Chelo Sebastian: Something to Do with Spring
March 28 — June 21, 2026
Opening reception: Sunday, March 29, 2:00pm — 4:00pm
Image credit: Chelo Sebastian, Near Sudbury, ON II, 2013, watercolour, graphite and pastel on paper. Image courtesy of the artist.
Exhibition Description:
Spanning over four decades, this survey exhibition celebrates Chelo Sebastian’s career and her enduring relationship with Glenhyrst Art Gallery. Sebastian first exhibited her work at the Gallery in 1980 and later served on its Board of Directors. Known for her singular use of a wide range of materials and techniques, her paintings commonly feature rigorous brushwork and electric colour palettes. Sebastian’s early works from the 1980s looked to European modernists such as Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and American Abstract Expressionists like Robert Motherwell, whose radical examinations of colour, line, and form she applied to watercolour. Her windswept pastoral landscapes of rural Ontario and gritty cityscapes of Hamilton demonstrate a wide-ranging curiosity and remarkable versatility. Later in her career, Sebastian began experimenting with collage and oil pastel, which presented new challenges while expanding her practice in unexpected directions. A creative force in Southwestern Ontario, this selection of her work reveals an artist uncompromising in her vision and whose impact continues to unfold.
About the Artist:
Chelo Sebastian was born in Spain, and came to Canada in 1969. She began her artistic career in 1980, participating in a juried exhibition at Glenhyrst Art Gallery. She later served on the Gallery’s Board of Directors and managed the art rental service from 1983 to 1988. Sebastian took classes in fine art at the Dundas Valley School of Art and Mohawk College, and later taught studio art classes and workshops in Brantford, Hamilton, Cambridge, and London. She has participated in solo and group exhibitions across Ontario, including at the Art Gallery of Hamilton and the Lynnwood Arts Centre, as well as internationally in the United States and Japan. Her work is held in private and public art collections throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Sebastian is represented by Montserrat Contemporary Art Gallery in New York City.
