profit or political power, and algorithms can corrupt any search, both t.ruth and truth are in question.
November 7 to 18, 2018
In Hartman's solo exhibit Shorthand gone Rogue in the Cell Gallery of Gallery 1313, the artist combined the Pitman language she acquired as a teen with her photographs and paintings to create images designed for oblique reflection or posters to ponder. Together with an installation of 20th c office artifacts, and with a nod to steganography, the artist untethered the utilitarian line of Pitman Shorthand from its gendered subservient context to explore its potential for social or political commentary in 2018.
November 6-25, 2018
E.R. 1856 a pen and ink drawing from the Genealogy Series was part of Artists Network Gallery's group exhibit AOG/AOM.
Dec 6 - 17, 2017
Unity, from the Polar Series, was part of Collective 20, a juried exhibit at Gallery 1313's celebration of 20 years as a member-run gallery.
Nov 14 to Dec 3, 2017
Tokyo Visitor, from the Asia Series, was part of Artists Network Gallery's group exhibit AOG/AOM at 638 Queen Street East, Toronto.
August 2 - 13, 2017
Geranium/Joy, from the Genealogy Series, was part of Gallery 1313's juried exhibit Where Home Is.
June 21 - July 2, 2017
In Hartman's solo interactive exhibit Pioneers of Queen's Bush in the Cell
Gallery of Gallery 1313, the artist honoured her
ancestors with works from her Genealogy
series (Confederates, Magnolia, Sisters,
Homestead, and Harvester) and
Barn Dance
series (Nenagh, Upper Canada c1900, and
Sunrise/Sunset).
January 18 - 29, 2017
Water, from the Asia Series, was part of Gallery 1313's 20th anniversary members' exhibit.
June 23 to July 3, 2016
A three-bar non-objective painting inspired by Africa was part of Collective 19, a Gallery 1313 members' exhibit at 1313 Queen Street West, Toronto.
June 27 to July 10, 2016
Young Leopard, a coloured pencil drawing inspired by Hartman's photograph of the leopard in his habitat, was part of Artists of the Gallery, a group exhibit at Art Square Cafe, 334 Dundas Street West, Toronto.
May 11 to May 22, 2016
Hartman's solo exhibit UNCAGED HEARTS was an installation in the Process Gallery at Gallery 1313 including photos, video and thoughts resulting from some time spent animal to animal in South Africa. The artist explored what is lost when we cage our minds and bodies for others' consumption through technology.