PRESS RELEASE

Toronto: September 21, 2008

RE: Jerry Prociw Artist Exhibition: "INSPIRATION OF A FREE SPIRIT"

PLACE: Taras Shevchenko Museum, 1614 Bloor Street West (East of Keele)

OPENING DATE: Sunday, September 21, at 3:30 pm

TIME: The show continues till October 31, Monday to Friday 10 am to 4 pm

INFO: Taras Shevchenko Museum, tel: 416-534-8662,
email: shevchenkomuseum@bellnet.ca

INSPIRATION OF A FREE SPIRIT

On September 21, at the Taras Shevchenko Museum in Toronto, art lovers will be offered the opportunity to view a retrospective of avant-grade works by an artist much ahead of his time.
Jerry Prociw (1934-1987) spent most of his professional life as a highly accomplished designer of company logos, trade journal covers, brochures and promotional materials. But he was also an extremely sensitive and powerful artist who "experimented with a large variety of media, achieving miraculous results. He attacked each medium with all his ability, conquering the characteristics of each. His watercolours made prima ballerinas dance while the charcoals captured the darkness of the Great Mine Disaster".
After graduating from Toronto's Central Technical Arts School in 1956 Jerry worked and studied with Carl Dair, Canada's most recognized typographic designer. He also continued his studies at the Ontario College of Art where he earned a Diploma in Fine Arts. During his professional career with advertising firms Goodis, Goldberg and Dair, Atwell Fleming Printing, the Ontario Science Centre and Southam Business Publications, Jerry received Certificates of Merit for book and magazine design, and the Tom Turner Award/Honourable Mention for Best Magazine Cover Graphics Design.
"Jerry was an artist who exuded great energy, revealing his innermost emotions and transferring them onto paper without hesitation. The viewer is awed by his political uproars and calmed into wonderment by the fine detail of his drypoints and etchings. Jerry's ability to choose diverse subjects, political through to classical, shows his talent as an artist is to be remembered in our lifetime".
Perhaps because of Jerry's modesty in his creative work, or perhaps because he was more interested in the life and achievements of others, people who had known Jerry for years were not aware of his talents as an artist.
Many, particularly in the Ukrainian community, knew Jerry as an accomplished folk dancer, a gymnast and an outstanding tenor who appeared as soloist on numerous stages. They knew him as the gym and dance instructor who, along with his wife, taught three decades of their children.
Now, twenty-one years after Jerry's untimely death, his wife Marie and Taras Shevchenko Museum Board will present "Inspiration of a Free Spirit" - an exhibition of art by Jerry Prociw.
The exhibit to be held at the Taras Shevchenko Museum, 1614 Bloor Street West (East of Keele) begins with an opening wine-and-cheese reception at 3:30 pm on Sunday, September 21, and will continue until October 31, 2008. Although admission is free, donations are greatly appreciated.

* All quotations by Anita Pastor, Del Bello Gallery Curator