Photograpy by Gary McGuffin

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Peter Adams is interested in questioning our ideas about what is landscape, where we go to seek beauty and where we go to recharge. His work highlights the complexity of calm immersion in nature, juxtaposing realism with abstraction, seeking serenity in a frenetic and chaotic world. Each of Adams’s compositions is characterized by a unique architectural framework fleshed out with deliberate and gestural marks. Every piece is a creative journey, an effort to capture the emotional essence of place and the essential energy of a particular landscape.

Born in Glasgow, raised in Toronto, Adams has spent the past 25 years in Simcoe County. He now lives in Collingwood.

An award-winning artist, Adams has received numerous grants from the Ontario Arts Council and was shortlisted for the 2017 Kingston Prize - Canada's national portrait competition. He was a finalist in the Salt Spring National Art Prize in 2015 and in 2023. He was invited to participate in Brazil's Labverde Arts Immersion Program in 2017 and The Arctic Circle residency in 2023.

Awards

  • Salt Spring National Art Prize Finalist, Salt Spring Island B.C., 2023

  • 3rd Place, Parrsboro International Plein Air Festival, 2022

  • Best of Show, Visual Elements 62, Woodstock Art Gallery, Woodstock, ON, 2020

  • People's Choice Award, Latcham Art Centre Juried Exhibition, Stouffville, ON, 2020

  • Best Portrait, Paint Ontario, Grand Bend, ON, 2020

  • TD Wealth Management Prize Finalist, Midland, ON, 2018

  • Kingston Prize Finalist, Kingston, ON, 2017

  • First Prize, Figureworks Exhibit, Ottawa, 2016

  • Award of Merit, RHGA Juried Exhibit, Richmond Hill ON, 2016

  • Cherry Carnon Award, Arts and Letters Club, Toronto, 2015

  • Salt Spring National Art Prize Finalist, Salt Spring Island B.C., 2015

  • Jurors’ Choice Award, Headwaters Arts Festival, 2014

  • Artists' Choice Award, Headwaters Arts Festival, 2014

  • Jurors’ Choice Award, Headwaters Arts Festival, 2013

  • Artists' Choice Award, Headwaters Arts Festival, 2013

  • Juror’s Choice Award, South Simcoe Arts Council Juried Art Show, 2012

  • Juror’s Choice Award, Headwaters Arts Festival, 2003

  • Mayor’s Annual Purchase Award, Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, 1999

  • Best of Show, Lakeshore Through the Eyes of the Artist Exhibition, 1998

  • Finalist, The Artist’s Magazine Annual Art Exhibition, 1998

Grants and Residencies

  • The Arctic Circle Residency, 2023

  • King Family Bursary from the Georgian Bay Land Trust, 2022

  • Theano Point Residency, Lake Superior, 2020

  • OAC Exhibition Assistance Grant, 2018

  • Ontario Arts Council Project Grant, 2017

  • OAC Exhibition Assistance Grant, 2017

  • Labverde Amazon Residency, Brazil, 2017

  • OAC Exhibition Assistance Grant, 2012

  • Ontario Arts Council Project Grant, 2010

  • Reed T. Cooper Bursary 2009

  • OAC Exhibition Assistance Grant, 2007

  • Ontario Arts Council Project Grant, 2000

Recent Articles of Interest

Recent Showings

2022

  • Creemore Festival of the Arts

  • 60 years of the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair, at Market Gallery in Toronto

  • “Changing Waters” Etobicoke Assembly Hall

  • Ojibway Club Art Exhibit

  • Parrsboro International Plein Air Festival

  • “Solemn Land,” the Untamed Things artists paint Algoma, at Nottawa General / Coventry Studio

  • Art Gallery of Hamilton Art Sale

2021

  • Carmichael Exhibit at Orillia Museum of Art and History      

  • "The Peace of Wild Things." - group exhibition in Creemore

  • Ojibway Club Art Exhibit

  • “Solemn Land: Exploring the Montreal River” - group exhibition at Double Door Gallery, Barrie

  • Quest Art's TD Thor Wealth Management Juried Exhibition

  • 43rd Annual Visual Arts Mississauga Juried Exhibition at the Art Gallery of Mississauga

2020

  • Ontario Society of Artists Juried Exhibition

  • Woodstock Art Gallery's Annual Juried Exhibit

  • Faces and Places of Ontario, at the Lambton Heritage Museum in Grand Bend

  • Latcham Gallery's Annual Juried Exhibition

  • AGH Art Sale at the Art Gallery of Hamilton

  • Ojibway Club Art Exhibit

  • Visual Arts Mississauga Juried Exhibition at the Art Gallery of Mississauga

  • The Artist Project, Toronto

  • Thames Art Gallery Juried Exhibition in Chatham

  • Taylor Statton Bursary Exhibit

Collections

  • Royal Victoria Hospital, Barrie, Ontario

  • University of Toronto, Department of Continuing Studies

  • City of Toronto Archives

  • Venturer Electronics, Markham, Ontario

  • Mad River Golf Club, Creemore, Ontario

  • Buchanon Fairways Golf Club, Drymen, Scotland

  • Braestone Golf Club, Orillia, Ontario

Education

  • 1989-1993 Honours Bachelor of Arts, Film Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario

  • 1988-1989 Fine Arts, York University, Toronto, Ontario