HAMILTON.- The AGH is delighted to host Pastel Artists Canada’s 17th Open Juried Exhibition in the Jean and Ross Fischer Gallery. PAC started out small in southern Ontario in 1989, and now boasts a wide membership across Canada. PAC members revel in working with the vibrancy and subtlety of dry pastel. Each year selected entries in the Juried Show stand as wonderful demonstrations of the versatility of the medium and the imagination and skill of the artists.

The opening reception and presentation of awards is Thursday, August 14, from 7:00 to 9:00, and all are welcome to come and enjoy refreshments in a festive atmosphere.

The Dry Pastel Medium

Pastel that has not been sprayed with fixative, contains no liquid binder that may cause other media to darken, yellow, crack or blister with time. Pastels from the 16th Century exist today as fresh as the day they were painted.

The pure, powdered pigment, is ground into a paste with a small amount of gum binder then rolled into sticks. The infinite variety of colours in pastel range from soft and subtle to strong and brilliant. The word Pastel, in this case does not refer to "pale colours" as it is commonly used in cosmetic and fashion venues.

An artwork is created by stroking the sticks of dry pigment across an abrasive ground, embedding the colour in the "tooth" of the paper, sandboard, canvas etc. If the ground is completely covered with Pastel, the work is considered a Pastel painting; a work with much of the ground left exposed is termed a Pastel sketch or drawing. Pastel is sometimes combined with water colour, gouache, acrylic, charcoal or pencil in a mixed-media painting, but it is not compatible with oil paint. Pastel paintings reflect light like a prism. No other medium has the same colour power.

Edgar Degas was the most prolific user of Pastel and its champion. His protégée, Mary Cassatt, introduced the Impressionists and Pastel to her friends in Philadelphia and Washington, and thus to the USA.

Today, Pastel has the same stature of oil and water colour as a major fine art medium. Many of our most renowned living artists have distinguished themselves in Pastel, enriching the art world with this beautiful medium.