Given Heather Topp is used to seeing her artwork stacked in her bedroom and stashed in her garage, she said it's a real treat to see it properly displayed at Art Gallery of Sudbury.
The gallery is holding an exhibition of the veteran Sudbury artist's body of work this spring and summer.
Entitled "Livid Here," the Topp exhibition opens with a reception tonight (May 25) starting at 5 p.m., and is on display through until July 9.
Topp, who's 71, and is the 2014 winner of a Mayor's Celebration of the Arts award, said she's been creating art her whole life, starting when she picked up crayons as a kid.
“I think it was always like another vocabulary — a visual vocabulary which some people find easier to communicate with,” she said.
The artist doesn't limit herself to just one medium. She draws, paints, sculpts and does papier mâché as inspiration hits.
“You just keep moving around, but I hope it's not jack of all trades, master of none,” Topp said.
Many of the works she's exhibiting at Art Gallery of Sudbury have previously been shown at other galleries.
The gallery is intentionally exhibiting the work of more Northern Ontario artists, said Art Gallery of Sudbury director/curator Demetra Christakos.
The Bell Mansion, which hosts the gallery, is aging, and because of that, the gallery is unable to bring in exhibitions of masterworks.
“We will when we have our new gallery space, but that's some years away for us,” Christakos said.
“What I realized is we just have this richness here of regional artists, and we have a curatorial approach now that is really looking at place and our place, and considering it as being as important as any other place.
“We're really looking at regional artists and treating them as we treat any other artist, nationally and internationally, and trying to provide for them the gallery experience.”
Topp is an “ingenious artist” who creates her work through an activist and feminist lense, she said.
“I like the fact that she addresses social issues by making artwork,” Christakos said. “She's a prolific artist. She makes work all the time.”
The Art Gallery of Sudbury is located at 251 John St. The gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Visit ArtSudbury.org for more information.
