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
Into Plein Air, Escarpment Life Magazine, Summer 2022
The Art of Exploring, Parry Sound Life, Sept/Oct 2022
King Family Bursary Winner: Peter Adams, Georgian Bay Land Trust website, March 2022
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