July 29 – August 16, 2026
Opening Reception: Thursday, July 30, 6:30 – 9:00 pm
Artist Talk: Sunday, August 9, 2:00 – 3:00
Imaginary Truths is a collection of drawings and prints that invites us to consider reality and its reinvention, to ask ourselves what is truth? Does it even exist? Does it differ from perception? Is it relative or absolute? Poetic or palpable? Obvious or subtle? Fixed or elusive? Should we hold onto it tightly or let it go, along with everything else that we think we know?
How does truth come to us? Is it discoverable in the realms of dreams and lyricism or has it more definite origins?
Many of the pieces in this exhibition draw on myth and story to describe what, for me, ultimately remains ineffable. Truth’s Journey, a series of 12 prints, portrays an imaginary adventure in which Truth, guided by Compassion, is dissolved and reforged by the forces of Nature. Arrivederci, Michelangelo, Ciao, a series of 6 drawings, describes a transformational dream that incited an enduring quest for artistic authenticity and freedom. Medieval Ladies, a series of 14 discs, is cast in an era quite distant from our own but describes layers of truth and fantasy that may feel strangely familiar in contemporary society. But Aren’t We All Wounded Butterflies? depicts a vision, a moment of illumination that came to me from the natural world unbidden and unexpectedly. And finally, Kate Through the Looking Glass and Betulla, two self-portraits and a mask, are attempts to describe the truth of my own self-imaginings.
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Kate Hawkins is an artist who lives in Toronto and frequently journeys abroad in search of adventure and inspiration. She has been educated at the University of Toronto, York University, OCADU, the Haliburton School of Art, the Toronto School of Art, and the Contemporary Textile Studio. Her work is widely collected and has been shown in public and private galleries. Kate likes to experiment. She works in whatever medium is most likely to convey the emotion or idea that she’s exploring in a particular piece of art. Over the years, this has meant using combinations of various materials, common and uncommon, in printmaking, painting, drawing and sculpture. Her inspiration lies principally in nature, a foundation to which she returns again and again, even when investigating cultural, social, and mythological themes. Poetry and music often figure in her art, both as progenitors and as integral components of finished works.
