Wilma Mehl
Originally from Frankfurt, Germany, Wilma Mehl moved to Lambton County in 2011. She fully committed to her art in 2020, focusing on pastel paintings inspired by local landscapes and Lake Huron’s waves. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and local venues. In 2023, she won the Panel’s Choice Award at Art Comp London—marking a turning point—followed by additional awards and her first solo exhibition in 2025.
IG: @fineartbywilmamehl
Ian McLean
Ian McLean is a Bright’s Grove artist whose work explores the intersection of environment and experience. A graduate of the University of Guelph and a multi-year recipient of Ontario Arts Council grants, McLean has built an extensive exhibition record across Canada. His work has been featured in prominent Toronto venues, including Angell Gallery, CFA Gallery and Harbourfront Centre, as well as numerous regional institutions such as the Judith & Norman Alix Art Gallery, The Art Gallery of Peterborough and The Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant.
Beyond the studio, Ian served as a juror for The Prisma Art Prize in Rome and gained national recognition as a contestant on the inaugural season of CBC’s Landscape Artist of the Year: Canada. His paintings are held in private and corporate collections both domestically and internationally and have been featured in The Globe & Mail, Toronto Life, and Dwell magazine. He is represented by Skwirl Contemporary in Bayfield, Ontario and Partial Gallery, Toronto.
IG: @ian_mclean_
Taryn Henry
Taryn Elizabeth is a Visual Artist, Mother and Spiritual Practitioner based in Sarnia, ON. She holds an advanced Diploma in Fine Art from Fanshawe College and a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art from NSCAD University.
Taryn’s subject matter is inspired by nature, the passing of time, nostalgia, and change. Taryn is an accomplished muralist, live painter for both private and public events and offers commissioned pieces. Her works are in both private and public collections.
Mary Kilbreath
Mary E. Kilbreath was born and raised in Sarnia, Ontario. She continues to live and broaden her practice in her home town after being out of country for several years. Her curiosity with art was sparked as a child growing up in a family of artists/photographers. She has studied with various prominent teachers throughout the years and for 10 years at The Boca Raton, Countess de Hoernle Museum School of Art. Mary taught at the Boca Museum School, and The Gerber Art School. She continues to mentor students privately.
Using compelling design and structural elements Mary seeks to draw the viewer into her painting and guide their eye through the composition. She maintains an active dialogue with realism. With well observed tonal values and strong atmospheric interplay, she strives to establish a mood that will spark a sense of curiosity in the viewer, encouraging them to stay with the painting and explore.
Perhaps one of the biggest influences in her approach to painting has been growing up in a sailing family. The expansive space, the influence of the wind on the water and sky as the light moves across these agitated or calm surfaces, is represented in her work using keen observational skills which she has honed over many years on the water. Mary has a long history working in oils in a realistic style. Photography, with its capacity to isolate and frame sometimes chaotic subjects, has served as an important tool in gathering material and aiding in compositional formats.
Mary has exhibited widely over the past 30 years from group exhibitions at the Boca Museum in Florida, The Jacob Javitz Center in New York, The Karen Lynne Gallery in Boca Raton and Beverly Hills, Art Basel in Miami, to solo exhibitions in Sarnia, Ontario. She has continued her studies, working full time with a range of professional painters, over many years, with an eye to pushing and developing her practice in new directions. Mary continues to study and explore and welcomes every challenge a blank canvas brings.
Mary has been nominated for a number of awards and was the recipient of the Artists' Magazine First place award in Still Life and was published in their magazine.
FB: Mary Kilbreath Studio
Paula McLean
Paula McLean (b. 1995) is a visual artist based in Toronto. She received a BFA from Concordia University in 2017 and an MFA from the University of Waterloo in 2019. She has exhibited her work at Iowa (Brooklyn), LVL3 (Chicago), Patel Brown (Toronto), Hearth, Pumice Raft, Blouin Division (Toronto), Espace Maurice (Montreal) and KWAG (Kitchener) with a forthcoming group exhibition at LVL3 in Chicago. A recipient of the Keith and Win Shantz Scholarship, she was a studio assistant for Ireland-based painter Ciarán Murphy in the summer of 2018. Her thesis show, To Catch a Glimpse of Things, was exhibited at the University of Waterloo Art Gallery in May 2019.
IG: @pa___ula
